Hey, new look!
Hello, we're Wild Honey now. Same magazine, different name.
I changed the name because...honestly? It was either that or I end the magazine. I've been feeling extremely unhappy with it since October of last year. I created Wild Honey in May last year and launched it the following month, June 28th. I was inspired by my experiences of writing for Buzzkill magazine, a music publication focused on artists from the UK. I loved writing for Buzzkill (and I still do write for them), but I wanted my own space. I wanted to move further into music journalism, and I felt that by creating my own music publication was one way I could achieve it.
I've always loved magazines and music; at one point in my preteen years I had a copy of every single preteen music/celebrity magazine that was active, and I've been completely obsessed with bands since I was 9 years old. Give me an age and I can tell you what bands I loved during that time. The first cd that was ever given to me was The All-American Rejects' self-titled, and the first cd that I ever bought myself was Fall Out Boy's Infinity on High. The amount of Jonas Brothers posters ripped out of issues of Tiger Beat and Quizfest that covered my entire bedroom probably was higher than you'd ever imagine (I even had them on the celling! I was 11 years old, how did I do that?!). Being encompassingly into music is nothing new for me.
When I was 17 years old, my classmates and I were deciding on our career paths. I wanted to work at a radio station, playing the music that I loved, supporting artists, just helping out, keeping the music alive. I haven't been able to work in radio since I set that goal (I'm 22 years old now, so, quite some time has passed), but, what I have been doing is increasing my writing skills and musical knowledge. I still very much want to work for a radio station, but for right now, I believe this magazine is a good choice for me.
I've learned a lot in the year and some months since I've been in music journalism, and this magazine has obviously been through a lot of aesthetic changes. It's been both harder and easier than I expected. I love writing about music, but, the main problem I've been struggling with all these past months is the pressure that I inadvertently put on myself because of a statement I set when I created this magazine. Supporting new artists and other creative people that are around them is what this magazine is about, but, it's not all of it. It's really not. It's a rock magazine, and by rock, I mean everything about rock, from then to now. I'm autistic, and rock music is my special interest - but it's not to any specific niche, unlike my other special interests, like the Beat Generation poets and Scooby Doo. It's just rock music, all of it, and by sticking to a statement I was limiting myself and anyone else who wanted to write for it. And the entire look and name of the magazine just wasn't working out - The Cheetah Press doesn't scream "rock magazine," and to me, sounds a bit narcissistic. Wild Honey is cute, memorable, and rock 'n roll. It's even a reference to The Beach Boys' song (and LP) "Wild Honey."
I feel really good about the name Wild Honey. I planned to end this magazine by this summer, because no matter how I changed it, it was making me feel upset and frustrated, but, this past Thursday night I was listening to a podcast that mentioned The Beach Boys. I just had been listening to that band about a week ago before, as I've been a huge fan of them for a couple years. The podcast reminded me of one of their tracks that I tweeted about, "Wild Honey," and it all just...clicked, like that.
I felt the same level of excitement I felt last year as I did when The Cheetah Press came into my brain. Wild Honey was the perfect name for a rock magazine, and I knew I had to make it real, so I did, no hesitation, same as the original creation of this magazine. I made the logo, changed the name, and got started remodeling the website this past Thursday night (April 1st). I went to bed at 3am, then on Friday throughout the day, I finished it, and today (Saturday, April 3rd) I changed the socials. I feel so excited, so happy, so proud of what I've created, and I haven't felt like that since the first couple months of this magazine last year. I believe that if something is no longer serving you but it is in your control, then you should change it as you wish, just as if it was your name. Change is good, change is healthy, we should all encourage change and betterment of the self, especially when it comes to your creative outlets. With art, your feelings on the art you create are the only ones that you should actually care about. The rest of it from other people is just noise, noise that at the most, you should have an interest in, but not take to heart, not care what other people think of your art.
Yes, this is a magazine that primarily puts out music reviews, so it's a bit ironic, but I mean it 100%. All of my words about other people's art is just noise, what actually matters is how the artist feels about their art and nobody else. Once you care about what other people say and expect of your art, it suffocates you, it destroys you. Just be yourself, as honest as you can be, to yourself first, then secondly the world.
Enough of me rambling, my top 10 tracks of March were these, in never any specific order:
1) Stormy Weather - Kings of Leon
2) That Dress - The Pale White
3) Pretty Poison - Quick and Painless
4) THE DRAKE - cleopatrick
5) I Want Noise - LOBSTERBOMB
6) I & I - ZIG MENTALITY
7) Pray - Ready the Prince
8) All Shook Up - Zach Person
9) Tied Up - Dirty Honey
10) let me inside your head - swim school
Stay safe & stay loud.
with love,
Cherri Cheetah.
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