About Annamarya Scaccia

My love affair with music and writing began relatively around the same time – when I was a kid, I listen to pop music and disco and danced around the house, and also wrote bad poetry and fantastical “novels.” As I advanced in age, so did my writing skills and the genres I listened to. I went from New Kids on the Block (who I still LOVE) and disco (which I still LOVE) to Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tori Amos and Green Day (I was 12). It was the ’90s, and us ’90s kids were weird, but I still enjoy the memories of teenage angst, and the numbers of journals I ruined with my penmanship.

In high school, with a new crop of people surrounding me, the musical floodgates burst open – I learned of the Pixies and the Breeders and Mono and Elysian Fields and Elliot Smith and Poe and Black Flag and X and Jeff Buckley and New Bomb Turks and all these other amazing indie and alternative bands that I wish I was acquainted with just a little bit earlier. I still loved pop and hip-hop and R&B and disco, but in high school, at age 15, those bands – those two genres – became the two genres I would live by to this day (of course, we could get into the semantics of subgenres, but that’s neither here nor there).

Fast-forward a couple years after my high school graduation, after a year of Art College and obnoxious art kids, I reconnected with writing, and started on my educational path towards a career in journalism. I knew right away music was my expertise, my focus, my field, so in addition to the number of “gonna-get-you-ready-for-the-real-world” news classes, I attended music history courses – one about the history of music through time, one about the history of music and New York (I dropped out of that class – I’m a New Yawker who finds New York pretentious), and one with David Grubbs about music and different mediums. I wrote for the college paper, crafted a ton of music interviews and reviews (my blunt criticism gardened a few hateful responses, most notably from a New Age “Guru”), eventually graduated to music editor, then editor-in-chief, and won a couple of awards.

During college, I also freelanced for a number of online and print publications to build up my portfolio (up to this point, I’ve written for 17 publications. Not bad). Most were music-oriented. Like with the college paper, I conducted interviews, wrote reviews, the whole nine. Then I graduated college (a thousand cheers), and continued on the music journalism path. Now, at 26, I edit the Philadelphia-based regional music monthly, Origivation (which I wrote for before I was promoted to the head-honcho spot). I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished and I want to accomplish more. Here’s a snapshot:

As a music journalist, I’ve interviewed a number of influential bands in the alternative and indie scenes including Henry Rollins, Glasvegas, Theo Kogan, Clinic, the Frames, X, Mission of Burma, DJ Spooky, Ponytail, British Sea Power, Metro Station, the Acorn, the Trucks, Mike Kinsella of Owen/Joan of Arc, the Drama Club, the Whitsundays, Brothers & Sisters, and Horse the Band, among other semi-national, national and local acts. A good percentage of musicians I interviewed, however, were found and set up by my own accord due to my interest and drive in working with and knowing musicians and their artistry. I have also reviewed albums by the Fever, the Hidden Cameras, Moby, …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, the Takeovers, Moby, Bright Eyes, Stars, British Sea Power, Fantomas, Social Distortion, Jeff Buckley, Coffinberry, Black Dice, and countless others.

Sure, maybe some of the people I interviewed aren’t considered “big deals” or worth the effort in the mainstream, but these are artists that have influenced so much more than your average “famous” artist. I mean, I interviewed Henry Rollins, HENRY ROLLINS! Do you know how big of a deal that is? (Actually, in terms of work-related incidents, Henry Rollins was my first cover when I started as editor for Origivation a year ago). And John Doe & DJ Bonebrake from X! And Theo Kogan!

As for the music industry, every task I perform as editor, every e-mail and telephone correspondence I have with PR agents and record companies, every conference I attend, every panel I’m on (so far two), every event I judge (also two) is related to the music industry – I am in the music industry. And I’m proud of that.