For me, my musical tastes have remained largely consistent for as long as I can remember.
From my earliest memory, my parents always had music playing, to the point that classics such as The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and David Bowie became soundtracks to my life. I remember rocking out to Dire Straits, sitting in the back seat of the family car, Tom Petty and Creedence Clearwater revival, my parent’s tape deck an ever changing rolodex of rock legends. 

I was hooked, and, as soon as I could, I got my own very first CD (Green Day-Dookie; I got it when it was first released so yeah, I’m feeling old writing this). My parents, always super supportive in all my zaney endeavours, and there were some zaney endeavours, dutifully purchased it for me, even though my mum hit the roof when she read the lyric book ( I was only 10!). A story I love to tell is when my mum flipped out because of the “adult” themes and words on the album, she threatened to ban me from listening to it-many years later, she would attend a Green Day concert and come home raving about how fantastic they are live!

Growing up in nowhere Pennsylvania in the USA, the punk/hardcore scene was actually quite vibrant and, as a kid, we were spoiled for choice with local bands to check out. I went from adoring punk to pop/skate punk in my teen years, to desiring something much more heavy. I got into metal in a big way. Regardless of the endless “cores” that exist within metal, I mostly love them all. Of course I still love punk music of most stripes and I maintain there is nothing
like a good punk gig to put a huge grin on your face.

I moved to the UK in 2016 and am now a fully- fledged citizen. I spent six years teaching History in a secondary school in London and now have (am) transitioning to copywriting. I love exploring, discovering and championing home-grown talent, venues and scenes and believe that the UK continues to be a rich musical environment that demands attention.