Alphabet Bands Blog Manifesto

Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday to us, etc etc.

Ok, technically today isn’t actually the blog birthday as we first started scrawling about music in Jan 2010, but it was one year ago today that, after months of inactivity, we decided to reboot the blog and start again in a different format, one that has proved quite successful with the site growing each month. So to say Happy Birthday is true, from a certain point of view.

Anyway, we haven’t posted much in the last few weeks as we indulged in a little holiday and copious amounts of sport watching. While we were relaxing, we were also ruminating. There was a reasonable amount of chatter online recently about the state of music blogging which prompted a lively debate and coincided with our own reflection on the blog itself and what we wanted to do with it.

When we started it was all rather random and somewhat hit and miss, when we re-booted last year it was much more focused but we were trying too hard. With next to no resource we tried to post all manner of news and updates, as if we could compete with multi-staffed big boys for up to date information on album art etc. Why on earth would we want to do that? This is a blog where we share opinions, not press releases about any old rubbish. That is what we have been thinking about over the last few weeks and as a result, this is what we have come up with; our promise to you about content, coverage and style. Our Manifesto if you will.

The Alphabet Bands
The whole raison d’être of the site, which itself has evolved since its inception. Originally meant as a challenge to find and write only about bands we’d not yet heard, irrespective of how established they were or level of popularity they had already attained. Now of course we focus on new acts you are not likely to have heard of (at the time of writing) that are producing really exciting music and who deserve to be heard by a much larger audience. We like to think of the bands we choose as being part of the family and we will support and promote them as best we can, with interviews, sessions, streams and the like. We choose them because we love them, and we hope you do too.

What music do we write about?
We listen to and write about pretty much anything as long as we like it. Genre means little to us as our focus is on the quality of the music being made by new and emerging artists, signed or unsigned. We will post reviews of albums, EPs, tracks, videos and will only cover news when it is relevant to the track etc.

What we won’t write about is stuff we don’t like. That may see us barred from the critical bloggers association but frankly, what’s the point? Why waste our time and yours on music that doesn’t excite, move or entertain us? There is little skill required to slag something off, anyone can say something is rubbish and it doesn’t take much imagination to say it is so rubbish it came from landfill. We like to think, that by focusing only on the music we like, we can offer you more.

Interviews
One thing we really like doing when we talk to artists is, well, talk to them. It sounds flippant but we feel that by having an actual conversation with someone we are likely to learn a little more and get open and honest answers, mostly. It also gives us a small insight into what they are like as a person rather than how well they can write an answer to a question when given a few days to think about it. That’s why we don’t and won’t do email interviews. What you get from us will be prose interviews, conducted either face to face or on the phone (preferably face to face though) to give you as much insight and as good a read as possible.

Sessions
We’ve already done a couple of sessions with bands and we are planning many more this year, we like to film with touring artists when they visit our fine city and we like working with the very best bands that Norwich has to offer. Our sessions are left un-polished; in that they are deliberately charming and rustic, they don’t get altered through post-production. This is because we want our sessions to be about artists performing live and often acoustically, not about how sexy the video looks.

Speed isn’t everything
We are not a buzz blog. Simple statement but it’s true. We do not and will not race to post tracks as soon as they are released with little to no time to actually listen to them. Everything we write about will be given time and attention before we post our opinions. On the odd occasion that we do write about a track, video, album etc before or just after its release, it will be because the lovely artist/label/PR has sent us an advance copy. Music needs to be given time to get under your skin and affect you and that’s what we will continue to do here.

So that’s that, we hope it wasn’t too long and boring. Here’s to another successful 12 months and many more Alphabet Bands.

Adam H.
Editor.