Pretty much everywhere you find a music enthusiast you will find All Access Magazine. Established in 2002, the free music and entertainment publication is distributed throughout Southern California every month to night clubs, rehearsal halls, recording studios, music and retail stores, newsstands, clothing stores, restaurants and record companies and has a consistently growing subscription list reaching both national and international readers.
Wanting to help any way she could to get the word out on local Indie artists and groups, Editor-in-Chief of All Access Magazine, Debra Stocker began attending as many live shows as she could, snapped a few photos and wrote reviews on their performances, then submitted them to any magazines or newspapers she could get to publish them. “I really enjoy talking to a lot of amazing and interesting people,” she says. “I’m one of those who likes to know what makes the clock tick, not just the fact that it works…and I found myself using that curiosity while interviewing to find out as much as I could about the music scene and what would help the Indie artist/groups I knew. I was also hanging out with the ‘Bandwagon’, a small group of about 30 local bands. We all would support each other’s live performances at the different venues around town and meet up once a month to talk about the music scene and how we could further help one another.”
Then a friend suggested she publish her own paper. “After he showed me how to do it,” Stocker explains, “I borrowed the funds to get started and well, here I am four and a half years later! Our staff works so hard running around constantly reviewing shows and photographing bands. There are plenty of show and CD reviews as well as in-depth interviews in every issue.” Then she adds, “You can only imagine the amount of CD’s sent to us for review and please, keep them coming because we will get to all of them, I promise!”
It is her dedicated personnel (including Tony Sison, Bill Rowan, Ernie Manrique, Mike Cavanaugh, Laura Phillips, Susie, Heather, Scott, Maya and Harriet) along with her friends Noele and John, which give the magazine tremendous support. “But our readers are the people that make it happen by going out and supporting live music. That local artist or group you see today may be the one you hear on the radio tomorrow! Then there are television shows like The Rustam Report and its host Denise Ames who also aide in my motto ‘Keeping Local Music Alive’,” she smiles.
AAM has also released two promotional CD’s: All Access Rocks Volumes 1 and 2, each featuring over a dozen groups in various musical genres with this year’s currently in the works. The magazine is also sponsoring Nikstock, an outdoor event held at Irvine Lake on Friday May 12th and Saturday May 13th featuring two stages, 40 bands and plenty of overnight camping.
As if that weren’t enough to keep Stocker busy, she also co-owns GreenStock Productions (with John Green), which produces the annual All Access Magazine Music Awards Show honoring over 40 artist/groups for their talents in several categories. The event includes celebrity guest presenters, live performances and the crowning of Miss All Access Magazine. In December, they hold their annual Toys For Tots benefit “Rock The Toy Box”, which includes a visit from the US Marines, special giveaways and of course, live performances and guest celebrities.
Aside from all that, Stocker is a huge animal lover, and also dreams of creating an alcohol-free, drug-free and gang-free youth center in the San Fernando Valley. “I don’t feel kids 16-21 have anywhere to go anymore to listen to live music. I would love to have a place where kids could safely hang out and see some of the great local talent out there. I think this is so important now that they have taken the music out of our schools.”
You can visit AAM online at www.allaccessmagazine.com and www.myspace.com/allaccessmagazine.
