Doug Van Pelt

My bio

Doug Van Pelt is the founder and editor of HM, a 24-year-old Christian hard music magazine that Guitar World refers to as the Bible of Christian Rock.* HM covers the wide span of hard music, including hardcore, metal, emo, rock, indie rock, punk, and industrial. Releasing the first issue in 1985 as Heaven’s Metal, Van Pelt’s magazine soon competed on the newsstands with the likes of Circus, Hit Parader, Rolling Stone, Metal Edge, AP, and Spin (the last three of which also started in 1985). Propelled by the popularity of Christian heavy metal bands such as Stryper, Heaven’s Metal soon became the most respected rock magazine in the Christian music industry, which led Van Pelt to concentrate his efforts on the magazine full-time.

Van Pelt penned columns in both CCM (“On The Beat: Rock/Alternative”) and Guitar World Magazines (“Stairway to Heaven”) between 1987 and 1994. He has been the focus of articles in newspapers ranging from The Dallas Morning News to The Austin Business Journal; as well as the recent book, Body Piercing Saved My Life. As for his own magazine, he guided his interviews and relations with artists and recording industry staff with journalistic integrity while also staying true to his faith and concern for his writing subjects. With this in mind, Van Pelt began interviewing non-Christian bands for a feature called “What So & So Says,” which has become one of the magazine’s most popular features. Artists as diverse as Green Day, Def Leppard, Thrice, Megadeth, Kiss, My Chemical Romance, Korn, Collective Soul, and The Misfits have been interviewed by Van Pelt, uncovering their thoughts and feelings about the person of Jesus Christ. The artists usually appreciate the unique questions and the fact that they actually get quoted accurately in the pages of HM. 20 of these interviews were recently published in the book Rock Stars On God.

Doug currently lives near Austin, TX with his wife Charlotta, and daughters Kaela and Rachel where they attend Calvary Chapel.

* Guitar World, October 2000 Issue