Tag: testimonial

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the second Blogger Spotlight of the month. We have been promising more interviews with people outside the US, and for the purposes of today’s story we’re headed north to learn about an influential mind who resides in Canada. If you have any questions regarding the content of this blog, or if you would like to learn more information about the services offered by Haulix, please email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.

It’s becoming harder and harder to imagine, but there was a time not that long ago when the internet did not exist. If you lived far from a major city the idea you could one day find yourself employed by a major entertainment outlet would have seemed like an impossible task, and unless you offered something out of this world good on your resume that idea was probably not too far from the truth. Networking and familiarizing yourself with people in the industry was just as important than, if not more so, than it is today, and before the internet those located in small towns and farming communities worldwide had an added degree of difficulty when it came to making a name for themselves.

Around the mid-90s however, everything began to change. The internet brought news, opinions, events, images, and everything in between from around the world to the comfort of any home fortunate enough to own a personal computer. This global connectivity broke down the barriers that previously prevented creative types outside cities from directly engaging with major players in business, and even if they did not like what you had to say there was still a place for it to be said. That time in our society was legitimately world-changing, and in the interview below you will learn how it propelled Adrien Begrand toward the career in music journalism he has today.

Over the last decade Adrien Begrand has written and overseen some of the finest articles on hard rock found anywhere in the world. From his days running the metal blog ‘Headbang’ for the now defunct MSN Entertainment, to his more recent contributions to publications like Decibel and Terrorizer, Adrien has continuously raised the bar for himself and his peers through his coverage of all things rock. Everyone at Haulix loves his work, and after learning about his passion for music through the conversation below we think you will too.

If you would like to learn more about Adrien’s adventures in the world of music, make sure to take the time to follow him on Twitter. Additional questions and comments can be left at the end of this post.

H: Let’s start at the very beginning. Please tell us your name, job title, and a few of the publications you have written for in the last year:

A: Sure, my name is Adrien Begrand, I’m a freelance music writer based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. In the past year I have been a contributing writer to Decibel magazine, Terrorizer magazine, and Iron Fist magazine, as well as running the metal blog ‘Headbang’ over at the late, sadly missed MSN Entertainment at MSN.com.

H: Thank you again for doing this, Adrien. Before we get to your current activity, I want to touch on your history with music. When you think of the formative moments and experiences that lead you toward a career in entertainment, what comes to mind?

A: A career in entertainment was never a goal of mine. All I knew from a very early age was that writing was my forte, pretty much the one thing I was ever good at. The crazy thing is just how long it took me to get to the point where I’d be writing for a living, or at least semi-living. After a very difficult adolescence growing up in isolated, narrow-minded small towns in the 1980s, so far removed from large centres that the mere thought of writing for a magazine was instinctively deemed an impossibility in my confidence-shattered mind, I was adrift. But then the internet happened, and by 1995 the world seemed much smaller, possibilities more plentiful. Meeting people online, reading, discussing, it opened up avenues for so many people like myself who felt far removed from anyone else with common interests.

H: Was music always a big part of your life, or was it something you grew to appreciate later on (as a teenager or adult)?

A: It was, but in a very unique way. Because I spent the first 12 and a half years of my life in small northern forest industry towns, with no access to FM radio and only two TV channels, I missed out on a lot of music, particularly of the classic rock variety. The only music I knew was what was played on AM radio in the 1970s and early-’80s, and my Mom’s old Beatles and Rolling Stones records. I didn’t hear bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, Rush, until my family moved to a slightly larger city. From a musical standpoint, I was extremely naive at that time, and I had a lot of catching up to do!

H: Do you recall the first album you purchased with your own money (and the format)?

A: Yikes, that would be Kenny Rogers’s ’The Gambler’, which had to be May of 1980, when I was nine and a half years old. I dug the title track, of course, but the rest of the album didn’t do anything for me. It’d be another three and a half years before I’d buy another album, and by then the music I’d be seeking out would be very, very different.

H: How about the first band you were infatuated with, and the you discovered them?

A: I was drawn to heavy metal not long after I saw those band logos everywhere in 1983 for the first time. They were on those tacky old black, white-sleeved band baseball t-shirts worn by the kids who bullied me mercilessly, so at first I wanted nothing to do with it just out of association. Why the hell would I want to listen to the same music that those Neanderthals were into? But then via music videos I started hearing the popular metal bands of that year: Quiet Riot, Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne, Kiss, Scorpions. It was loud, kind of obnoxious, really catchy, and most of all more viscerally powerful than anything I’d ever heard.

So by the start of 1984 I was starting to dabble in contemporary heavy metal, and the two albums that clicked immediately for me were Twisted Sister’s rebellious, theatrical, and witty ’Stay Hungry’ and Ratt’s stylish, very melodic yet musically razor-sharp ’Out of the Cellar’. Those albums, which came out roughly around the same time, sealed the deal. What started as a mild interest became a full-blown obsession. Six months later I was discovering new, heavier, provocative music by Judas Priest, Slayer, W.A.S.P., and Iron Maiden, who would become my favourite band of all time.

