I realised lately that I've been writing this blog for over 4 months now but have rarely, if ever, given much light to where my tastes come from, how they developed and even generally what takes my fancy day-to-day. From what I've reviewed thus far you'd be forgiven thinking that I was ready to preach loveliness about the next Paramore record (I'm not, I mean I might, if its good), but honestly it's quite the maelstrom in reality; More recent years have brought heavy hardcore giants such as Palm Reader, Converge and Rolo Tomassi (TBR), through the lighter side of Create To Inspire, and of course the aggressive Americans that are Stray From The Path and STYG, with the occasional bits of metal and pop-punk thrown about; Monuments, Bury Tomorrow, Heart Of A Coward, Architects, Knucklepuck, Neck Deep and so on. And although these are all bands that I admire in their own way and these are all certainly bands I have and want to see live, want to buy records from and want to meet and speak to about their music, there is so much much more that comes in to my realm of influence.
Origins
I grew up in a small village in Derbyshire and lived my entire life up to the age of 20 there, so its fair to say I was limited in what music was coming my way. As you can imagine, the sheltered way that country living colours your musical tastes, mine all came from my brother and sister (six years my elder) and my parents. Fortunately for me my brother fell into a crowd of metal lovers, so from 9/10 years old I was well versed in the music of Slayer, Metallica, Morbid Angel, Cradle Of Filth, Cannibal Corpse etc. and although I was showed a good degree of dismissal from my peers, I took is a point of strength.
From my parents I took on a lot more of a diverse influence, I remember car journeys in my childhood filled with the sounds of Steely Dan, The Eagles, XTC and The Beatles. My dad would often be heard playing the likes of James Taylor on his acoustic guitar around the house, or breaking out Alan Holdsworth records.
From my parents I took on a lot more of a diverse influence, I remember car journeys in my childhood filled with the sounds of Steely Dan, The Eagles, XTC and The Beatles. My dad would often be heard playing the likes of James Taylor on his acoustic guitar around the house, or breaking out Alan Holdsworth records.
As I grew a little older and my brother and his band Heretic grew in notoriety, I began attending shows at 14/15 in Derby and Nottingham, colouring my tastes further and introducing me to the likes of Disturbed and Killswitch Engage. It was in my late teens I became a little disillusioned and traipsed through my dubstep/drum and bass phase, not that I've anything against the genres but they certainly didn't warrant the blinkered view I had at the time.
It wasn't until I had turned 20 that I begun to recapture my love for the alternative genres and finally jumped at the chance to create my own music. Resulting in joining what would become my first band Wasteland. It was the summer following this new venture that I attended Download for the first time and was opened up to the size and scale of what I had been missing out on and most of all what I had been denying myself! In particular in that day was the moment I witnessed Architects play These Colours Don't Run on the main stage, something that will stay with me for life. In that moment I realised that was where I had wanted and should have been my entire life.
It was after this summer and my subsequent move to Sheffield, to be closer to friends, that I found a lot of the bands that I hold closest to my heart (Bury Tomorrow, While She Sleeps, STYG) and in some way that moving away opened the floodgates to waves of new music for me to take on board. Who knows but its safe to say that in those days were born my intentions for music to be both an integral part of my career as well as just my life.
In the time between then and the time of writing this article, I briefly brought together a group whilst living London called Ours Is The Fury. We released one single, The Cold-Blooded, in the year and a half we were together before I returned to the North indefinitely, whilst the other members went on to begin a new project.
Onwards and Upwards
Upon returning to my home in the North and retaking residence in Sheffield, I began working on my current band with my friend and former Wasteland guitarist Josh Kay. We began writing together in the autumn of 2015 and once it became apparent that we wanted to take this beyond a mere project we contacted our friend and drummer Rhys Atkin-Smith, whom joined quickly after. Together we finalised and recorded the tracks for our debut EP, and after bringing on board guitarist Craig Camm in the summer of 2017, we were ready to release our first song under the name I, The Mountain. We have released two tracks from our upcoming EP Saga; Northmen and The Maiden Fair. But more on these later.
In the time between then and the time of writing this article, I briefly brought together a group whilst living London called Ours Is The Fury. We released one single, The Cold-Blooded, in the year and a half we were together before I returned to the North indefinitely, whilst the other members went on to begin a new project.
Upon returning to my home in the North and retaking residence in Sheffield, I began working on my current band with my friend and former Wasteland guitarist Josh Kay. We began writing together in the autumn of 2015 and once it became apparent that we wanted to take this beyond a mere project we contacted our friend and drummer Rhys Atkin-Smith, whom joined quickly after. Together we finalised and recorded the tracks for our debut EP, and after bringing on board guitarist Craig Camm in the summer of 2017, we were ready to release our first song under the name I, The Mountain. We have released two tracks from our upcoming EP Saga; Northmen and The Maiden Fair. But more on these later.
Music, has saved my life on many an occasion and I truly owe it everything. It's nothing short of magic when music can take you from the deepest despair and transform your mood to the strongest and fiercest of pride's. Now i'm into the fifth year on from when I first moved out on my own, I've made mistakes but beginning to work within music both as a writer and a musician is the first step toward what I hope will be a long career.
As I didn't mention nearly as many of the bands that I listen to as I'd have liked for the point of this article, I've listed them below!
I EXPECT TO REVIEW ALBUMS FROM MANY OF THESE BANDS, PAST AND PRESENT, AS I SEE FIT. BECAUSE EVEN MUSIC THAT'S 10 YEARS OLD AND YOU'VE NEVER HEARD BEFORE COULD CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
I EXPECT TO REVIEW ALBUMS FROM MANY OF THESE BANDS, PAST AND PRESENT, AS I SEE FIT. BECAUSE EVEN MUSIC THAT'S 10 YEARS OLD AND YOU'VE NEVER HEARD BEFORE COULD CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
After The Burial, Alpha Wolf, Architects, August Burns Red, The Beatles, Beartooth, The Black Queen, Bossk, Bring Me The Horizon, Bullet For My Valentine, Bury Tomorrow, The Chariot, Counting Days, Counterparts, Create To Inspire, Currents, Dead Harts, Dead Swans, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Dream State, Employed To Serve, Fightstar, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Gojira, Grains, The H.A.A.R.P Machine, Heart Of A Coward, Holding Absence, In Hearts Wake, JINJER, JME, Killswitch Engage, Knuckle Puck, Lamb Of God, LIFETIGHT, Limp Bizkit, Loathe, Mallory Knox, Meshuggah, Metallica, Monuments, Napoleon, Neck Deep, Nile, Norma Jean, Northlane, Ocean Grove, Palm Reader, Parkway Drive, Polaris, Josh Rouse, Run The Jewels, Kate Rusby, Silent Screams, SlipKnot, Spiritbox, Steely Dan, Stick To Your Guns, Stray From The Path, Suicide Silence, Tonight Alive, Touche Amore, Trivium, Veil Of Maya, wars, Rufus Wainwright, While She Sleeps.
Comments
Post a Comment