Hello and welcome to a brand new week of music industry insight and advice here on the official blog of Haulix. December has officially arrived, and we’re doing our best to squeeze in as much content before the new year as humanly possible. If you have a suggestion for a column or article you would like to see on the blog, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook
Shortly after launching our Blogger Spotlight series we began asking readers to submit recommendations of sites and writers they would like to see featured in the months ahead. We read every single request received, and to be perfectly honest have sent emails to every single person requested. Music is a busy industry though, and a number of people are simply too busy to dedicate time to features such as those hosted on this blog. We remain hopeful we’ll get them all however, and today one of our most requested names finally makes her debut after months of scheduling hurdles.
Teri Cwiek is a photographer, interviewer, and all-round contributing badass to the PupFresh team. Along with her fellow writers Teri has carved a unique niche in the world of alternative music blogging that has evolved in recent years to include nearly every corner of pop culture, and in today’s feature interview we aim to learn the story of how it all came together. You can read about her journey in the industry below.
PupFresh has been on my radar since its early days, but Teri is someone I’ve only recently gotten to know. Her dedication to providing readers with timely coverage of breaking news and first listens to the hottest new talent is inspirational to writers of all ages, and based on what she tells us in the paragraphs below it seems clear she has plenty more accomplishments on the horizon. If you would like to stay updated with everything Teri is working on, be sure to bookmark and frequent PupFresh. Additional questions and comments can be left at the end of this post.
H: For the record, please state your name, job title, and the publication you currently represent:
TC: My name is Teri Cwiek. I’m a photographer, interviewer, and “the nice one” at PupFresh.com
H: We like to start these interviews by learning a bit about the blogger’s past. When you think of your relationship with music, what are the earliest memories that come to mind?
TC: I grew up listening to a mixture of big band jazz and hip hop music, mainly due to the amount of dance groups I was apart of when I was younger. On myspace it was really cool to go to shows, at least in my home town, so I followed that trend and started making friends there.
H: Moving ahead just a bit, do you recall the first album you purchased with your own money? Do you still own it today?
TC: If I’m being completely forreal, it was either Destiny’s Child’s ‘Destiny Fulfilled’ or Hilary Duff’s “Metamorphosis”, both came out right around when I was in 4th grade. Unfortunately, I don’t have either. I still consider myself an active Destiny’s Child fan though.
H: How about first concert? Who did you see, who did you go with, and what do you remember about the event?
TC: I think it was Panic! At The Disco with The Hush Sound, Motion City Soundtrack, and Phantom Planet. I went with my father who was super terrified of me going into the general admission pit. He made me wear this obnoxious paisley silk beanie so he could keep an eye on me while standing at the back of the floor area.
H: Having an interest in music is pretty common for teens and twenty-somethings, but deciding to pursue a career in the business of music is something else entirely. When did you know a career in music was something that interested you?
TC: I’ve always been the type of person to get super involved in activities for short bursts of times. I competitively danced (ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, Polish) for 14 years, baseball took up about 5 years of my life, I decided my junior year of high school that I wanted to join every single academically competitive club. I started going to shows in 8th grade and since then music has always weaved back into my life after I lost interest in the other hobbies, so it’s been pretty constant for the past 5 or so years.
H: We should mention photography is just as important, if not more important than journalism is in your life. To whom or what do you attribute your interest in photography?
TC: When I started doing press at shows, it was strictly interviews only. I wanted absolutely nothing to do with the photo side of things, there was way too much drama between other photographers. I accidentally signed up for a photography class in my sophomore year of high school and I had the worst work ethic in the class possible. Actually…I’m pretty sure I nearly failed (or came awfully close to failing) my first semester of it. I would always attempt assignments then give up halfway through because I thought I wasn’t good at it. My teacher entered a handful of my photos into a national competition and I won more than I should’ve, given my poor attitude in the class. I remember my counselor sat me down during class one day and was like “Teri, I don’t get how you can win 5 national awards for photos you took but fail Intro to Photography. Do the work I know you can do.” So I stopped comparing myself to other photographers and just started doing whatever I wanted, including mixing my love for music into the whole thaaaang.
