Welcome to this, the first issue of Toxin Magazine, part of the Virus Project.
Hopefully by now you’ve read Will Poole’s article on The Virus Project Explained and so you have a rough idea of what we’re all about. Also, you’re probably already just starting to understand how confusing it is to have two Wills working on the Project, but it does get easier to tell the difference after a while – I’m the prettier one, if that helps.
It was June 2008, life was being good to me and I was well on the way to being blind drunk in a sunny pub garden in Camden Town when Will initially asked me about running the magazine side of the Virus Project. I think he planned it that way, knowing that after a pint and a half of Früli I reckon I can take on the world, and so I naturally accepted the challenge. But once I’d sobered up, I must admit I became a little apprehensive.
It looked like a huge proposal, especially as the work had to be undertaken at weekends or in the evenings alongside my full-time job. Also, these ambitious dreams so often fizzle out and remain just that – dreams – and I wasn’t confident in the thing getting much further than a half-baked idea in Will’s brain. But I, and other key team members (most notably James Black, our dedicated unsung hero of a webmaster), picked up on some of Will’s infectious enthusiasm and so, since the New Year, we have been slaving away on it. Now, eleven months after the original conception, we can finally present our first live issue of Toxin.
The magazine itself is intended to be the public face and voice of the whole Project and its members in which we will cover anything relevant to our lifestyles, interests, pursuits and core beliefs. And because it is you who make the Project what it is by bringing your own agenda to the table, we want you to be involved.
Going to a good gig, festival or club? Take a camera, shoot some wicked photos and write it up for us. Written an interesting piece of music or poetry? Send it over and we’ll promote it to a wide audience. Got an opinion that you want to get off your chest but you lack the platform to get it out into the public eye? We’ll publish it. Are you strongly political, or attending any kind of demonstration or protest? This is the new age of the citizen journalist and we have a lot of room for people with the balls to speak out for what they believe in. Remember that this is your magazine, so if there’s something relevant that you’d like to see published, get in touch.
There wasn’t too much in the way of external contribution towards this first issue, so between Will, James, Will’s long-suffering girlfriend Steph, a handful of casual helpers and myself, we’ve set the benchmark. A big shout must also go out to Mark, Colm and rest of the Infected Media crew who have been tirelessly working on film shorts and magic multimedia dingly-dongs for our pages. Issue two will be going live in September, so if you want to contribute to it in any way at all, or provide some feedback or constructive criticism, please drop me an email. Otherwise, we all sincerely hope that you enjoy this first issue of Toxin.
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Editor, Toxin Magazine Online
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