H: You’re here to talk to us about a career in writing, and up to this point we have only had the opportunity to feature a few people who do what you do (freelance work, that is). What do you think initially attracted you to the world of journalism?

A: First of all, I’m always reluctant to call myself a “journalist” because I’m self-taught, I don’t have a journalism degree. People always say, “Oh, don’t sell yourself short,” but the fact of the matter is the bulk of my work revolves around the promotional cycle of new music, and I’m a cog in that machine. Which I embrace; I try hard to not publish stories that feel like glorified press releases, to clue people in to new music that they otherwise might not have considered listening to before, in a friendly, approachable manner. So I prefer to think of myself as a music writer and critic. I’m just a guy who can write pretty well who happens to be a total nerd about music, and is lucky enough to write about music for a living. But yes, the journalism aspect of my work is just as rewarding, and something I’m always extremely careful to do properly.

H: What inspires you as a writer, and how has that changed over the course of your career?

A: From day one it was all about the passion for music, both new and old, not only metal but all the other genres I’ve discovered for myself over the last 30 years. But it’s funny when you get older, when you start landing better paying jobs. Security and pay is a great, great motivator. As is the hustle of being a freelancer, of course, but being able to churn out daily written content at MSN with the knowledge that you were being compensated 90 percent better than most freelance music writers out there made me even more driven and passionate. Your confidence goes up, your writing gets stronger, your profile grows. So now, four months after the sudden demise of MSN Entertainment, with its phenomenal stable of freelance contributors laid off in favour of boring, tepid news wire stories, I’m at a bit of a crossroads. Back on the freelance hustle more than ever, with only minimal financial compensation. Is passion for the music enough anymore, at my age? We’ll have to see.

H: What was your first gig in the music industry, paid or unpaid, and how did it come together?

A: That was when I joined PopMatters in 2002, which I sort of fell into, and which wound up changing my life. It’s so corny, but a couple years before that I started writing reviews of albums I liked on Amazon, just for fun. I always liked music criticism, going back to the ’80s, but hadn’t done any writing for a few years. People started leaving feedback about how much they liked what I wrote, folks would tell me they bought a CD based on my recommendation and say how much they liked the music. That’s when I started to realize it could be something to get into, so when I saw in late 2001 that PopMatters was looking for new writers – I found the site via Jim DeRogatis, who gushed about how much he liked it – I threw my name in. They thought I had a unique background, and brought me on. From then on I was churning out reviews like mad. I wrote hundreds for the site, and still contribute off and on there to this day.

H: You joined the PopMatters team in 2002. What can you tell us about the online journalism industry at the time and how it has changed over the last decade?

A: By 2000 online music writing was in a serious state of flux. There was a lot of phenomenal new music coming out, not to mention even more independent artists than ever before, but there was no real tastemaker. Allmusic was, and remains, the best online resource, but a site like Addicted to Noise, which was a tremendous voice in the late-90s, suddenly died when that initial internet bubble burst. Rolling Stone and Spin at that time were hopelessly out of touch. But then Pitchfork and PopMatters came along, each with its own distinct vision. At the time Pitchfork was far more irreverent and snarky but it brought a very distinct brand and attitude, working hard to be that one influential tastemaker of the 2000s, and they succeeded mightily. PopMatters’ approach was different, seeking essays and criticism from all facets of popular culture, not just the latest cool obscurities that Pitchfork loved to embrace. They were the two leaders for a long time as print magazines scrambled and struggled to find their own online identities.

Today there’s more of a blurring of lines: Pitchfork is now a powerful brand and entity, curating festivals and dipping its toes into print and video, while Spin has excelled in the last couple years morphing into an online publication, and Rolling Stone is now headed in that direction as well, at long last. UK webzine The Quietus that has stepped up the game as far as online music writing and criticism goes; the quality of writing there is phenomenal, I think it’s the gold standard right now. Additionally, not only have magazines done the right thing by offering subscriptions via iPad, iPhone, and Android, but it’s also seeing a return of the ’90s zine culture in digital form, led by Maura Magazine, a new publication I greatly admire.

As for the metal scene, it’s been a lot slower going. It’s an art form that has always relied heavily on tactility, from the multimedia appeal of the album – music, lyrics, artwork – to live performances and supporting bands by buying merchandise at shows, so while there have always been forums and websites centring on fan gossip and the endearing adulation of metal fans for their favourite bands, for the longest time the best metal writing was always in print, not online.

I give PopMatters a lot of credit for helping bring some respect to metal criticism. Because the editors have no bias towards any form of music, no matter how fringe it was, when I suggested I start writing about metal more in 2004, which no music site at the time did, they were all for it. My monthly Blood & Thunder column was the first column on a mainstream music website devoted exclusively to metal music, and Pitchfork and Stylus magazines followed with their own soon after. That was the turning point, as more and more people started writing about metal online with a keener critical eye and actual skill, developing their own styles and identities. Today online metal writing is a lot better than it was a decade ago, but there’s still plenty of improving to do.

