Looking back on 2013. I can’t believe it’s already another year gone. The older I get the faster the time seems to fly by but regardless, 2013 was an epic year. 2013 was the best year to date for The Great Southern Brainfart. I picked up a lot of new readers this year, launched a new site design, and the new comment system allowed people to comment on posts via Facebook. This added a whole new level of interaction and trollness which as you all know I love. Hey, it takes a troll to know a troll right?
2013 was the year of Swedish Invasion which had bands like Sabaton, Graveyard, and Blues Pill dominating the 2013 Farty Awards and The Brainfart’s Top 13 Albums of ’13. This was also a great year for discovering some great new bands. Bands like Blues Pills, Noctum, Scorpion Child and DC’s A Sound of Thunder just to name a few were exciting new additions to my every growing roster of bands bands that I love. On the live front, 2013 had some great return visits by Brainfart favorites Holy Grail, Gypsyhawk, and Kyng who delivered top notch performances and reminded me just why these guys are my some of my favorite bands. On the ugly side, I also had the displeasure of being exposed to two of the single most crappy bands I’ve ever seen/heard in my life. The first of those bands was Whitechapel who opened for GWAR and the 2nd being local amateur talent show rejects Thundershield. Between these two bands, I’m hard pressed to think or even imagine that there are worse bands out there. This somewhat makes me feel good as I feel that anything worse than these two bands would be a knife in my ears or getting hit by a City of Atlanta garbage truck doing’ 55 in a 35.
In 2013 I also decided (thanks to much coercing from my readers) to put aside all bias and give death metal an honest listen. This resulted in The Album by Album Challenge: The Death Metal Edition in which I was totally blown away and walked away a fan of Morbid Angel’s Covenant and Carcass’ Heartwork albums just to name a few. This also had me re-visiting local Atlanta band Death of Kings only to discover that their recent release Knifehammer was quite a great piece of wax that was food for my ears. It’s amazing what opening your mind and putting all bias aside can do for you. I feel like this exercise opened up a door to a whole new world that I’ve yet to completely brave.
2013 was also a great year of interviews. I had the opportunity to interview childhood heroes of mine such as Michael Sweet of Stryper, Lita Ford, and Michael Lardie of Great White. I had one of my most intriguing interviews with black metal icon Erik Daniellson of Watain. I interviewed my only non-music related subject, Pawn Stars book expert Rebecca Romney, and interviewed some great up and coming bands such as Scorpion Child, Draekon, Christian Mistress, and Volume IV just to name a few. Speaking of Christian Mistress, this was also the year that I excitedly was able to be one of the first sites to report that they were indeed still an active band and planning their return after being mysteriously MIA for some time.
2013 was the year where I felt that the line of communication between myself and you (the reader) really opened up. So many of you Fartheads out there really got involved in posting comments on the site and on The Great Southern Brainfart Facebook page. This really had me excited and I loved it that even when my opinions or ideas didn’t mesh with yours, there was a level of mutual respect between us all that allowed us all to find some common ground and high five it out.
2013 was the most awesome year to date. Looking back on it all there’s nothing that I would’ve done differently. I know I pissed off a lot of people with my opinions but you know what? I’m not sorry. This is music folks. Music is subjective. It’s no secret that I am an outspoken, opinionated writer. I’m a passionate fan of hard rock and metal music. I have my thoughts and I have my opinions. That’s why I started this website in the first place. I started this site because I didn’t feel that a lot of sites out there were giving me their honest, true, and unbiased thoughts and opinions. I love nothing more when a fellow reader challenges my opinion. Why do I feel that way? Why do I hate so and so? We can talk it out and duke it out and eventually find some kind of common ground which I love.
At the end of it all, I love what I do and I cannot thank you all enough for being a part of this surreal, magical, and fun journey. Every show I review, every album I review, every editorial I write, every Album by Album Challenge I write is for you, the reader. You all let me know when I’ve done good and you let me know when I’ve missed the mark completely. You all voice your comments and you root me one when I feel like I’m running out of ideas or just flat out running on empty. You people are what makes this site what it is and for that I am eternally grateful.
Be good to one another and yourselves. See y’all in 2014 and be safe!
The Great Southern Brainfart
Atlanta, GA
December, 2013
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