Happy new year.
And just like that, it's February. We've made it through the hardest month of the year. It's felt simultaneously like the longest and the shortest 4 weeks of my life. I'm exhausted. What's new? Well, we have a new president for starters, good for that. I read 54 books this past month. There's a new playlist on our Spotify account called New Music Friday, a list that includes some of the best tracks that's been released since the previous Friday. I've been writing a lot on here more than before. I've posted a guide for submissions to us on our Twitter and Instagram accounts, letting it be known that we want to cover more than just music releases, that we want to cover artists, and we want to hear from the people who make the music happen to the people who support it. I've been...working really hard on this little publication behind the scenes.
Honesty, I only really had a vague idea of what I was actually doing when I launched this magazine, but I think now I've really got the hang of it, or at least, the beginning of something new, something more. As much as my Capricorn moon would like me to, I can't plan out every single thing that will happen this coming year, can't put it all down in a spreadsheet or on a list and be completely confident it will all happen. Especially with the pandemic, everything is uncertain and unclear, more than ever before, we're living in such unprecedented times, and whatever else they say on the news on a loop that makes me feel anxious...But what I do know for certain, is that I want to continue writing about rock music, and whoever wants to come along with me is much appreciated and encouraged (no, seriously, if you want to write about rock music for TCP or anything that's related to rock music that's on your mind, shoot me an email!).
It's been such a relatively short time since I've had this publication up and running, but, I can genuinely tell you that I've learned so much. I've learned about the music industry, about writing about music, professional communication skills, and even about myself. I am definitely a different person from when I started this, and I wonder how much & in what ways I will continue to change because of this magazine in the future. I've always been obsessed with a band in almost every single phase of my life. Music journalism wasn't my aspiration until recent years, it became such that when I was 19 and had seen the film Almost Famous for the first time ever. That movie changed my life. Before that, it was from the ages of 15 to 18 that I wanted to work in radio. I still want that very very much, that want never faded away, but for now, this is sufficient. I believe I was meant to find my way here, to this magazine, and now the only question is, where will it lead me?
I can't answer that. For right now, I want to continue writing about the music that sets my soul aflame. When it's safe enough for live music to come back, I want to be backstage. I want to be in some cramped, hot, tour van rolling down a long highway somewhere in the middle of America in July. I want to have a collection of grainy, warm-colored photos of the people who make the music alive, and a notebook full of quotes from them. I want to feel the floor vibrating under my feet because the music is just that loud. I want see cities I've never thought I'd ever be lucky or rich enough to visit, and I want to drink sweetened black coffee in their cafes & browse their used bookstores for written-in, well-loved poetry books. I want to continue to meet people who love music as intensely and deeply as I do. I want to continue to meet people who are kind, genuine, real good people who live for the music, just the music, like I do. I want all of this to happen so badly that it physically hurts at times, sometimes it feels like a rainstorm is pouring violently inside my chest. I want to live and breathe rock music in a tangible way, a way that's beyond words on a screen, beyond snail mail, beyond songs on a playlist. I want to live like Penny Lane and write like Will. I want to be the band-aid and the enemy. I want to just, to put it simply: be wherever the music is.
February's packed with sooo much new music, my inbox is constantly overflowing with press releases, I can't wait to tell you about all of my favorites. But for now, here's my top ten favorite songs that were released in January:
1) Goth Girl - VENUS GRRRLS
2) Typhoons - Royal Blood
3) Circles - Velvet Skyline
4) Triggered Emotion - ZIG MENTALITY
5) Waiting On A War - Foo Fighters
6) Confession Box - The Pale White
7) Teen Rebel - The Haunted Youth
8) Action Replay - The Fratellis
9) Easy - Pale Waves
10) Losing My Religion - Frank Iero and The Future Violents
That's all for now, see you in March, and remember to stay loud!
with love,
Cherri Cheetah.
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