H: You began contributing to other publications, including Decibel, beginning around 2005. What lead you to expand your horizons?

A: It might seem crazy, but I’ve never applied to write for any print magazines. They’ve always approached me. That’s where writing for a website as respected and widely read as PopMatters benefited me immensely: my work was seen by a lot of people, including a few key people in the industry, and it led to new offers. People kept asking, and I kept accepting.

H: There are a number of journalism majors who will eventually read this article. What advice would you off aspiring professionals in regards to landing freelance opportunities?

A: Well, if a self-taught writer like myself can land an Iron Maiden cover story, which was a dream come true for me, anything is possible if you work hard enough, degree or no degree.

H: Beyond job advice, what other insight can you offer to aspiring journalists about your career field?

A: Oh man. Don’t expect to make a stable living, that’s the big one. There are only a handful of people who make good money from freelance writing, and I’m extremely grateful to have been one of them for a while. It’s thankless work that sadly doesn’t pay anywhere near as much as it should, and smart folks should have a regular job to fall back on, and keep the music writing secondary, because this line of work is absolutely brutal if it’s your only source of income, trust me. Make sure you enjoy the hell out of the work you do get, because there are always other people desperate to take your place.

H: When it comes to receiving music for review/feature purposes, which distribution platforms do you prefer and why?

A: Well, this being a piece for Haulix, I almost feel obligated to say Haulix! But seriously, of all the platforms – DMDS, Play MPE, MP3s, CDs, those awful major label streams – Haulix is by far the easiest to use. I plow through music constantly, and the speed with which I can use Haulix is fantastic. I use the streaming option almost always, and it’s good to have the option to download, which I do for the very good and the very bad only for future reference, or in some rare cases, an extended spot on my iTunes.

If there’s one thing I wish I could do with Haulix is stream and download straight onto iPhone or iPad. I’ll be on road trips and just dying because I can’t listen to a highly anticipated new album!

H: Some say the age of social media has done away with the need for professional critics. As someone who has written a review or two over the years, where do you stand on this topic?

A: Absolutely not, especially when it comes to metal music. The metal scene is so inundated with new music week after week that reliable, eloquent critics are needed more than ever, to weed through all the middling music and find records worth listeners’ time and money. The average person has nowhere near enough time to do the searching, and that’s where the critic comes in. Over the last two years I calculated I listened to around 600-700 albums per year, and only less than five percent of it was music I would deem worth spending money on. So I consider it extremely important to find that good four or five percent so other people don’t have to waste their time and money doing so.

H: Piracy is as much a hot button item now as it was a decade ago. Do you think we will ever see a day when music piracy comes to an end?

D: Maybe when streaming usurps MP3 as the format of choice, but I am very impressed with how well it’s been kept under control these days, especially in metal, which relies heavily on full album purchases more than individual tracks. For instance, the new Behemoth album, one of the most anticipated metal albums of 2014, only leaked online 24 hours before its release date, which has to be seen as a victory for Metal Blade Records. The more savvy indie labels are starting to get a real handle on how to control leaks, which is great to see. And as a writer it’s imperative to not break the trust of a record label. Getting access to advance music is one of the last remaining perks of being a music writer, and you have to have a professional attitude about it.

H: Without going too in-depth, can you walk us through a typical day at work for you?

A: Oh, A Day in the Life of a Guy With No Life. Okay. Being a freelancer I work from home, so it’s basically a ten-foot commute. Music is on constantly, either for reviewing purposes or for interview research, and it’s a mundane process of emailing editors, label folks, and publicists, planning interviews, the workload over the next few weeks. Every writer complains about transcribing interviews, and indeed it’s the worst time-sucker for me because that means I can’t have music on for hours at a time, and I fall behind. But once the transcribing is done, the assembling of features is the best part of the entire job, especially when it’s about an artist I’m particularly interested in.

H: How do you measure success at your job? What is a ‘good day’ like for you?

A: At this point a good day for me is one that’s not wasted on bad music. The days I discover new albums that I know will be on my year-end list are the best days.

H: At this point in life, what are you career goals? Are there any areas of the business you would like to work in that you have not yet had the chance?

A: Well, to keep making steady money doing this is the most obvious goal. Of course the book option is there, and I have a couple ideas that could be worth a shot in the future, and I think editing might be something worth getting into someday. I know so many great young music writers, and I’d love to be able to help them get a leg up if I edited a publication. But at this point, a little financial security in this business would be wonderful.

H: If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?

A: If there’s one thing the industry should change, it’s its reluctance to embrace change. Have some foresight, embrace new ways of consuming music instead of being constantly on the defensive. We all saw what happened when the digital era blew up, the major labels were caught with their pants down. That’s starting to happen, but it still feels too tentative.

H: I think that covers everything. Before I let you go, are there any final thoughts or observations you would like to share with our readers?

Thanks so much for this interview! I’m very active online, and anyone who wants to talk music are welcome follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/basementgalaxy. In the meantime, refuse to accept mediocre music as the norm. There’s so much product out there right now that any new music that’s less than excellent should be completely unacceptable.