Please allow me to introduce myself...

Hello Dear World,

I suppose the best place to start is with an introduction of myself. To those that know me apologies if this is information that is redundant and already known to you already, for those that don't perhaps these words can provide some insight into me and what I aim to achieve with this blog.

My name is Stu and I'm currently a 27 year old man living in a dilapidated seaside town in the North West of England called Blackpool. Blackpool is an extremely inspiring place, in that it inspires you to succeed in the standard and conformist sense of the word to prosper and leave.

Blackpool was once a thriving town built off a very successful tourism industry, but numerous reasons have conspired together to leave it as desolate, diminished despair ridden, depressing in fact any adjective or superlative you would care to throw at it and not exclusive as in this case to the alliteration of the letter “d”. There was some potential in recent years to see some major investment and growth and prosperity return to these shores in view of the relaxed UK gambling laws and the creation of super casinos. Blackpool lost out in this to East Manchester and thus the hope of investment therein. Sporadic investment still seems to have found some well foundation. The seafront has been rejuvenated by recent developments to varying levels of acceptance and taste. In addition to this the town centre has seemingly awoken to some apocalyptical dystopian nightmare that perhaps depicts the fuller at least aesthetical realisation of some warped Orwellian nightmare.

So ok I reside in a less than inspiring place that doesn’t readily afford opportunities across the broad spectrum of life; be it career progression, worthwhile financial remuneration, artistic endeavour or any leaning toward a modern day interpretation of Wilde’s artistic bohemian movement.

If I venture slightly way from the focus of revealing my inner and outer self to you kind reader I wish to veer slightly into the psychological minefield of the “nature versus nurture” debate. A minefield so complex and heavy laden that the best combinations of the late Princess Diana, ex spice girl Geri Halliwell or actress Angelina Jolie could not generate enough “goodwill” to traverse safely through. So if the collective of a “Queen of Hearts”, a vacuous talentless drone or perfect embodiment and personification of modern “celebrity” or a pouty Amazonian actress can’t resolve this issue, where does that leave I? Well maybe the empirical “British” attitude of effort, “the taking part that counts” springs to mind in that I can but try.

I think in attempt which I’m entirely sure will inevitably fail to keep this briefer I’ll leave this for another discussion and merely include the great comment by Psychologist Donald Hebb who answered a query of whether nature or nurture contributed more to personality with “which contributes more to the area of a rectangle its length or width.”
To quote Nick Hornby from the book High Fidelity “it’s not what you’re like but what you like” that defines us shapes us and reveals a great deal about individual psyche and disposition. This is indeed an interesting premise, so forget any kind of psychometric testing or behavioural or cognitive analysis on the dissection of people, and instead focus on what music, art, film or any taxonomy of entity of media entertainment and indeed culture that a person identifies as to their very choosing. The very concept of stereotyping and if I may unfortunately use the ugly bastardised phrase “pigeon holing” to me is the very expression of abhorrence and result in a truly angered venting spleen. The planet has somewhere in the region of 6 billion hearts beating pumping blood and delivering vastly variant emotions, thoughts and feelings. The very concept of grouping us together into cliques and perhaps an even worse view frequented by the fiscal focused marketeers of the world; “target markets” is an atrocity of the variant splendour that the world and the human race can offer. That said it has it place and is a firm fixture of our daily lives. No matter how liberal a person’s persuasion falling into these pitfalls is inevitable.

Stereotyping is an awful act and can lead to significantly diminutive prejudice that we often bestow on one another. In a sense I would opine that this concept is an act of self defence. The old adage that people fear change and hate what they don’t understand is still prevalent in a supposed advanced progressive society. That said if I could offer an example perhaps to slightly support some application of this concept. Question yourself is a group of associated youths adorned in various hip hop influenced fashion loitering in darkened streets all likely to be knife wielding embodiments of the scourge or decay of a broken society who at best will only pilfer any worthwhile possession you may be fortunate to temporally own before you enter their territorial domain or at worst slaughter you in cold blood. After all they are so ingrained with violent computer games, “street” music and culture that they can do nothing but acquiesce to these very acts. Quite obviously no no for the love of all that is sensible NO! Statistically this is not true and if anything a perfect example of a pertinent example of stereotyping in action, however conversely if you have an option to choose an alternative route to your desired direction perhaps prudence could be exercised, hence the self defence concept. I suppose this doesn’t offer a clear and distinct answer or view. I perhaps should take this opportunity to advise that my very meandering views and whimsical notions vary around the clear and distinctive view and also more towards the open invitation to debate, discussion or awareness. I do not define myself as some sort of messianic leader with answers to all of life’s questions. Any such person who would advocate such a position would certainly not garner any of my attention or interest and I’m sure as an open minded and aware person we share this stance. My I supposed liberal leanings instinctively push me away from the notion of a dictatorial instructive direction of views enforced upon the receptive listener, so probably best not to expect this.
I was until this little detour introducing myself to you and have found myself swirling in a whirlpool of debate over seemingly distant concepts and views. This I must confess is perhaps something you can expect with regularity. My mind is often skittish perhaps akin to the child who cannot play with the same toy for more than a few moments until attention is pulled with force of a powerful electromagnet to a new indulgence. I choose not to apologise for this. I am who I am and whilst you may not appreciate or accept this that is entirely your right, however if this whimsical intrusions to the salient point don’t disappoint or upset you too much I happily welcome you to continue in your most appreciated indulgence into my varied assertions to you.
One thing I do always attempt to do with varying degrees of success is ensure that any variant digression I have indulged in has had some worthwhile support and inclusion to the origin of my thoughts and somewhere near the original point return once more.

