https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eol_N71aBQA

My name is James McMahon. I’m a journalist, illustrator, podcaster, musician and editor from London, via the industrial north. I worked in a variety of roles at the NME for ten years. I was editor of Kerrang! magazine for six. Since 2018 I’ve worked freelance. I like the Ramones, mashed potato, horror movies, EastEnders and football. These are all things I write about as well as true crime, books, television, film, pop music, heavy metal and indie rock, videogames, folklore, internet culture, the paranormal, vampires, Bigfoot, sea monsters, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (a club I am card carrying member of, distressingly), dinosaurs and the British working class. I run Spoook Media, which is an outlet for many of my creative pursuits. I have a newsletter. You can sign up here.

Outlets I do/have written for include; Big Issue, Crime Monthly, The Daily Mirror, Dummy, Evening Standard, Empire, Fandom, Film Stories, FourFourTwo, GamesMaster, GamesRadar, GAMINGBible, GQ. The Guardian, The Independent, The Line Of Best Fit, Loaded, Little White Lies, Metal Hammer, Metro, MEL, Mixmag, Mojo, NME, New Statesman, The Observer, Official PlayStation Magazine, PCGamesN, Prospect, Q, The Quietus, Real Crime, Record Collector, Red Bull, Revolver, SFX, Shortlist, The Spectator, Stuff, The Face, The Sunday Express, The Telegraph, Vice, Virgin Radio, When Saturday Comes – and I’m a columnist in the two time FSF Football Fanzine Of The Year winning, Popular STAND (a fanzine/podcast for the likes of Doncaster Rovers). Sometimes I talk on the telly; the BBC, Sky, Channel 4 and ITN most often. Sometimes the radio too. Here I am talking about my crime writing on the Crawlspace podcast.

I’m also an illustrator. You can see samples of my work here. I regularly make fanzines and comics and love the DIY press. When I get a moment I’ll get a section about those up on the site.

Here are some people I have interviewed; 50 Cent, AC/DC, Amanda Knox, Alice Cooper, Alice In Chains, Andy Serkis, Anna Paquin, A Perfect Circle, Architects, Asif Kapadia, At The Drive-In, Behemoth, Black Veil Brides, Billy Bragg, Billy Talent, Biffy Clyro, Blood Red Shoes, Boris Becker, Bring Me The Horizon, British Sea Power, Bruce Dickinson, Buzzcocks, Cable, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Can’t Swim, Carter USM, Chuck D, Coldplay, Conjurer, Cornershop, Creeper, Crown Lands, Daniel J. Jones, Daniel Myrick, Dean Koontz, Dimmu Borgir, Don Broco, Don Letts, Donovan, Dong-won Gang, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Du Blonde, Edwyn Collins, Elbow, Emmylou Harris, Employed To Serve, Fall Out Boy, Field Music, Foals, Foo Fighters, Francis Ford Coppola, Frank Grillo, Funeral For A Friend, Futureheads, Gail Porter, Gallows, Gaslight Anthem, Geoff Dyer, Gene Simmons, Gerard Way, Ghost, Gomez, The Gossip, Green Day, Gruff Rhys, HIM, Hopper, Iceage, The Interrupters, Jarvis Cocker, Jay Reatard, Jess Phillips, John Grant, John Simm, Judas Priest, Kasabian, The Killers, Katheryn Winnick, Killswitch Engage, Korn, Kyle Maclachlan, Lacuna Coil, Lauren Cohan, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Letlive., Liars, Lily Allen, Limp Bizkit, Long Blondes, Marina & The Diamonds, Mark Ronson, Manic Street Preachers, Mastodon, Maximo Park, Metallica, Metronomy, MGMT, Mogwai, Motion City Soundtrack, Muse, Nadine Shah, Neds Atomic Dustbin, Nick Kroll, Nile Rodgers, Nova Twins, Opeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Patrick Gibson, Patrick Stewart, Paramore, Palaye Royale, Paloma Faith, Pearl Jam, Peter Hook, Pharrell Williams, Puscifer, Pulled Apart By Horses, Puppy, Pvris, Rami Malek, Redd Kross, Refused, Rise Against, Royal Blood, Rufus Wainwright, Ryan Gosling, Sat Bains, Shaun Ryder, Simon Bird, Slaves, Slipknot, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Boom, Sonic Youth, Stellan Skarsgård, Superchunk, Susie Quatro, Terry Zwigoff, Thrice, Tom DeLonge, Tool, Toni Braxton, Trivium, U2, You Me At Six, The View, Vukovi, Walter Schreifels, Waterparks, Weezer, Wolfmother.

Contact me on twitter @jamesjammcmahon until I work out how to create a contact form!