Today marks the one year anniversary of The Metaphorical Boat first setting sail. How time flies.
When I first started the blog on Sunday 24th July 2011, my aim was to promote new music that I really enjoyed that I didn't think was getting enough attention. I was inspired to start it following trip I took to Nashville, Tennessee back in March last year.
During my stay, I went to a showcase gig in which 8 artists were performing for the opportunity to grab a slot on the Bonnaroo Festival. As the winner was to be decided based on audience votes, many of the acts put on extravagant performances that were largely style over substance. However, the final band that played on the night did not need any of that to grab my attention. Just really fantastic songs. They were Big Surr, and I fell in love with them almost instantly. Unfortunately they didn't win the competition in the end, but I was won over by their shoegaze sound, and even bought a copy of their cassette at the end of the evening.
The next day, I went onto the internet to see how much had been written about the group. I was disappointed to discover that there was next to nothing written about them on the internet. Annoyed, I told myself that I would start a blog that would highlight some of the best artists that deserved to be shouted from the rooftops. It took me a few months, but having moved back to Belfast from America, I set up The Metaphorical Boat, with my first post being about Big Surr. Since writing about the group they seemed to have slowed things down a bit, although just yesterday they put a new song on YouTube, "Cicada Summer", which gives me hope that they might break through just yet.
Since then, I've written about lots of fantastic artists, many of them from my own particular neck of the woods, and I really love hearing from new and emerging artists who make fantastic music. I've always said that if this blog begins to feel like a chore I would cease updating it immediately, but so far I've sincerely enjoyed running it. When I hear that someone has discovered their new favourite artist after TMB has posted about it, it makes this endeavor worthwhile.
Anyway, I think I've indulged myself a little too much already, so I'll just finish by saying that you to all of you who read this blog, and to all the musicians I've featured for making such wonderful music. If it wasn't for your wonderful songs, this blog would never have got past day 1. Thank you all.
Here's to many more years of music that floats my Metaphorical Boat.
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