This has been a crazy year. That our political system seems to be imploding isn’t helping, but still, I’d be complaining of my personal year’s craziness even without the backdrop of incessant governmental lunacy. I moved my entire studio. My car was totaled. A long-term relationship ended. All manner of challenges seemed to characterize my daily existence. So, it was in this context of personal and professional transition and upheval that the news arrived about the demise of our old magazine. To say I didn’t see it coming would be a lie. My tenure there was long enough to include the days when we had a large staff and would send multiple editors on days-long, all-expenses-paid trips for interviews and events — but we soon found things steadily shrinking, with staff and budgets being cut in a painfully slow attrition that was too obvious to ignore. Still, I never would have imagined that the brand I worked so hard to help cultivate and refine would be eviscerated and repurposed as the U.S. title of a British bass magazine that has almost nothing in common with the original. That was an unfortunate surprise.

I mention all of this to convey that our new enterprise, Bass Magazine, is not only something that I think the bass world needs, but something that I need. Putting together a magazine is a serious undertaking; I wish all of our readers could know just how much effort, passion, and enthusiasm went into each issue. This was 100% due to the quality of the people behind the magazine. It was just too depressing for words to imagine, if only for a moment, that this staff — with over a century of combined experience illuminating the music and culture of bass — would not only be jobless, but without an outlet for its hard-earned expertise. I am so heartened that in a matter of months, the team has pulled off this extraordinary feat. Moreover, Bass Magazine promises to offer so much more than our former publication ever could. As a digital venture, the opportunity to modernize our content is exciting and long overdue. The strictures of print, not to mention the limited imagination of our former corporate overlords, have long diminished the chance for many of our best ideas to see the light of day. No longer.

In future installments of The Inquirer, I hope to utilize the full potential of this space to bring you a more engaging and instructive resource to learn about our instrument. While I do mourn the losses this past year has brought, I am also bolstered by the liberating feeling that comes with change. I hope you are as excited as I am to go on this journey. Please be in touch at jon.herrera@gmail.com and let me know how you think this column can best work for you. 

An accomplished player and former editor-in-chief, Contributing Editor Jonathan Herrera has been a full-time musician and producer since 2010. His latest endeavor is San Francisco Bay Area recording studio Dime Studios. Catch up with him at jonherrera.com and at thedimestudios.com.