In general, this has been a good week so far, but it’s quite hard to run a daily blog off your own back, when you’re a student. I did have a mate signed up to help out, but with his net connection on the fritz all the time, it’s a hit-or-miss situation as to whether he gets on here.
So, to take a ‘break’ as it were, away from the music news, reviews, and such, I’d like to introduce myself.
Obviously, I am working under the handle of CatatonicStupor, which is my handle for almost every site I am a member of. I like the way it flows; it’s very ‘Cellar Door’ in my eyes. For the purposes of this site, I am the ‘Co-Editor’; the Admin-in-Chief #1, and the guy who writes the majority, so far.
I figure, since it’s a music based blog, this intro should focus less on me and more on the music I like, so at least you know where my bias lies.
I grew up on the type of music that can be classed as ‘country rock’; not Lynyrd Skynyrd and the hillbilly-bumpkin stylings of Sweet Home Alabama, but bands like The Eagles and a lot of country singers, what with my dad being a fan of people like Hank Marvin and Garth Brooks.
From a young age, I was surrounded by music, in all honesty. My parents had a phonograph on the top of the stereo, and a massive collection of vinyls from the 70s and 80s. My Grandparents had an even bigger collection, I later found out, but, my parents had just left them in the garage once they had been given to them, ending in the eventual warping of 99% of them. I used to make a habit of listening to stuff, anything, on the phonograph, and messing with the RPM on it, taking it from 45 to 75 and laughing as suddenly ABBA became Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Later on in life, around the age of, say, seven, I was given my first stereo, and a collection of CDs, which mainly comprised of Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, The Smurfs; typical late 90s kids music. It was nothing special, but it got me liking CDs. If and when I can afford it, I’ll choose a CD over a download; not only for the ‘hard copy’ but for the cover art, and the look and feel of it all.
It was also around this time that I started messing with mixtapes. I made my first mixtape, which until four years ago, was still in my possession, and dubbed it “Good Music”, filling it with things like Britney, the Smurfs, Rednex etc.
Then, I moved on to Secondary School (high school, if you prefer). In my first year, people talked a lot about Eminem and how brilliant rap was. I went in the opposite direction, and said I was a fan of Black Sabbath, Ozzy and Alice Cooper. I had never heard these bands before, just their names. So, I went home, and asked my parents for some CDs by them. Within a year, I’d gone from pop to classic rock. I wasn’t done yet though.
It must have been around the time of The Eyes of Alice Cooper coming out, when I discovered Satyricon. The cover for Rebel Extravaganza drew me in, and I snapped it up; that and Rob Zombie’s Hellbilly Deluxe. I was, if I do say so myself, the most extreme person in my yeargroup at that time. Everyone else had their Eminem, and 50 Cent, and here I was with Satyricon, Rob Zombie and Sepultura.
About a year later, the Unholy Alliance tour rolled into Cardiff, and a few of my mates snapped up tickets, along with me. We were fourteen and fifteen, and were stood with fans of Slayer and Hatebreed; thrash and metal fans for many years. It really was quite a definining moment. It led, not to a life that was encased in a shell of metal, but, more of one where I wanted to go to as many gigs as was economically possible.
For the next two years or so, I was still into my metal. I was the resident ‘goth’ in the school. I had my own Gothic Bible, I had the trench coat (of sorts), I had the blackened nails and the spikes and the traditional mall-goth stuff. [And this explains why I am so annoyed that being goth or 'emo' is suddenly socially acceptable, because I had to put up with a fair amount of crap].
Then, I stumbled over QuestionableContent.net and it all changed. There was a band name on the wall. Mercury Rev. I thought “Surely that can’t be a real band.” I checked into it, and it changed my life forever. I opened my horizons. I stopped listening so much to gloomy metal, and worked my way into indie rock and all things beyond.
That was two years ago. I went from indie rock, to indie pop; from there I combined with my love of Goth-rock, and got into Post-Punk. I got into Post-Rock, and from there Math Rock. From 65 Days of Static, I jumped into the bandwagon of Electronica. From there, Lo-Fi and Glitch; and all the while, running in the background was folk, folk rock, and folk punk. Then, recently, I picked up my liking of metal, and discovered Noise Rock, with groups like Lightning Bolt and Clara Clara.
In eighteen years, I feel like a different person.
They say that the music you listen to between the ages of 10 and 25 is the music that you will listen to for the rest of your life, so I think I am pretty happy with how I’ve turned out so far. Half way through that time period, and I’m pretty open to most things; I’m branching into hip-hop lately, and dance is now just another form of techno; reggae and ska pose no problems either, and I’ve always been a fan of classical. There’s not much there I refuse point-blank.
And, now I feel you know me a lot more, you should have some idea where my biases lie. That’ll give you some idea of how impartial this could be, or is.
And to close this up, so you go away with some music on your mind:
This album has been the best purchase I have ever had:
My Latest Novel – When We Were Wolves
They are a Scottish band, and I haven’t heard much of them since this album, but, it really is worth a listen. Think of them as the Scottish Arcade Fire; a Scottish Of Montreal, but without all the pomp and such.