H: We know gear heads love these columns, so please tell us: What is your current photo setup?
TC: But that takes away from the magic! I currently shoot with a Canon 5D Mark II and Canon Rebel T3i with a 35mm f/1.4, 50mm f/1.8, and a 15mm f/2.8 fisheye. I have an external flash that I’ve been messing around with for the past year, but it’s definitely not in my core setup.
H: Onto the site. When did you first join the PupFresh team, and what was the application process like?
TC: I joined Pup Fresh in September of 2011, about 6 months after Dan and Willy converted their wrestling fan blog into Pup Fresh. The application process was far from anything official, haha. At the time, I worked for an incredibly small blog called Shameless Media that had a whole lot of beef with Pup Fresh. Basically, my old boss would always tell me how much Dan/Willy/Pup Fresh hated our guts, so I avoided them as much as I could. It wasn’t until I was sitting inside a cafe before doors for a Jack’s Mannequin show in Toledo when I talked to Dan for the first time in person, instead of just angry Tumblr messages. To cut an incredibly long story short, Dan realized that I wasn’t as bitchy as my website made me seem and we became friends from the whole misconception, and that friendship turned into him stealing me away from Shameless Media. Dan’s version of the story includes him becoming best friends with my little brother over their love of wrestling, but I think my version’s a little more accurate.
H: There are a number of alternative blogs and publications in existence. What made you decide to join PupFresh instead of pursuing other, arguably bigger opportunities?
TC: I wanted to stay with something small and local, in the show coverage sense. My last website had a huge staff (over 20 photographers alone!) and I would always get denied interviews for tours because there would already be multiple other people covering the same shows…for photos only. It was a complete mess to say the least. With Pup Fresh, our show coverage is based in Michigan so it’s a lot more orderly.
H: How would you describe the average PupFresh reader?
TC: We definitely have a more younger crowd than the average music blog in the scene.
H: You’ve become a very integral part of the site over the last couple of years. How many people contribute to the site regularly?
TC: We’re actually a pretty small site, given our size and growth over the last few years. Dan and I are the only ones who cover shows. Willy, Emily, and Pup Jess are on news. We recently hired a handful of album/movie reviewers and a fashion blogger. I’d say we have just over 10 people working on the site in total.
H: PupFresh has widened its coverage from alternative music to include pop culture items such as movie and television news. When did the site begin to evolve from a simple music outlet, and what inspired the change?
TC: We’ve actually always been pretty open about covering entertainment items. Before Beau Bokan (from Blessthefall) gave us us the motto “Sassy Music News”, our slogan was “80% Music, 20% Entertainment, 100% Fresh.”
H: If you had to pitch PupFresh to someone interested in discovering a new website, how would you do it?
TC: We actually have a voice to our site and always try to twist every news post into something sarcastic, even if it’s at the expense of our professionalism. I understand the concept of being professional in the music industry, but there comes a point where you have to realize that most music blogs are hosted off of Tumblr.
We’re also very straight to the point with most of our posts, which is something that I definitely find to be a positive quality. If one of my favorite artists are releasing a new album, just give me a couple sentences maximum to describe what’s going on and I’ll be happy. I’m actually not a huge fan of album reviews, even though we feature them on a regular basis. I’m not one for fluff, especially in press releases or album reviews…probably because English/grammar rules have never been my strong suit. Tyler, The Creator once said in an interview (addressing his goal to start a fashion/photography/skateboard/music magazine) that album reviews are the biggest bullshit ever, saying something like “I’d rather see an article with a single ‘Yo, this shit was dope…check it out’ comment than an entire page-long writeup about how this album’s some *insert cliche phrase here.*” You’ll find that I connect with Tyler, The Creator on a regular basis.
