Puddlegum

Puddlegum began in 1997 when Flick and two college friends decided to promote their favorite bands. Deciding to write music news before “blogging” had been coined, they began one of the first online music magazines. Josh Smith (Hydro 74), Flick’s roommate at the time, handled the graphics, while Jim Mendenhall (Starry Hope) handled the web development.

When the “zine” took off, attracting over 1,500 unique visits a day, they decided to turn Puddlegum into an independent record label. They signed Estis P@rc, and hired Jesse Sprinkle (Demon Hunter, Dead Poetic, Poor Old Lu) as their producer.

After releasing several albums, including a single/compilation, Puddlegum struggled to secure distribution. Jim Mendenhall moved to Russia to work for a university in St. Petersburg. Josh Smith went on to design for record labels, skate board magazines, Relevant Magazine, and artists, such as 50 Cent. Flick focused on his career as a therapist for teens.

In September 2006, Flick relaunched Puddlegum as an indie music journal. In ten months the website attracted over 100,000 visits. Stories made the front page of TUAW, Digg, and VH1’s Best Week Ever, and have been featured on USA Today, and Reuters.

Since the month of October of 2007, Puddlegum has seen an increase of traffic. In one month Puddlegum had over 170,000 pageviews, and over 120,000 visitors. (Google Analytics)

In November Thom Yorke spoke about Puddlegum’s Radiohead theory during a BBC Radio 6 with Steve Lamacq. Rolling Stone wrote about the theory the following day. When Rolling Stone Brazil magazine featured Radiohead on the cover, they mentioned Puddlegum’s 01 10 playlist (which has come to be known as OK Rainbows).

Puddlegum has developed a team of writers from around the world: Istanbul, Rio de Janeiro, Hamburg, London, Beijing and around the US. The team will bring a fresh element to Puddlegum, a global perspective on independent music.

Contact Flick by phone: (574)386-0851
email: flick@puddlegum.net
AIM: pooroldflick