It all started in the suburbs of Reading, UK, where I grew up with a mum into music inspired by her Balkan heritage and a dad who found his calling in the punk scene of the 80s. 

 

While I flailed through life as a child, I was exposed to such wonders as The Cure, The Damned, Duran Duran and The Cult — though my father also played a lot of Kate Bush, who will always stick with me through my days on this earth. 

 

Listening to these artists in the back of the car, as well as BBC’s Radio 1, shaped a rather fruity music taste that consisted of Rhianna’s S&M (arguably a bit inappropriate for a child, but still a banger) to the Prodigy, Iron Maiden, Avril Lavigne and Florence + the Machine, amongst other artists from a mishmash of genres. 

 

As I started to develop my own music taste and go through my ‘it’s not a phase mum’ phase, I started listening to a lot of pop punk, dad rock, metalcore and heavy metal — which led me to fall in love with Oli Sykes, as literally every tween who thinks that One Direction are lame seems to do. I also tried to convince my parents to let me get a tattoo, which went down like a lead balloon, of course.

 

Throughout my teens and early twenties, my music taste has (de)evolved and will continue to do so until I die, as my preferences are always morphing alongside my life circumstances. Currently, I’m loving going to post-punk and metal gigs in London — my new home as a working professional — as well as wacky electronic festivals such as Balter and Illusive (RIP to both, gone but not forgotten). Although live music is obviously the best, my life has been changed by having a pair of noise cancelling headphones, as I can bop literally anywhere I want… who knew! In my headphones, you might hear anything from Bleed from Within to Paris Paloma to Charli XCX.

 

Living in London, I’m always up for a lil’ gig experience, whether that be in my local area or further afield. Maybe I’ll see you at one sometime, random internet peruser!