So yes the concept of stereotyping and mass crude rudimentary of people is entirely negative to me albeit with an understandable application on occasion it does support Hornby’s theory of “what you like” as that indication of “what you’re [really] like”

So then what do I like? Well like many I suppose the entertainment, arts and culture ignite delight in me. Sounds logical really that a person would be predisposed to the concept of entertainment, so without beating the rug of being too obvious I’ll apply some further distinction. Music is entirely of critical importance to me. Music to coin the cliché statement provides the soundtrack to our lives and perhaps this is the thread that Hornby was pulling at. A person’s choice of favoured music that forms that selected playlist of their life could give a fair indication to the type of person they are. So let’s explore some of these examples. A person who heavily favours the music that resides within the genre description of hard rock, or metal or whatever further sub genre classification or box you choose to elect as preference whether that be mathcore, death metal or grindcore, could be found to adopt the following traits and indicate something like this existence.
Music of this nature is clearly by its very nature hard in content, soundscapes and phrasing. It has it could be said and instinctive reaction to the innocent bystander as it were to cause offense or segregate starkly appreciative audiences or condemners alike just like the tagline of that famous of yeast extracted based spreads.
Lyrically music of this nature tends to revolve around a number of usually recurring themes of apocalyptical nightmares or other tawdry acts of more seemingly introspective personal disdain. So does this follow suit that those that offer an interest towards this style of music have an alienated disaffected view of the world and seek solace from a musical form that appears to empathise with their own sense of personal angst? Well yes perhaps but this is also entirely true of people who elect preference for dance orientated music. The simple fact in my estimation is that its wrong to apply sweeping statements of understanding of people from elected preferences of media whether it be music or film or whatever. There may be some foundation in this and it may serve as watermark of intention and reality, however my strongest belief is that the world in which we all reside within offers a variety of choices, people and belief structures. The best advice on this topic I could offer would be understand that there is a wealth of flavours on offer and grab a big spoon and indulge. Perhaps at times the use of pigeon-holed classifications of people serves a purpose. If in conversation with someone whether this be through the pursuit of romantic endeavour or just general social interaction commonality is important and will enrich your collective experiences, but still open your eyes. Some of the best experiences that life has to offer are the surprise or the unknown defeat of narrow minded expectation. So dear reader open your eyes, grab a spoon and gorge yourself readily on the world and its many splendid fruits; namely in my opinion its inhabitants and their potential interactions with you.

If I may return to topic even if just for a brief moment, I will provide some insight to you that are if you persistent in making pre-determined judgement on an individual by selected preferences.

To provide a demonstration to my musical preferences I shall provide what I suppose has been my timeline or evolution. At a young age as often is the case to seek approval and validation I spent my early formative years socialising with people who were older than me through the merest link of my geographical residence. Sometimes the most tenuous of links is all that is needed. My next door neighbours and friends were developing their interest in what is regarded as stated as heavy metal and many other sub genres associated such as grunge and glam metal as well straightforward heavier music more akin to the description of thrash metal. So bands that appealed to me at the tender age of 8-11 could form a list containing but not exclusive to; Metallica, Megadeth, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Motley Crue, Poison, Suicidal Tendencies, Anthrax, Skid Row, Dangerous Toys and Warrior Soul. This is perhaps some of the highlights but not a definitive list. As my age progressed and my social interactions expanded I for a brief moment perhaps in a quite regrettable attempt to for want of a better description “fit in” I began listening to the pop music of the years of circa 1993. My love and urge to rock had not dissipidated but was further “enhanced”… hmm yes perhaps enhanced by a keenness for melody and structure.

