Breaking More Waves Is Eleven Years Old Today

Today Breaking More waves is 11 years old. That’s a pretty long time to do anything. But here I am, still doing it. 

So far 2019 has seen me post far less than any previous year. There are a number of reasons for this but the main one is simply that I’ve been freeing up more of my spare time to do other things. Some of you may remember that in November 2018 I underwent open heart surgery due to a congenital defect and since then I have been getting my physical health back on track, which takes time. And as writing a music blog also takes time (not a huge amount of time, but still, it’s not written instantaneously) so the posts have decreased.

However, I still am absolutely determined that Breaking More Waves will continue. This has been very much a slow-down rather than a complete halt. A huge amount of new music blogs have fallen by the wayside over the last few years as ‘discovery’ becomes dominated by streaming services, and some bloggers shift to try and monetise their love of music in other ways; working for record companies, artists or shifting to print formats seem to be the most popular. 

However, everything I do in relation to music has always been and always will remain a hobby. 

Internet traffic and hits are nice if only to show that someone is visiting the site, but they’re not essential to me continuing: although ironically despite blogs apparently no longer being popular, the visitor numbers to this blog has increased over the last few months.

So that’s where I sit with Breaking More Waves. The rest of 2019 will continue to be more of the same. New music that I like. 

I have toyed with the idea of doing a little more than just this though.

Instead of bringing back the ‘think pieces’ (which I used to write but tired of) I am thinking about writing reviews of gigs and concerts I go to. After all, the very first edition of Breaking Waves paper fanzine (the precursor to this site) was simply one gigantic review of Glastonbury Festival written in diary style. And when the blog started I did write the occasional gig write up. Some were quite popular. One journalist even copied and pasted my review of an early Ellie Goulding show onto their site and passed it off as their own. Tut tut. 

Far too often these days I read live reviews on other sites and find myself incredibly bored with them. Dull descriptions of what the music sounded like and what songs the band played might be very factual, but they send me to sleep. There seems to be a lack of emotion, passion, context or humour in a lot of writing now and I keep wondering if I could write something better. If this is something you’d like me to do, please let me know. 

Mind you, the reality would probably this: 

‘It was raining so I got the number 2 bus down to the venue rather than walk. I bumped into John and Lucy at the bar. They had already had a couple of pints and were in a jovial mood, their faces flushed with cider. The support band was dull. The main band was better but the woman in front of me kept flicking her hair around as she danced and it ended up in both my pint and mouth. It didn’t taste pleasant although there was a slight scent of apples to it, which weirdly I liked. I went home as soon a the encore finished It had stopped raining, which was pleasing, as I didn’t have enough money for a return.” 

Pitchfork / NME eat your heart out.

Anyway, happy birthday my blog. 11 years of spouting this rubbish. It’s just as well it’s not my job – I’d have been sacked a long time ago.

What's The Point Of A Small Music Blog Like Breaking More Waves In 2019?

Anyone who has taken time in the sweaty, sexy, awkward, grasp of pop music, having their ears f*cked by the thousands of artists trying to cop-off with them, will know that there are really only 2 sorts of pop music; the good and the bad.

The art is to be able to discern which musical bedfellows to fall in love with, which are quick one-night stands and which just aren’t worth the effort, irrespective of what pleasures they may appear to tempt you with.

In 2019 this selection process should be easier than ever. Why? Technology! Spotify playlists! The internet! You Tube! More music than you can ever possibly spend time with for the cost of one physical album! All the choice! Just click, listen for a few seconds then, approve or delete! We can now listen to every song, playlist or album like viewing a Tinder profile. Swipe. Reject. Move on to the next. It’s all so simple.

Except it isn’t, is it?

The choice has become overwhelming. The grass is always greener. It happens in dating. It happens when you go shopping. And it happens when you listen to music.

It’s one of the reasons why music blogs have decreased in popularity (although there are many other reasons as well). Who needs blogs when the whole history of music right up to this very second is just a few taps away? And if you want brand new music that caters for your tastes then Spotify has that covered with its individually curated Discovery Weekly playlist.

So, what is the point of something like Breaking More Waves? Why on earth would you visit a music blog?

It’s question that I’ve been mulling over a little whilst I took a bit of time away from the blog recently. (That time away wasn’t by choice, but a faulty heart valve I’ve had since birth meant I ended up in hospital for 27 nights following a heart attack and had to undergo open heart surgery – so I think a close to death experience is a relatively valid excuse for a pause in proceedings!)

