Music enthusiast, writer and publisher (1971-∞)
Çağlan Tekil was born on September 7, 1971, in Istanbul, as the youngest child of Süleyman and İpek Tekil, to a family that achieved success in both sports and printing. He spent his childhood on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, interested in music, soccer, and magazines.
Çağlan took a keen interest in heavy metal music throughout his life. However, during his teenage years, he listened to and wrote about a wide range of music, including rock, pop, punk and its subgenres. He began his journalism career in the late ‘80s, with Güneş Gençlik, a youth magazine, where he worked as a reporter.
In 1989, he organized his first concert in the Fenerbahçe district of Istanbul, with Metalium, Pegasus, and Destroyer. A couple of years later, he organized his second concert with Metalium, Hazy Hill, Lords and Braindead at the Harbiye Open Air Theatre.
In 1991, he founded Laneth, one of the first two fanzines in Turkey (the other being Mondo Trasho). Printed and reproduced with black and white photocopy, Laneth reached a wide audience and switched to offset printing with a full-color cover after the first three issues. During the time it was published, Laneth remained underground and refused to be legalized. Maintaining that they would “…end the magazine when we interview Slayer” they kept their word in 1994, and in doing so, became a legend.
During the life of the fanzine, Çağlan Tekil organized Concerts with Laneth in many important venues in Istanbul and Ankara, especially the Istanbul Harbiye Open Air Theater. With these concerts, he made a significant contribution to the development of Turkish rock and heavy metal.
In 2012, Çağlan also published the collective book The Worst Of Laneth, leaving an 88-page memoir for future generations. The book was numbered and published as a limited single edition under the label of Altıkırkbeş Yayın, with the editorship of Şenol Erdoğan and Murat Arslan.
In the last two years of Laneth, Çağlan Tekil also worked as the editor of GO (Genç Olmak-Being Young) magazine, which was published by Interpress. He gained popularity with his special music interviews and his unique perspective, as well as his articles on “Night Travels” (Gece Gezmeleri), which was a first for Turkey. Thanks to his voice and style recalling the tradition of fanzines, he developed close communication with GO magazine’s readership and played a great role in the success of the magazine. Attracting attention, in particular, were Çağlan’s interview with Karakan before Cartel’s debut album and his articles and album reviews in which he compiled suggestions for those who wanted to organize concerts and produce albums.
After Laneth, Çağlan created and published the magazine Non Serviam.
In 1995, with a group of friends from GO magazine, he took part in the founding of the newspaper Akşam and worked as an editor for the Sunday supplement called Pazarca.
In the second half of the ’90s, he undertook the management of the music shop Saadeth in Kadıköy Akmar Pasajı with Mazhar Şiringöz from Metalium. During this period, he had a direct impact on the music preferences of his fans who came to the shop to chat with him. Later, Zihni Müzik became a co-owner of Saadeth.
Soon Çağlan began to organize concerts again. This time, he organized concerts for popular international bands such as Rotting Christ, Tiamat, Destruction, and Anathema with the sponsorship of Non Serviam magazine and with the participation of Turkish bands. In addition, he took part in the organization of Turkish concerts of many foreign electronic sound bands and musicians, as part of Hip Productions.
After working as a writer and reporter at Yeni Yüzyıl newspaper and Haftalık magazine, he started to work as editor-in-chief for Blue Jean magazine in 2004. In the same period, he started to prepare Headbang, which was first a supplement and later became an independent magazine and a “bookazine” under the label of Karakarga Publishing. He became the editor-in-chief of Blue Jean in 2009. He remained the editor-in-chief of Blue Jean and Headbang until the day he was hospitalized.
DJ’ing was another important job that Çağlan loved. He continued to be a DJ both in rock venues and also in his radio program Laneth, which he began producing and presenting at Radyo Eksen in 2010, and at Radyo Eksen parties. He shared the selections he made from his wide music archive with generations of rock lovers for 25 years.
As of 2017, Çağlan started a new concert series with the concept of A Night with Laneth, and on February 18, Salon İKSV hosted Pentagram, Metalium, Kronik, Radical Noise, and Dr Razor (Razor with Dr Skull covers). In May of the same year, Çağlan showed his punk and psychedelic roots at the Loud Voices from the Homeland (Yurttan Gürültülü Sesler) concert he organized, with the bands Radical Noise, Tampon, Uluru, and Ofisboyz.
The Climb, Asafated, Rashit, Murder King, Razor (with Hazy Hill covers), and Tünay Akdeniz were on the stage in the second A Night with Laneth event that took place at Salon İKSV in January 2018. And in November 2018, Çağlan organized the replica of the Speed Metal Attack concert which was held at Moda Cinema in 1988, in the same place, 30 years later, with the same bands: Pentagram, Metafor, and Metalium.
Çağlan carried his concerts to the IF Performance Hall Beşiktaş stage on January 24, 2019. He organized the 25th Anniversary Concert of the band Kargo. The Climb, Objective, Cultus, Pagan, and Razor with their Kramp songs were on the stage for A Night with Laneth 3, which took place on March 8.
Çağlan also completed the “Dr Skull album and concerts” project that he had been working on for a long time. After 25 years, Dr Skull, a band made up of medical professors, namely Baştepe, Ersöz, Alper, Mustafa and Alper, took to the stage in a concert hosted by Razor and created an unforgettable night with great music and record and CD signings.
Dr Skull fans, who came to Istanbul from Ankara by bus for this concert, hosted the second concert, in Ankara this time, in another Çağlan Tekil concert. The event took place in Jolly Joker Ankara on 8 November.
On February 1, 2020, Çağlan realized one of his biggest projects and hosted Athena with their old school punk set at Zorlu PSM Studio. Radical Noise and Haossaa accompanied Athena in A Night with Laneth 4, and new generations were introduced to the roots of Athena.
Çağlan had begun collecting records even when he did not own a record player, and created a great record collection consisting of various genres, rare editions, and special copies. After he passed away, this archive was resettled in the “Çağlan Tekil Record Room”, created within Istanbul Technical University’s Dr. Erol Üçer Music Advanced Research Center (İTÜ MİAM).
In the months following his death, the Headbang team and his friends completed the last unfinished issue with their articles about Çağlan’s life and career. An illustration of Çağlan prepared as a poster for Metalium’s box set, became the 101st and final cover of Headbang.
Çağlan passed away on April 7, 2020, as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage he suffered on February 15, 2020. He is remembered for continuing on his path without ever compromising his principles and stance. In addition to assisting many young rock, punk, and heavy metal bands, he also paved the way for legendary bands of the ’90s to come together and produce new music. He managed to touch the hearts of the masses with his optimistic perspective and the unifying role he assumed. He created events that marked a period in the lives of many music lovers. Until his last day, his friends kept watch over him, waiting in the hospital garden. His readers, radio listeners, musicians, and music-loving friends from all over the world struggled with accepting this sudden farewell. However, they rolled up their sleeves to commemorate Çağlan Tekil’s name in projects that would honor him.
The influence of Çağlan Tekil as a pioneer, a revolutionary, and an opinion leader in the history of Turkish rock and heavy metal will continue through future generations. His favorite songs will be played on the streets of Beyoğlu and Kadıköy, and Çağlan will continue to live with his loved ones and fans.