There are so many music blogs available - some good, some obscure -
a lot of shit and pointless ones, so when you find a great one, it is
bookmarked and saved. The ones that really hold your interest are read
daily and Sludgelord falls into that group. Reviews, interviews, band
compilations - they are going from strength to strength and I know
that you, my faithful download monkeys would like to know
what makes them tick!
1. The obvious first question has to be - what made you start Sludgelord?
Hi dude. What made me start. Well nothing too exciting. A mate's band – Sorry For Nothing - needed their new album reviewing and I said I would do it. As I used to write for another blog that went under as soon as it went up.
To make the blog more appealing to viewers. I added a few more articles like Bands To Check Out and Free Legal Downloads. I wrote review of their excellent new album and left it running for a couple days to see what interest their would be.
Quite promising after a few days. Got a few hits. Then I kept on doing it. Other reason I started was I was sick of hearing shit music on Radio and TV. Nothing catered for my tastes. Sludge, Stoner, Doom and Post-Metal. So I thought I could do this as a little hobby. Now this hobby has taken a life of it's own.
2. To be honest, I only found your site after Sludge Swamp bit the dust. Did that have an effect on you in terms of new visitors? I personally now get most of my information about heavier new albums from you!
Thanks for the kind comments dude. Follow your awesome site as well.
I don't know if it had an effect. I was a big fan of the Swamp. A lot of people were. I took inspiration from that blog. But I wanted to do my own thing. So I focused on reviews and free legal downloads from underground bands. Bands that need publicity.
I got more viewers as time went on. Probably from June 2011 the hits started getting more bigger. I don't take notice of figures at first. I just did Sludgelord because I enjoyed it.
I am amazed with the hits we have now. Coming up to 390K hits. Not bad for an amateur I suppose.
3. With the blog name, it is quite evident as to the type of music you cover - do you get sent wildly inappropriate genres sent to review?
Sludgelord came about as every name I wanted was taken. Plus Sludge is one of my all-time fave genres. It was going to be called Lord Of Sludge. But that sounded stupid. So Sludgelord stuck.
Yeah dude – I get sent a whole load of genres which I don't publish. As they don't fit the blog's image. Brutal Goregrind is one example. Too extreme even for me. Classical Metal, Operatic Metal. So yeah I have had a few genres sent to me that I didn't even know it existed. But they do.
So what we publish is stuff we mainly feature in the realm of Doom, Stoner, Sludge, Post-Metal and even Black Metal.
4. Your reviews are always positive - I review albums that I genuinely like - how do you deal with the odd one that is terrible or just something that leaves you cold?
Yeah they are always positive. Maybe too positive. But that is my style. Not going to change. My original view for the blog is we only publish the good stuff. No bad stuff. Why give a bad band free publicity. They can go elsewhere for that.
It' s a view that we still hold to this day. If the album leaves me cold then I just don''t publish it. Simple as that. But there have been times when I thought the album was utter shit and it would never be published on the blog. Only for a few listens later and I think the album is superb. Then review gets published.
You have to give each and every release a few listens to get the full effect. But there is lots of stuff I don't publish to this day.
5. The interviews really bring a new dimension into play - have you been pleased by the amount of bands that have agreed to participate?
Am I pleased. Fuck yeah. I am pleased. What started off for two bands that I originally done Mediocracy and In The Company Of Serpents has became one of the most popular items of the blog.
Interviews are cool way of getting in touch with your musical heroes which I have done a few times already. Bands and artists that I have admired for so long have asked me to interview them. I never knew that would happen when starting the blog. Never in a million years. Now we are featuring some great artists and bands.
Aaron aka Doomentor loves doing interviews. He is on a fucking roll at the moment. I do them when I can but I have to focus on free downloads and reviews as well for the blog.
Aaron runs the Facebook Sludgelord Page side of things. While I am more day-to-day running of blog. But we do have some cool interviews coming up.
6. Every time I go to your blog, you seem to have a new contributor! How do you allocate the reviews etc - I know Aaron does a lot of the interviews.
