2019

It's been a tough year for me, this one. I sort of didn't want to talk about this here, but as I try to work out what to write I keep bumping into it, like a mountain I can't get round and just have to climb. My dad died in August. I didn't post about it on social media, because I just wanted to grieve quietly in private. I hasten to add that this is no criticism of others who do share stuff like this: this is very much a situation where everyone should be free to react in whatever way they damn well please, and indeed a lot of my friends seemed to lose one (or in one case, both) of their parents in 2019. Maybe I've started noticing it more or, more likely, with many friends in their late 30s or 40s, we've just hit that age where this starts happening more frequently.

I've nothing much original to say about this experience. Much of what I would put down here feels like a cliche, but I think in this case a lot of the cliches are true. What I will say is that it's made me realise that there isn't really such thing as normal, no status quo that you can rely on to always be there. Everything in your life is just a period of your life, and in this case I'm glad that I at least got near enough 45 years with my father. I guess what I'm trying to say - and, yeah, this is bordering on cliche, but let me have this one - is that we should all take the time to appreciate the people who are important to us while we have the chance.

On that subject, let's talk about some of the good stuff from this year, which definitely includes hanging out with a whole bunch of old friends on various occasions. Not everyone, sure, but a decent amount this time round. It started in January, when I managed to fit quality time with Jimmy and the TOTS crew, Simon and his family and Lexy and Jo into less than 48 hours in London. Later on, I got to see Pidge and Caro in Christchurch, the K! lot in London at the awards bash, Pete in Exeter, Adam, Di, Ross and Laura when they visited Brighton from Australia and the US, Rich and Geraldine in Brighton and Southampton, Ollie and Jules in Somerset, Clare, Sarah and Duncan (and a few others!) in Southampton, and Mark and Jess (and Alex) in Brighton. The last-named were one of a bunch of friends who brought new life into the world, along with Emily and Burton, Vic and Matt, and Jamie and Nansi (and quite possibly others I've forgotten).

No foreign holidays for us this year, though we did make it to Rye, and down to Devon on three occasions, and I also had a night in Amsterdam. My band Viaduct got going properly, recording our first EP and playing six shows in Brighton, Worthing and Southampton, all of which went pretty well with the exception, for reasons I don't wanna revisit, of the latter. Massive thanks to everyone who put us on, and all the bands we played with, particularly Dealing With Damage and Newts.

I also got to interview a few great folks this year, including Conrad and Jason from ...Trail Of Dead, Steve from Neurosis, Trevor from Pelican, Barney from Napalm Death (round his house!) and Mark Lanegan from, well, Mark Lanegan.

I'd like to dedicate this to everyone who lost a parent this year - too many to name, but if any of you need to chat, I'm here. Also to Andy Leng (a year late; sorry, chief). And Michael Sleggs. But most of all, to Dad.

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

So what better way to honour my Dad than with lots of music he wouldn't like, or possibly even understand? To be fair though, back in the day I'd subject him to all manner of stuff on the car stereo, and he only complained twice. The doomy dirge of Gluey Porch Treatments by Melvins was just too dispiritingly depressive for him, while he demanded that I take Public Enemy's It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back off, because he was a massive racist. Only joking! Those insistent, fractured shards of sampled brass peppered throughout could almost have been designed specifically to irritate a man of his age circa 1990 (although, terrifyingly, that would be about the same age I am now...)

20. Torche, Admission

19. Fontaines DC, Dogrel

18. Weyes Blood, Titanic Rising

17. Dawn Ray'd, Behold Sedition Plainsong

16. Earth, Full Upon Her Burning Lips

15. Inter Arma, Sulphur English

14. Creeping Death, Wretched Illusions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZdI_oaYwuA

13. Ride, This Is Not A Safe Place

12. Deafkids, Metaprogramação

11. Perch, No Step

10. Amyl And The Sniffers, Amyl And The Sniffers

9. Pelican, Nighttime Stories

8. Fury, Failed Entertainment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CKBpFNg3fI

7. Sweet Williams, Where Does The Time Come From
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuc1Z4ve8f0

6. Teeth Of The Sea, Wraith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRVc7fQ8sjU

5. Pile, Green And Gray

4. Bird In The Belly, Neighbours And Sisters

3. Ceremony, Turn Away The Bad Thing

2. Drahla, Useless Coordinates

1. Bad Breeding, Exiled
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWC560ctNkc

SONGS OF THE YEAR
10. Teeth Of The Sea, Gladiators Ready
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvy3jhJGgcE

9. Ceremony, Turn Away The Bad Thing

8. Drahla, Stimulus For Living

7. Bird In The Belly, Phoebe To Phyllis
 https://www.birdinthebelly.com/music

6. Pile, On A Bigger Screen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKG6KdU4r5w

5. The Murder Capital, Green & Blue

4. Ride, Clouds Of Saint Marie

3. Ty Segall, Taste
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tmOr2yWaSs

2. Fontaines DC, Big

1. Bad Breeding, Clear Blue Water
https://badbreeding.bandcamp.com/track/clear-blue-water



GIGS OF THE YEAR
Acid Cannibals @ The Pipeline
Aerosol Jesus @ The Pipeline and The Gren Door Store
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead @ The Haunt
Arxx @ Latest Music Bar and The Green Door Store
Audiobooks @ The Green Door Store
Big Slammu @ the TST all-dayer
Bird In The Belly @ The Ropetackle
The Chats/Bad//Dreems/Crocodylus @ The Concorde
The Coathangers/Public Body @ Latest Music Bar
Crippled Black Phoenix @ Patterns
De Staat in Amsterdam
Deafkids/Rakta @ The Hope & Ruin
Dealing With Damage/Saving Throw @ The Pipeline
Drahla/Sleep Eaters @ The Green Door Store
Gum Takes Tooth @ Elektrowerkz
Hot Snakes @ Patterns
Human Leather @ The Pipeline and The Green Door Store
Jaye Jayle/The Academy Of Sun/Markers @ The Albert
Kemper Norton @ the TST all-dayer
Loss Leader @ The Cowley
Luminous Bodies @ the TST all-dayer
Melt Banana @ Chalk
Mono/Arabrot @ The Haunt
Newts @ The Albert
Ohhms/Modern Technology @ The Green Door Store
Pascagoula @ The Albert (twice), Brighton Electric and the TST all-dayer
Perch/I'm Being Good/Broker @ The Hope & Ruin
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs @ The Haunt
Shellac @ The Concorde
Single Mothers @ The Albert
Sleep/Pharaoh Overlord @ The Concorde
Svalbard/Opium Lord/Calligram/Underdark @ The Green Door Store
Teeth Of The Sea @ The Green Door Store
Thou/Moloch @ The Green Door Store
Torche @ The Green Door Store
Uniform/Bad Breeding @ Elektrowerkz
Vein/Higher Power @ The Green Door Store
War On Women @ The Green Door Store
You're Smiling Now... But We'll All Turn Into Demons @ the TST all-dayer
Yuxa @ The Albert