New reporter Brett Callwood has arrived at the Culver City News from the Longmont Times-Call in Colorado, but that only covers a fraction of his journey since his career began in Birmingham, England, in 1999.
Callwood, 42, studied business and information technology at the University of Central England, but soon realized that his calling was in an altogether different world. After reading British music weekly magazine Kerrang! for years prior, he started writing for them at the end of the 1990s, and a new career was born. Callwood went on to write for the magazines Classic Rock, Rhythm, Bizarre, Metal Hammer, Total Guitar, Guitarist, Acoustic, and more in the UK.
In 2006, he wrote a book about Detroit band the MC5 called Sonically Speaking and, the following year, a biography of Iggy Pop’s band The Stooges called Head On. For each book, he made a research trip to Michigan and then, at the beginning of 2008, he made the permanent move to the Metro Detroit region. Callwood continued freelance writing, primarily for alt-weekly the Detroit Metro Times where he was a columnist, but also for Detroit Metromix, plus national magazines such as Alternative Press, Metal Edge, and Fangoria.
In 2012, Callwood started working full-time for the Metro Times, rising to the position of music editor. In 2014, he relocated to Colorado to take the editor-in-chief position at glossy monthly lifestyle magazine Yellow Scene, where he covered everything from entertainment and food to politics and education.
Callwood moved into the local newspaper world when he took the community reporter position at the Longmont Times-Call in Longmont, near Boulder, Colo. There, he delved into the local nonprofits, schools, and characters that were such a vital part of the community. He also wrote for the Westword alt-weekly while in Colorado, and he continued to do so when he relocated to Los Angeles with his wife Toni and son Dylan in July 2016.
His recent credits also include the LA Weekly, OC Weekly, SF Weekly, Tucson Weekly, Music Connection, and the Glendale News-Press.
Callwood has won numerous Society of Professional Journalists awards, and hopes to add to that collection by providing high-quality journalism to the people of Culver City and the surrounding area.