Aaron does reviews as well. Just that he is doing interviews at the moment and sorting out the reviews to the Sludgelord Team as well. Labels and PR contact Aaron mainly.
I deal with bands who send their stuff to my email address. I tell Aaron what I have to review and promote. While he has his own big bag of goodies which he shares with the team.
Well we do have a lot of contributors at the moment. Things are that busy and people have been kind to help. Like Teabag Stallone, Furious, Strolling Astronomer. Plus we have regular help from Aaron's band of helpers who are all doing a great job.
Most of these helpers are involved in the scene. Hosting radio stations and some appearing pretty cool well known bands as well. Sorry For Nothing, Abrahma, Caravan Of Whores.
Then you have two Geordie idiots (Aaron and myself) running the blog with their great help. So it's a pretty cool line-up. Aaron has been a big help since he joined in April 2012. We now have more Facebook readers and a Twitter Feed. So we are slowly joining the 21st Century. Mainly due to Aaron's work on Facebook.
7. You recently posted a compilation of band tracks - what was the reaction to that and will you be doing another one?
Yeah – Lullabies Of Despair. Been a great success. Reaction has been great. People seemed to like it I think. We will definitely be doing another one. Hopefully on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. It takes time to get band's permission and choosing the right tracks.
Am going to make the next one a more team thing. I did the first one by myself to see what the reaction would be like. But 600 hits later it's definitely another cool thing to be involved in.
8. What would be in your top 5 albums so far this year - sorry ...... That's probably gonna be a tough one!
Fuck. That's a hard one. The thing is my top 5 of 2012 changes all the time. As we get so many brilliant albums to review. But for the interview here are my Top 5 so far.
1. Adrift For Days – Come Midnight
2. Summoner – Phoenix
3. Carrion Mother – Koronis
4. Conan - MONNOS
5. Bearfight! - Gnarmageddon
But mentions should goto Wizard's Beard, Undersmile, Red Desert, Baroness, Sardonis, The Sword, Indian Handcrafts, Galvano and TITAN. The list goes on an on. The top 5 might change but that is it for the time being.
9. Which blogs do YOU read?
Blogs I read. I read them all on the my blog list on Sludgelord, Doommantia, Temple of Perdition, Black Insect Laughter, Stonerobixxx, Heavy Planet Stoner Rock. The list is endless. Apologies to people that I have missed out.
But I do read all on my blog list on a daily basis.
10. I feel blogs like yours help to spread the word about the music we love and in a small way, help to promote bands that have put time and effort into producing records - it can sometimes be a thankless task (not always, just now and then) - what drives you to keep the blog going?
Thanks for the kind words again dude. Much appreciated. I think we do need as many blogs we can possibly get. As the mainstream will always look down upon our genre.
Their might be a breakout band now and again. But they are usually forgotten about until the next big thing. But us bloggers are always here to show our support.
Anyway – What keeps the blog going. People keep coming back and bands releasing great music for all of us to check out. There have been times I want to shut the entire thing down. But a band appears and blows my world apart. I feel I have to tell people or the whole world about this great band.
That's why I do it. Promoting great music. And giving the mainstream a big UP YOURS as well.
Another main reason. I get to interview great bands/artists such as Alaskan, Adrift For Days, Andrew From Torche and Tilts, Al The Yeti Bones and Jimbob Issac. Plus all the other great bands I have interviewed.
Until then my main objective for Sludgelord is to banish shit like Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift for good. It's a simple dream but probably an impossible one.
11. What do the next 3 months hold for Sludgelord?
Next 3 months. Damn I don't know. To carry on as normal. Sludgelord is a part of my life that I put a lot of time and effort into.
Hopefully more cool album reviews, free downloads and interviews which we are always currently working on.
Possibly the compilation download will carry on with more great bands to promote.
Other than that I don't know. Hopefully people will still be visiting both of our great blogs. And the other cool ones out there.
Cheers.
Steve aka The Sludgelord.
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