I love sharing my life with you, and I’m grateful every day that you share yours with me. To more gigs, pre-dinner pickles, and weekend getaways. Happy birthday sweetcheeks. I love you.
These trips always get me thinking about specific things - for better and for worse - but this one felt different, immediately lighter. Faces, shadows of the past, snapshots of different lives, all blended into ever changing feelings. “Circles spinning helpless at the edge.” I’ve tried to be more present in recent years (half the reason I barely post on this hellscape of an app anymore.) These four days didn’t feel like the usual blur, which quite simply let me fully embrace and enjoy it all.
Incredibly grateful for @la_dispute giving their time to share stories and insight towards my ever growing Pianos project and some of my favourite people. Just as appreciative of their care and consideration each day our paths cross.
“We only grow forward / Let’s just do it slower / Just add to the sum of the world as we go / Hour by hour by hour by hour”
Another @damnationfestival done. Another great weekend seeing some of the best metal out there. @deafheavenband ’s new record is phenomenal and just as good live; @amenra_official continue to be a spectacle; @coilgunsnoise were a surprise highlight too.
It’s been a tough year, but moving to Lancaster to live with you was the best decision I’ve made in a while. Thank you for keeping me in check when I’m spiralling. Thank you for humouring my stupid characters and voices. Gomp loves you very much, but not as much as I do. 2026 will be better, but luckily we get to close out this year with each other too. Happy first year of many.
@arctangentfestival always provides. Paella. Taking @bighands95 to her first ATG. More paella. Watching @charliejsimmonds have fun while drumming being one of life’s joys over the past couple years. Another paella. Hanging out with the best company.
27th Jan 2015, I was due to meet up with an old friend at a Pianos gig in Bristol, but for one reason or another he couldn’t make it. He mentioned some friends of his who were going that I should meet and hang out with that evening. Whether it was my Kerouac back patch or buzz cut, Tom found me pretty quickly, introducing himself and Smab - and here we are ten years later. Countless gigs, blogs, 2018 being a shared nightmare, festivals, and two of the closest friendships I’ve ever had. There was something deeply satisfying in being able to bring back three Keep You anniversary shirts for us - very much a full circle moment. Music is the best.
I could write paragraphs on even the tiniest details from various experiences over the past 12 months: spending two weeks with my neck craned back in awe of the scale of Japan; finally moving to Manchester and it being everything I expected, wanted, and needed; continued fulfilment from a project that’s yet to see light (BIG THINGS COMING, etc. etc.); vulnerability, admiration, and pure love displayed across the east coast of America, the best week of my life ("so far", as Grace reminded me); "Empty eyes can’t see me, I know"; receiving love and care in all its forms from so many, a reminder that some people want me to take up their space; new love; enjoying the day to day with a balance of looking both backwards and forwards.
This year has been more redeeming than I could have hoped for. Grateful for the experiences, and forever thankful to those who were either along for the ride and/or facilitated them.
A perfect end to an insanely good year, @damnationfestival was once again a treat with the best company. Dragged into Sunlight was truly the heaviest thing I’ve ever experienced. My friends have called it: 2025 is the year I become a bulletbelt-wearing mosher.
Never did I think seeing a new favourite band in a venue in Margate in 2011 would lead me to joining them on an American tour in 2024. To seeing Boston, Philly, and New York. Ticking off one of my very few bucket list items of seeing them play a hometown show in Baltimore. It’s an understatement, but I feel fortunate to call @pianosband close friends. My heart is full.
My favourite record of 2024, @frailbodyil are incredibly special, and it was a real pleasure getting to know them over the past week. I’m already looking forward to when our paths next cross.
ATG @arctangentfestival #6 - it’s always incredible seeing @amenra_official , and they’ve been more and more inspiring in the past year. @frailbodyil were fantastic and their latest record is looking to be my AOTY. Great weekend with great company. #ATG2025
Dad would’ve been 68 today, and it’s coming up to 3 years since he passed. The rose tinted glasses have been fading over the past couple months, having finally moved to Manchester and life becoming a bit more stable; dad and I really didn’t get on for a lot of our time together when I was younger. Growing up, we rarely saw eye to eye cause I OF COURSE had the world figured out by my teens and he refused to listen. His job wore him down and he simply didn’t have the energy to humour me. But music we got - neither of us gave much of a shit about much else. In between the arguing and my shortsightedness and his frustration, there were gigs and long drives and showing each other music.
All that time devoted to making life harder for one another, over things that didn’t matter, when we could’ve just gone to another gig. All that time wasted. I’d do anything to go back for another go round. But life doesn’t work like that, so instead I just hope you’d be happy with me on your birthday.
Think I commented most days how in awe of Japan I was. A week on, and I’m still thinking about the sheer scale and cultural differences. A true joy to experience, and with the company I had too. Thanks to our local tour guide @charliejsimmonds for the residential experience, nice snaps, and 5am silliness. Shout out Tokyo Drift and smut in arcade machines.
