I've been doing music journalism for over six years now but set up this site three years ago so that I had somewhere to store all my work and also to publish other miscellaneous pieces that are exclusive to HyperStereo.
So how does one celebrate the three year anniversary of her music blog?
There were a few ideas I had in mind but one idea stood out as the most simple yet effective. I would look back on the last three years and pick out some of my favourite pieces, one from each year, with some extra honourable mentions...
So without further ado, let's go back to 2011...
As well as writing for Is This Music and running the music section of my student newspaper, I also started writing for Wheel Scene and Trisickle that year, so there was loads of content to share here on HyperStereo.
I started off the year interviewing the lovely Anna Meldrum from Kitty The Lion (now known as Blood Relatives) following the band's electric performance at Edinburgh's Hogmanay street party celebrations, with a look to the year ahead.
I then started writing for Wheel Scene in April and my first two interviews were with the equally awesome Dananananaykroyd and Young Legionnaire who were releasing records at the time. Chatting to Calum from the Glasgow "fight-pop" band was great because it felt like I was just chatting with a pal. The piece also has a bittersweet feeling to it because little did I know that the band would be playing their final gig that same year *sniff*. Talking to Paul Mullen was great too as, not only did we discuss YL related stuff, I also muscled in some Ycni:milo chat like a proper nosey music journo.
Towards the end of the year I also caught up with Jordan Gatesmith of Minneapolis surf gaze rockers Howler at the Barrowlands whilst they were on tour with The Vaccines. Although I couldn't see him because the lights weren't on in the Barrowlands2 area where we talked, the guy reeked of a level of coolness I could only ever dream of. And that 8-bitted 'Buddy Holly' impression was as funny as it sounds. If only I hadn't lost the audio...
The highlight of 2011, however, was securing an interview with one of my all time favourite bands, Nine Black Alps
Having seen them live numerous times before, I always thought "I'd love to interview Sam Forrest" and, after contacting them on Twitter ahead of their fourth album and second independent release 'Sirens', I managed to set up an exclusive interview with Sam via email. At their King Tut's gig later in 2012, I introduced myself and he thanked me for the interview, saying it was one of the best he's ever done. What a dude.
So that was 2011, now let's look at the year which a lot of people believed would be our last...
Me? I just continued listening to great new music and chatting to awesome rock bands like The Xcerts. I had first met the boys back in late 2010 as they were releasing 'Scatterbrain' so this was basically just a catch up on how things had been since then and what they were up to now, besides struggling through the post-Christmas sniffles. The mum chat was the best. They're top lads.
Then I had the opportunity to interview Brittany Howard from Alabama Shakes ahead of their debut release with 'Boys & Girls' which was great because the band were quickly gaining a lot of success both in the US and here in the UK and I like thinking I was part of it.
Later in September, just shortly after starting my Masters in Multimedia Journalism, I had a phone interview with the legend that is Mr Paul Banks just before the release of his solo album 'Banks'. I was a little nervous as some googling suggested he was a bit awkward with journalists and liked to put them on the spot but he couldn't have been nicer. He was so engaged, gave me some excellent answers and even complimented my accent afterwards.
Towards the end of the year I had a features assignment for uni and decided to focus on Is This Music?'s 10 year anniversary celebration with an in-depth, retrospective interview with the man behind the madness, ITM? editor Stuart McHugh. It was strange interviewing someone I work for but, in a sense, it made it easier and the result was a nice long chat reflecting on the history of the magazine and website.
When it comes to stand out moments of 2012, however, there's only one contender. The fabulous, the ferocious Miss Amanda Fucking Palmer!
I travelled down to London for the interview as she was doing her special Kickstarter tour at the time and I was damned if I was missing that London show. I was her last interview during a long and tedious day of press and she was evidently exhausted but still she sat, she listened, she answered in ways only Amanda could and it turned out to be a really great piece.
So lastly we look at 2013 which was a year of ups and downs, but mostly ups.
In February I got to interview The Joy Formidable, an amazing Welsh rock trio who I'd been championing for ages. The only downfall was that I'd psyched myself up for meeting frontwoman Ritzy so much that when Rhydian and Matt told me she was ill and couldn't do it, I couldn't help feel a huge pang of disappointment. The guys were great though, acting like an old married couple as always.
Then in March I caught up with Australian band ME, whose arty, theatrical rock had me hooked from the first chord. I chatted with Mikey and Spike who were full of life and made the interview turn out great.
Later in the year, as I was working on my final portfolio for uni, I snagged exclusive HyperStereo interviews with adorably geeky rock band Be Like Pablo and Scottish singer-songwriter Emma's Imagination, winner of Sky1's Must Be The Music.
The main highlight of the year, however, was taking on a whole new project which I dubbed HyperStereoTV. I filmed live sessions with local bands and musicians, edited them into neat little packages called 'HyperStereo Presents...' and stuck them here on HyperStereo, under their very own section. It was a huge, new, scary thing that I was doing but seeing the finished products made it all worth it (despite some noticeable flaws!)
So check them out below if you haven't already. And even if you have, what harm can it do in having another look? Go on... it's my birthday.
HyperStereoTV Presents... Shambles Miller
HyperStereoTV Presents... Algernon Doll
HyperStereoTV Presents... Lovers Turn To Monsters
So here's to many more years of great music, gigs and chats with rock stars...
