CREEM MAGAZINE - Fall 2025
Welcome to CREEM, America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine!
CREEM was founded in Detroit, Michigan in 1969, and ran until 1989. It set itself apart from its compatriots (i.e. Rolling Stone) at the time by championing emerging punk, alternative, and heavy metal acts, like Iggy & The Stooges and KISS.
After a long hiatus, and many copyright battles in the courtroom, CREEM founder Barry Kramer’s son JJ Kramer won the rights to the entire archive and brand. The magazine relaunched as a print quarterly in June 2022.
The newly relaunched CREEM offers an oversize layout and glossy pages. In an era dominated by digital media, algorithms, and clickbait, it’s refreshing to see a media organization venture out into the world in a print format. We’re grateful to see the opportunity presented for writers, photographers, and illustrators!
Given our long relationship with VP of Content Fred Pessaro, shooting his concert bookings and work at other media organizations, it made sense that he would tap us for visuals. We’ve collaborated with MJ Lenderman and Danny Brown in previous issues, and are pleased to share our work with Swamp Dogg and Annihilation Time in the latest issue!
BORN TO BOOZE
Born to Booze is a recurring column in CREEM wherein a musical artist regales the reader with tales of drunken shenanigans, and then offers a bespoke cocktail recipe to go along with the story. For this installment, legendary NYC nightlife impresario Jonathan Toubin interviewed American country soul and R&B legend Swamp Dogg, considered one of the great cult figures of 20th century American music. Toubin had booked Swamp Dogg for a performance at Bushwick/Ridgewood border venue TV Eye as part of Toubin’s longstanding New York Night Train concert and party series, and we were grateful for the opportunity to document not only the performance but also the post-show bar hangs.
CREEM PROFILES
CREEM Profiles is a throwback to the original magazine. They launched this faux-advertisement column as a spoof of the Dewars Whiskey advertisements in the 1970s, promoting a fake “Boy Howdy!” beer. The idea was the play on the supposed classiness of Dewars with the most déclassé beverage of them all: cheap beer.
Carrying this into the 21st century, nothing has changed but the artists featured. They still must answer the same gauntlet of questions: age, occupation, last book you read, etc., and they still must be photographed drinking the fictional Boy Howdy! beer.
This installment introduced Annihilation Time, an early aughts SoCal punk band. We were thrilled to contribute to the archive of this legendary and humorous piece of media history.
