Dead Good Music, the citrusy music blog that shares sweet new music. All music bloggers that are obsessed enough to go and start a blog share the same goal – to promote the good new tunes that they love. Shining a spotlight on a couple of guys that devote their time to shining a spotlight on artists, I wanted to ask the co-creators, Adam & Alex how their project came about, their backgrounds in music and their favourite discoveries of the year so far.
When did you both first start to write about music and have your music tastes evolved since?
Adam: “It’s been over a decade since I had the idea of writing about music (which is mad). I was a huge fan of Anthony Fantano and always thought it was cool how he was talking about music you wouldn’t hear on the radio or in magazines, but never thought of reviewing it myself as I absolutely bombed A Level English at college. Around that time I was obsessed with finding new music, and heard that a friend of mine had received free demos of various artists because of a webzine he started writing for. I just thought that was the coolest thing ever, so decided to go for it.
I was very much stuck with a snobby attitude when it came to music. I firmly believed that nothing good could come from Pop or that anything popular was rubbish. Nowadays I’m much less of a dick about it, and quite enjoy sampling something from everything. Like a delicious musical buffet. Yummy.”
Alex: “I started while I was at University, one of my lecturers in our ‘Music Industries’ module just said start a music blog to everyone. He just challenged us to write about music we did like, music we didn’t like and said it would get us in good habits and help us formulate our opinions on music. That’s where I started WFM (Words For Music), where I started writing about anything and everything, but it was mainly based on unsigned/independent bands.
Then once I left Uni, I just continued to do it because it was a great pass time and I really enjoyed meeting people/bands through creating it. Also, it became part of my work portfolio whenever I went to apply for jobs!”
When and how did the Dead Good Music project come about?
Adam: “Alex was the one who initiated the conversation about starting something together. I think that happened at the start of last year, so right before the world imploded. We both said how we were having difficulties with keeping engaged with blogging so decided to set up a blog in the background, and then everything else took off from there!”
Alex: “Yeah, I remember me and Adam were talking for a while about our blogs on and off, and the struggles we were having. I knew I couldn’t keep WFM up on my own anymore, but I wanted to keep running a blog. So I just sounded out Adam and honestly, I didn’t think he’d be up for it because he had Sounds Good for so long, but to be fair he was bang up for it! We worked out how we’d close our two blogs and just set about building the new website!
Did it feel like a natural decision to bring your individual projects to an end and create your super blog together?
Adam: “At the time I remember thinking it was a risk because it was effectively putting an end to a blog that was established in favour of starting something brand new. What convinced me to go for it was the feeling of excitement I got from our initial discussions about it. The prospect of starting from scratch again and working alongside Alex who had done great things with Words For Music. I had been going through phases of burnout and was taking breaks from writing that seemed to be getting more frequent as the years went on, so to receive an opportunity that made me excited to do these things again was great. It was a no-brainer to accept it.”
Alex: “Yeah, I always thought to myself “If I worked from home, then I would be able to have much more time for the blog before/after work”, but then of course that opportunity arrived over lockdown and all that time I thought I’d dedicate to the blog, I didn’t. Also work is really hectic, and it’s difficult to run a blog when you have a 9-5, and I simply couldn’t give my best on all fronts. I always like Sounds Good and how it was more than just a music blog, because Ad always poured his personality into it. We’d talk about how our blogs were going, and we always had the same issues, so yeah it felt quite natural for them to come to an end and start something new and completely fresh!”
How do you work as a team?
Alex: “I think we work really well together, we’re both quite easy-going and have very open minds about how things should be done! Maybe at the start, we were stepping on each other’s toes because we were both so used to doing everything ourselves. But after a couple of months, we organized who was doing what on which days, and we’re in a really good rhythm. Also, I think we’re super comfortable with each other, so if one of us can’t do something we’ll just straight up tell one another and there’s no drama!”
Adam: “Yeah we work really well as a team. It helps that we both have the same personalities and tastes so discussing any part of the blog is a breeze. In terms of running it, we’ve divvied out certain tasks which has helped make things even smoother. Alex bosses the socials while I stick to scheduling content etc. We often keep each other in the loop with what we’re doing, so our WhatsApp chat is full of voice notes.”
Is there a story behind the orange theme / symbol?
Alex: “Not really! I think we both liked the colour orange, and it just went from there just trying to make orange puns on the website, and the idea we are just an orange running a blog. The symbol, that came down to our super creative team member Karla, who saw what we were trying to do (badly), and make it look 10051005x better.”
Adam: “We were talking about the name, designs etc and Alex suggested that we should use orange as the main colour. As soon as he said that, everything else came to mind. Mainly the puns. Citrusly good music, no bits, just hits etc. It all came spilling out and sped up the creation of the blog. It was crazy. Once Karla worked her magic with the logo, we knew that this was a good idea.”
Where did your passion(s) for music stem from?
Adam: “It took quite a while for me to get into music. The TV or radio was always on in my house growing up, so I was exposed to a lot of whatever was popular at the time but none of it really stuck. What did stick eventually was hearing QOTSA perform Sick, Sick, Sick on Popworld. What I was seeing and hearing absolutely blew my mind apart. It was unlike anything I ever heard before, and this discovery quickly turned into an obsession when they returned to the show with 3’s & 7’s.”
Alex: “Right up until college, I was always into Rap/Grime/Hip Hop, and although I listened to it, I wouldn’t say I was a fanatic. But then I met some new friends at college, and this one lad introduced me to Oasis, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, then I quickly started falling through this musical hole, working through back catalogues of artists. Then, when I went to see The Cribs for the first time at 21-22 I completely fell in love and got into another bunch of bands off the back of them.”
Lastly, this is a tricky one… but your three favourite artist discoveries from this year?
Adam: “There are so many I could mention. Beach Riot have just released their debut album which is incredible. That has been playing repeatedly since it was released. Mawpit have also been making some excellent music this year. I can’t wait for their EP to come out. In terms of brand new artists, Media Giant emerged from nowhere to drop their first single which was immense. They like to keep things secret so not a lot is known about them, which makes them more intriguing in a way. I also need to highlight Amie Jay as she released her new single with a totally different sound that took me by surprise.”
Alex: “This is difficult because obviously there’s so many we get to listen to on a weekly basis. Adam has already mentioned Mawpit, so I won’t name them, but they are amazing. Also Chartreuse are a band I really got into last year, but would love to give them a shout, because without the blog I would never have found them. Three from this year, I’ll go for Junomoon, their track ‘Call A Doctor’ is so catchy and raw, and I just dug it as soon as I hit play. Alex Amor, she released her debut EP earlier this year and it’s just so sleek. It’s classic Indie pop music, and she’s just too cool not to be on this list. Finally, I’d say Graywave, I was first introduced to her lat last year, so I’ll class it as this year. She’s fantastic, her debut EP ‘Planetary Shift’ just blew me away, the atmospherics on it along with her vocals are stunning. Hoping to catch her live this year!
A huge thanks to Adam & Alex for taking the time to speak about their project Dead Good Music, be sure to check out their website and follow them on their social media if you haven’t already. Their passion and love for new music is really evident.
Keep your eyes peeled for more interviews coming up in the future as we continue to chat with interesting music peeps that we highly rate!
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