BROOKE X JOEY // Thanks For The Hysterical Memories

Dear Joey and Brooke,

What a wild ride!

I just wanted to write to express my gratitude to you both for taking a chance on me as a writer, and offering so many outrageously awesome opportunities for an extreme music fan to talk to artists I never thought I would ever have the chance to meet. Writing album reviews has undoubtedly been a formative experience for my writing, exploring ways to communicate how music makes us feel, to describe what an artist has produced, to put into words what music means to us. This has been an irreplaceable experience, and one for which I remain grateful.

I know that the material published in Hysteria Mag over the years has helped bands and artists to pursue their creative practices. This is true from stadium-filling long-standing bands that finally had Australian tour dates, to local bands yearning for recognition and promotion. On this, I want to especially commend your commitment to publishing review and interview of emerging artists, on the same platform as bands they have admired for years. I know this has been the stuff of dreams for a number of young Australian musicians.

Through writing for Hysteria, I have been to more shows and listened *with intent* to more albums than I can count. Some do stand out in my mind. I recall interviewing Chad Gray from Hellyeah, in the immediate wake of the passing of Vinnie Paul, which was a difficult, sensitive interview, and it was such a heartfelt, powerful interaction; I felt a real sense of duty of care to write it up in a way that embraced his grief, and the personal significance of the album, partially recorded before the legendary drummer passed away. Music means so much more than just something to listen to. It is a mark one makes on the world, capturing the movement and intentions of a real person. I always felt that as a reviewer of albums, it was important to keep the human creator at the base of all critique. This conviction, I believe, was shared by the editorial team at Hysteria, who saw music as a way to bring people together.

There are too many instances to fully recount here. The main point is that my time writing for Hysteria was filled with unique, crazy, and unforgettable experiences. And for this I wish to thank you, and acknowledge the hard work and commitment behind making this happen.

Time, however, rolls on. I finished my studies and took a job overseas – ironically, to Norway, where I didn’t follow up any black metal!
Extreme music thrives, though, in rapidly evolving spaces online, and – I am relieved to see – in the analogue world, with am invigorating resurgence of supporting live music amongst the digital-weary teenagers of today *shakes middle-aged sensible-watch-adorned fist*. My own teenage kids have their own music-worlds, with the enthusiasm and energy that I remember so well. My playlists still rage on… long live extreme music.

I wish you both the very best as one era closes, and I am sure another opening with new and fulfilling endeavours.

All the very best, and with my sincere gratitude for a world of opportunities granted to a music fan from little Tasmania,

Audrey Gerrard

I never knew my five most dreaded words until I met one Joseph McGahey (well, over the phone at any rate.)

“Hey mate, how are ya?”

Seeing my name in glossy print around 2012 or 2013 was a real thrill – Joey and Brooke made that happen. They wanted to make the best music mag on the face of the Earth, louder than everyone else, the haters be damned.

When I cut the corporate cord around 2014, I never knew those five words would change the course of my entire life. “So mate, are you like, working for yourself and shit?” Joey said in between a cigarette drag. Yeah. I’m independent, baby! “Cool, cool. Do you wanna like, help edit the mag?”

For some naive reason, I said yes. Yes, because I achieved my dream: becoming a magazine editor.

From a little room in the south-east suburbs of Melbourne, the rise of my Hysteria editorship began. Early mornings interviewing rock stars, late nights hanging out with rock stars, bloated livers thanks to hanging out with rock stars. It was torture.

Though it wasn’t a secret if Joey and I co-habited the same room we’d have come to blows more often than Ronnie Radke goes to prison. I’ll share a short story: I’ll never forget when some runt crashed my car on the way to a Soundwave Festival – Insurance info exchanged, injuries accounted for, then at text to Joey. Joey’s reply back expressed disappointment because I didn’t catch the first act. Yes, really.

Brooke, who has the patience of archangels and ministers of Heaven, would talk us both off ledges, tell us to put our egos aside, and power on for the good of the mag and its people. Yes, there were times when I hid FUCK JOEY longways in the copy of articles, hoping he’d notice (he never did.) I wanted to quit more times than I could count, but I just couldn’t. Not that; I deep down didn’t want to.

I believed in the project just as much as Joey and Brooke did – and held everyone to a higher standard because of it. Some Gen Zers would complain to Joe that I’d redline their shitty screeds to hell. Fuck that; we’re Hysteria. We’re better than everyone. Even when those salad days seemed to last forever, I figured working harder and smarter would tip us over the edge. Of course, the Spotify revolution happened and the written word was being displaced by the podcast and the YouTuber. We pivoted with Hard Noise – but the writing was on the wall. I was even questioning why we should be penning five-minute essays about three-minute songs. Hysteria limped on as long as it could, and we should be proud of what we achieved in a relatively short amount of time. Fuck BLUNT forever.

Despite the near constant acrimony, I consider Joey and Brooke my brother and sister from another… parent. I will forever be grateful for the opportunities they afforded me, a wet behind the ears know-it-all who just wanted to be cooler than everyone else. Over a journey of a decade, we unearthed some massive stories together, served in the trenches (well, photo pits and green rooms) shoulder to shoulder, and pulled out some truly incredible editions literally at the eleventh hour. I probably have astigmatism and can photosynthesise monitor radiation thanks to my time at Hysteria, but I would never have it any other way.

Joey – thank you so much, for everything. Brooke – I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

The Goon Squad – thank you for everything you did. Thank you for believing. Don’t stop. Believing. (Hold on to that feeling)

— Tom Valcanis, Editor emeritus