Friday, October 14, 2011

Four More Years! Four More Years!

Four years and four laptops later (yes, I just destroyed another one last week), and I feel like I'm only beginning to harness what the blog is capable of. I started blogging for a simple reason: as a reader, I was disappointed in what was already out there. Link farms and poorly constructed reviews abounded. And while I've authored more than my fair share of poorly constructed reviews, in my naiveté /arrogance I decided I could bring something new and insightful to grindcore. How successful I've been, I'll leave to you. You guys keep reading and hanging around, so hopefully I'm not completely wasting your time.
From my very first story, a discussion of metal heads' relationship with the military, I wanted to do something different, dig a little deeper. Not every post lives up to that standard, but that has been my goal and my template.
In an era of instant musical gratification, I consider most reviews superfluous. They're filler, a chance to start conversations about what like about music rather than a "this sucks," "this rules" summation. In fact, I've moved on more to Bandcamp/demo releases simply because I think those bands are more worthy of attention than the latest big budget release from a (relatively) giant metal label. They're pretty good at their own promotion. While I think reviews are declining in importance, those are the posts that keep the blog fresh week to week and buy me the time to work on the longer, more involved pieces that I prefer.
Looking back, a happy confluence of life experiences has pointed me in this direction. I have a degree in English, with plenty of emphasis on textual criticicism. As a result, I'm enough of a postmodernist to believe the distinction between high and low culture is purely artificial. All cultural artifacts are equally deserving of critical scrutiny to better understand how they work, what makes them successful and the role they play in culture and society.
Falling off the academic track post-graduation, I tumbled into journalism, which I thought would be another notch on my impressive resume of random jobs (ice cream truck driver, phone repair, Christian day care; ask me about it some time). Though I had done some work at the college paper (an unreciprocated crush on the editor; don't ask me about it some time), I had always considered journalism hack writing because I was an arrogant literature snob. To a certain extent I still do, but here I am a decade later, still doing it.
What journalism has taught me is how to extract information and present it in a coherent form. My literature degree taught me to poke in the cracks and muck around with the innards of things. I came to that realization recently while reviewing my latest project, which I hope to announce soon. It's consumed the last six months of my life, and I think it will be the culmination of everything I've set out to do so far.
So for the fourth anniversary of G&P I simply want to thank all of you for sticking around during my learning curve, giving me the platform, time and feedback necessary to shoot for some personal goals. When I am finally ready to announce that project, it will be the result of not only my work, but all of you as well, for the space and support you've provided. I've grown as a writer and a thinker because of your feedback. Thank you for making that happen.

23 comments:

atanamar said...

Word. Thanks, as always, for being an inspiration in the writing and thought department.

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to say you're doing a great job on the blog and you've helped learn about many great bands!

Joseph said...

Thank you for doing it this long, and I hope you continue. Consistently my favorite metal writing online.

orfee said...

what a tease.

"doweme"

do-re-mi.

Zmaj said...

What orfee said.

:)

Bill Willingham IV, Esquire said...

I love reading your stuff, even when you are just jerkin' yourself off. ;)

Daniel said...

Come for the grind, stay for the words. On the net, that's a mark of quality. So Thanks!

Perpetual Strife said...

I hope whatever i might blog, whenever I might blog, would be as half as good as yours. hats off to you for being probably the only thing outside of hockey news i check every day.

Unknown said...

Well, I have to echo everyone else's comments. I'm new to grind, and love reading the reviews and other stuff. The bracketology and grindcore alphabet were brilliant. This site is a constant grindcore 101 for me!!!

P.S. What's the project???!!!!!!

Andrew Childers said...

i wasn't fishing for compliments (i was just trying to say thanks to all of you) but thank you all.

and the project remains a secret for the time being. but i think it's one of the coolest things i've ever done. i'll just toss that out there to pique your curiosity until i can announce it in maybe another month or two at the most.

Bill Willingham IV, Esquire said...

I was once fishing with my younger brother. We were floating in the boathouse baiting hooks. Matt had one leaned against the edge, the hook four inches into the shallow water, working on his second, when a large-mouth bass hit his hook like a hammer.

I jerked the lid to the creel open, Matt pulled the rod in and the bass released the hook and fell right in. Slam the creel lid, wonder a second at what just happened, and then laugh.

Sometimes, Andrew, you have not yet begun to fish and it just jumps right in. Cheers.

Perpetual Strife said...

it's like hemingway just dropped a load of knowledge/compliments on you

Andrew Childers said...

always remember the lesson hemmingway forgot: when fellating a shotgun, always spit. never swallow.

Alex Layzell said...

4 years of glory, by far the best grind review fan in existence, your projects are always novel, engaging and damn right fun, so I am sure your secret project will be fantastic.

tripalium said...

The best grind blog, bar none. Hope you would keep the grind machine rolling.

If the secret project happens to be something tangible, I'll be damned.

Dan said...

I can't believe it's been 4 years already. I've been a long time reader, but I haven't commented. Keep up the great work. Also, do you have a place to send promos or stuff for review?

Andrew Childers said...

yeah dan. you can get my email from the profile on the top right. feel free to send along whatever you've got.

and thanks for reading.

Unknown said...

So about that printed version of G&P...

Anonymous said...

Hey! Keep up the good work man.

Anonymous said...

you area purveyor of top notch music journalism- the fact that it's about my favorite music is just a bonus. cheers, and thanks!

DRJones said...

grindcore a-z, sponsored by the usual suspects (and soon to be converted into a trivial-pursuit style drinking game).

why else was he sent that origin of band names book?

Alex Layzell said...

Im gunning that hes setting up a grind commune somewhere in a polynesian island. Singular currency will not exist, all resources must be traded for vinyl/cassettes/C.D's of grind orientation, of which Andrew will be the head man to decide their worth. So I suggest we all stock up on the Inalienable Dreamless, that release is going to be worth at least 15 chickens, and possibly if the exchange rate is good a palm tree raft too.

Dead Existence said...

Keep up the good work.