H: I noticed there is a bit of advertising on PupFresh. Do you or anyone else on staff make money working on the site?
TC: Dan and Willy split the money made from advertisements on the site.
H: PupFresh has developed a strong brand in the realm of video content, which is becoming increasingly competitive by the day. What do you think it is about the content you offer that keeps people coming back for more?
TC: I’ve always loved video content over written interviews and features. Especially in a time where everything is either screen capped or gif-ed on all social media sites, video content is just so much more interesting. A lot of our interviews are focused on the artist specifically, not just the music their band makes. Not saying the music aspect isn’t important, it definitely is. There’s other websites where you can go for interviews discussing the process of choosing a producer for a certain album, but we choose to talk about the the members themselves. We don’t take it to the extent of making every question about porn star names and dick jokes, though. Over the summer we did an interview with Elliott Gruenberg from Blessthefall, called “The Elliott Interview”, where we basically just had a conversation with him and recorded it. Elliott doesn’t do press that often, so it was great to show fans of the band a side of him that most don’t normally see. That interview’s probably in my top 5 I’ve done.
H: There are a number of unsigned bands who get their first taste of media exposure through PupFresh. Where do you look when hoping to discover new music?
TC: The Pup Fresh inbox delivers a ton of music emails daily, as well as our social media in general. We can post a tweet like “what bands should we check out?” and get a ton of response back. A dedicated fan base is something we look for as well, of course after the music aspect has been checked out.
H: If you could offer one piece of advice to bands hoping to find their way onto the frontpage of PupFresh, what would it be?
TC: Don’t treat Pup Fresh like it’s a huge professional website, we’re a PupFreshional music blog. Yeah, a 6-page press release on a 3-song EP might get you posted on more formal sites, but with us it’ll probably get skipped if I’m being completely honest.
H: When it comes to receiving music for reviews/feature consideration, which distribution services do you prefer and why?
TC: Being a video person, I love getting YouTube links to music videos or live recorded features. I’ve gotten a few tracks sent to me over Spotify, and that was pretty cool too since I have a premium account and am on it constantly. This might sound like a huge plug because this interview is for the Haulix blog, but I actually do enjoy Haulix’s services. One of the first times I remember using Haulix was for The Front Bottom’s newest album. I’m a huuuge Front Bottoms fan and was so stoked to get the album so I jammed it on repeat for days. We actually got an email from their publicist (Hey, Rey!) a couple days after he sent the link, wondering if I had shared it with anyone else because the play count was high enough that it got flagged as might being leaked. Embarrassingly enough, all the play counts didn’t only belong to just the staff of Pup Fresh…but just me. Even though that experience outed my inner Front Bottoms mega fan, I found that feature quite awesome. Haulix just makes everything so much easier.
H: PupFresh is not your only role in the industry, but it’s certainly a big one. What is your ultimate career goal?
TC: That’s a huge question, especially because I’m only 19. Last year I went to school to get into PR and management, but it wasn’t really what I expected. Right now I’m going to focus in the photo and video aspect of the industry because that’s where my heart’s at. One of my goals for awhile was to tour and I’m actually accomplishing that right now on the Pup Fresh tour with The Big Time, Late Nite Reading, Jocelyn, and 7 Minutes In Heaven.
H: If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
TC: Another huge question. There’s so many of my favorite bands that had so much potential but didn’t sell enough albums to continue comfortably so they broke up/went on hiatus. This is really cheesy, but I wish there was a way to focus the industry less on album sales/sales in general. I know that’s stupid to say because it wouldn’t be an industry without that aspect, but I’m sick of seeing actual talent stop trying because they didn’t have the reach as other artists.
H: Before we let you go, do you have any additional thoughts you’d like to share with our readers?
TC: I think that wraps it up! I feel like a lot of people have a huge misunderstanding with Pup Fresh, unfortunately. Too PupFreshional to care.