The answer I’ve come up with is very simple. I guess it’s the same answer that any musician who isn’t making money from their music comes up with when they begin to question why they are doing what they do. I write this blog for my pleasure. I write for the sheer joy of doing it and sharing my love of music with others. Not everything we do in life needs to be about making money. Especially if the ‘work’ hasn’t been commissioned by anyone.

But besides the pleasure this blog gives me there are two things I still hope it occasionally achieves.

First, I hope that Breaking More Waves can reduce the choice. If you agree that we live in an age where technology has made things so overwhelming that they become crushingly excessive, where there’s too much, too quickly, too often, I’m going to try and just pick the really good stuff to feature here. This year more than ever I’m going to focus on quality rather than quantity. Expect a maximum of about 10 posts a month. The posts will still be about new music and particularly new artists, but there may be the occasional diversion into older records as well.

Second, I hope that the words I write give some context. That’s something a Spotify Playlist can’t give you. It’s something once again in 2019 I’m going to try to do more of. To try and give some meaning, or make some sense to some of the great music out there and some of the issues surrounding that music.. This is a one author blog, so often that context will be personal and carry some opinion. Yes, some will be the dreaded 'think-piece' - but I'll try and keep them short and light-hearted.

This is why in 2019 as music blogs continue to die off or evolve into other forms I’m still continuing with Breaking More Waves. I firmly believe there’s still a place for sites that give a few recommendations every month, but that don’t over saturate or overwhelm you with too much. Most people don't want to visit the likes of Breaking More Waves, but some hardcore music fans do.

That's the point of Breaking More Waves in 2019. Finding the good stuff. The ones to fall in love with and (sometimes) the one night stands. Giving context and personal opinion. But not overwhelming. Trying to make the selection process easier.

New music recommendations will start shortly....

A Thank You From Robin @ Breaking More Waves Blog

Happy New Year from Southsea, Portsmouth and the internet. The home of Breaking More Waves.

So that was 2017 then? 

It was, looking back, quite a difficult year for Breaking More Waves. Personal circumstances (my partner’s treatment for cancer, a very tough year at work where depleted resources gave constant challenges and pressures, plus working on the ongoing modernisation of my house that I moved to a couple of years ago) left little time for writing a blog. Still, I managed over 250 posts which is probably somewhere between 55,000 and 60,000 words. A lot less than every year except the blog’s first but still something to be proud of I feel. 

As I’ve said time and time before some people view a blog as successful if it’s making money or has lots of readers or gets lots of premieres given to it by record labels or gets lots of music industry recognition as a ‘tastemaker’, or has a well followed Spotify playlist, but that isn’t how I view success. My success is the pleasure I get out of writing Breaking More Waves – keeping it going is the real success for me. So maybe 2017 was actually the most successful year of Breaking More Waves considering the challenges. 

This summer Breaking More Waves will be ten years old. Ten. Imagine that. I’ve written this watching my children grow up and now one of them is at university! There have been deaths - I’ve lost my father and my partners father and mother in the time I have been doing this. There have been births with many of my friends starting their own families. There have also been a hell of a lot of other blogs going to the internet version of the blog graveyard - sadly this year one of my favourite blogs (and favourite bloggers in real life) Leigh Ecclestone from Just Music That I Like finished his blog. Thanks for all the posts Leigh and hopefully see you at a gig again soon.

Assuming that I do get to ten years (that’s in June – and I fully intend to get there) it feels like I should celebrate a bit more than just write my annual slap-on-the-back-well-done-another-year-post. I don’t know what I’ll do yet, but maybe I’ll throw some sort of party and you’ll all be invited. There would be good music of course. Watch this space.

Although 2017 was challenging in terms of finding time to keep Breaking More Waves going it’s been really good over the last year to have people say nice things to me about the blog both on line and in person. Those little tweets saying they really loved a track I’d posted or they enjoyed something I had written can be real motivators. Especially if I've been struggling.

So, I just want to say thank you to anyone who has read some of the crap I speed type onto my laptop in those spare 15 minutes I find at a work lunch hour or late at night when the day is nearly done. Thank you to anyone who has interacted with me on social media ( Twitter @BMWavesBlog and Instagram @breakingmorewavespics) and thank you to anyone who has recognised me at gigs and festivals and come and said hello / had a chat. And finally, thank you to all the musicians who make the music I write and post about. Without them life just wouldn’t be as good would it? If you want to hear all of the artists I write about I have a playlist on Spotify which I update at the end of every month with all the tracks from the previous month. December's is live now. You can find it by clicking here.

OK that was 2017.

Now it’s 2018.

Time to do more words about more music. Mainly new music. Very occasionally old music. But always that which I like, in the hope you do to.

Robin, Breaking More Waves.