As I entered my early teens bands such as Nirvana and the Chillis were still absorbed into my psyche but had been accompanied by the more straightforward indie rock and roll of the day. This being the birth of the “Britpop” movement included various bands such as the obvious Oasis, Blur, Ocean Colour Scene et al. At this point my mind had truly started to evolve into the ceaseless quest for more that it is today. So I was not content to listen to bands of the moment as it was and sought to trace back the origins of these bands into yesteryear. This musical quest absorbed various bands and genres such as the obvious Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, and Doors etc.

Through investigations into the Beatles bore me perhaps my most profound and greatest of musical discoveries, a man from Duluth, Minnesota who entered the music scene in Greenwich Village circa 1961 namely Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan had an entirely significant effect on me. Dylan through obviously one of the most extensive songbooks of largely optimum quality moves from the world of “protest” music, a key thing for a liberal minded teenager finding his place in society and constantly seeking to question what seems so blatantly wrong with the world. Especially considering the witness of the majority of the proles seem to blindly accept without even a moment’s thought or eye raised from the mind numbing distractions of 90s Britain. Dylan also had the ability to perfectly capture emotion of life and love and could conjure vivid poetic imagery with expert ease. “A hard Rains A-Gonna Fall” and of course “Hey Mr Tambourine Man” being notable examples. One of my favourite comments is the view that whilst the Beatles sing “I wanna hold your hand” Dylan opines “to dance beneath the diamond sky with one arm waving free silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circle sands with all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves let me forget about today until tomorrow” Ah pure bliss I feel that Dylan may crop up a few times in the future of the blogs, blessays and general utterances that will find there way onto this blog site. The discovery of Dylan as is the way of musical discovery has led me to many other great musicians and performers not exclusive to but certainly including Neil Young, Donovan, Robert Johnson, Leadbelly, Ralph McTell and Richard Thomson.

Some of my friends exposed me to the American music of Hip Hop specifically that of the “Gangsta” variety. A lot of this music drops off me without having had any impact but some of it resonated with me. I foresee the earnest honest performed examples of this music not that it doesn’t have some issues and things I can’t get on board with to be a modern version of punk music. Its visceral honest nature can appeal to me through performers such as Ice Cube and certainly his first incarnation with the group of NWA. That said so much of this music to me is pastiche and formulaic and there is nothing worse than that. But that is probably another discussion.

My musical tastes of the modern world are still varied but if there is one genre that rings true with me at the moment it would be the expressionist modern version of alternative grunge perpetrated by bands such as Biffy Clyro, Marmaduke Duke, Idlewild, Brand New, Hell is for Heroes to name but a few. These bands embrace all that is great about music to me. They have varied an interesting song structures, poignant and thoughtful lyrics all perfectly housed in mansions of graceful musical splendour evoking both the light and dark of life and most importantly of all in the whites of their eyes is burning passion and belief. That sense of knowing that lets the listener instantly know what is being performed is for real.
So yes my musical tastes are varied so what does this mean I’m a confused individual or perhaps to reference an early comment musically I elect not to take a spoon to all the flavours out there but instead a ladle!

In addition to being an avid listener of music and attendee of as many gigs as possible I also write and perform myself. I play solo acoustic music embracing a style that is somewhat individual and welcoming of many varied influences with the flagship being perhaps not surprising to anyone who has gotten this far in reading to revolve around the lyric content.

I avidly watch as much local live music as I can and often write reviews of the music I’ve seen. I will upload some recent reviews as individual blogs on this site and continue to do this as I attend and write more reviews in the future.

In addition to music many other things ignite passion within me including films, books and any other expressional art form. There are some sports I have an avid interest in but I shall leave other revelations about myself there for now and let this all ooze out in the primordial natural flow of future writing. I’m now fully aware that I have consumed an inordinate amount of your time with what intended to be a brief introduction of myself and my intentions of this blog. I suppose some words in that area may be fitting. As I have said I have written some recent reviews of gigs I have attended and received warm praise of these and some direction to share my views with a wider audience and hence this blog site.

This blog site will hopefully be an organic endeavour where as much as possible I would welcome interaction whether it be a request for me to divulge on a given topic or even if just to tell me to be more brief. I look forward to your interactions and comments going forward and hope you find some pleasure in reading what I throw down into the ether of cyber cosmos.

For now I shall finish by thanking you profusely for having taken the time to read this and hope you return for further reading and I will work on being a little more succinct in the future.

My entire best dear world,

Stu