We had the pleasure of meeting Olivier Drago, founder and editor in chief of the bimonthly musical magazine New Noise. We took the opportunity to interview him, to tell you more about him and his magazine. 
– Tell us about yourself.
I’m 41, I was a teenager in the early 90’s at the time when grunge, fusion, industrial metal and alternative rock/metal was booming. I still listen to all these rock genres and sub-genres with barbaric names: indie rock, stoner, shoegaze, doom, post-punk, cold-wave, hardcore, post-rock, post-hardcore, thrash, death-metal, and so on and so forth, with a bit of electro and hip-hop. Where does my love of music come from? I have no idea. My parents didn’t listen to any music at all and I’m a single child, so I had no peer to look up to in this field. At the age of 11/12, I started listening to bands/artists like Springsteen, Dire Straits and Toto, and then Depeche Mode, The Cure, Genesis, INXS, and I finally moved on to Def Leppard, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Metallica, which led me to all the alternative scenes in the early 90’s.
– Where did the idea of founding New Noise come from?
It was back in 2003. I had been running a musical webzine (No Brain No Headache) for three or four years, alongside college (DEUST métiers de la culture, then DEUST Technologie de l’information et de la communication). One day, an editor from Paris (well, what I thought to be an editor, as I would later find out) contacted me. He had been following NBNH for a number of years and asked me to set up a team to launch a new publication similar to Rage, one of the magazines that allowed me to hone my musical culture in the 90’s. So there I was, editor in chief for a national magazine, and it has been going on for 13 years. Before New Noise, there was Velvet, Versus and Noise, every name change corresponds to a change of editor. Since late 2011, and thus the launch of New Noise following on from Noise, I have been editing the magazine myself.
– Where does New Noise stand in relation to the French musical press?
New Noise is quite unique. People seem to struggle to identify our editorial line. We are neither a metal magazine, nor an indie rock magazine. We are somewhere in the middle and we also cover electro and/or experimental music, hip-hop, etc. Our front covers reflect our diversity: from Warpaint to Neurosis, along with Oneohtrix Point Never, JC Satan, John Carpenter and Jello Biafra, we cover a wide spectrum. So, we are really on the periphery of what is left (i.e., not much, Rock ‘n’ Folk, Rock Hard, Rock One, for rock) of the French musical press. 
– What were the main steps in the history of New Noise? Were there any obstacles? Which opportunities helped the magazine to take off?
Major steps: changes in names and editors, and especially my taking control of editing. Otherwise, we never got any ‘opportunities’, we just did our own thing without worrying about the others, and so far, it seems to have worked quite well that way. The current economic situation is also obviously an obstacle. And to add insult to injury, we are straddling two sectors facing a major crisis: music and the press. It’s a package. Add to that an editorial line that is not really mainstream, the abysmal rock/metal culture of most French people, and with everyone wanting everything for free…
– Did the creation of New Noise give you opportunities to interview artists you were dreaming of meeting?
Yes, of course. But I don’t really have a fan culture. I’ve never had my picture taken with a musician, I have never asked to have an album signed, etc. I’ve never ‘dreamed’ of meeting such and such celebrity. Let’s say that it wasn’t my main goal when I started out, my main concern was sharing and getting information around. Naturally, I’m glad I got the opportunity to have interesting conversations with artists I have liked for a long time. And I don’t recall ever being disappointed by any of them. Some of these include Mike Patton (Faith No More), Jaz Coleman (Killing Joke), Page Hamilton (Helmet), Duane Denison (Jesus Lizard), Ian Astbury (The Cult), Franz Treichler (The Young Gods), Jennifer Herrema (Royal Trux), Dave Grohl (Nirvana), Will Brooks (Dälek), etc.
– How many people write articles for New Noise and how do you edit the magazine?
The team comprises thirty editors, an editorial secretary (whose main task is proofreading), a graphic artist, five photographers and a webmaster (online magazine and social media). I contact journalists for interviews and they sometimes approach me. We are all more or less in contact with the press agents, labels and bands. Same for the records we review. Some we get for promo, others we buy or download. I compile everything and prepare the table of contents of each issue.
– On average, how long do you spend on an interview?
I have never actually timed it, but I would say on average that it takes two working days. Generally, the interviews themselves last between 30 minutes and 1h30.
– Do you own a turntable? =)
An Audio Technica AT-LP 1240. I’m satisfied with it so far. 
– How many records do you have?
About 2,000 (and 8,000 CDs, I know I shouldn’t…)