In Which I Talk About Me, Myself And Blog

I have no recent photo's of me so instead you can have this one from Reading aka the happiest I have ever been, seriously LOOK AT ME. 

I'm not entirely sure if there's a purpose to this post other than introducing myself a little bit more than my about me does and giving a bit of background to my blog. So without further pre-waffle to what is likely going to be a waffley post, hey hi hello I am Elise. I am 18 and when I think about that for too long it freaks me out especially when I can now say I turn 20 next year. How terrifying is that? I live in the back of beyond nowhere with cows and hills and trees and dodgy country roads with pot holes the size of the moon and I promise you I am not exaggerating. My addiction to buying books is becoming unhealthy to the point I think rehab might actually be my only option and my pony who is not a pony but a big horse turned 19 the other day and she means more to me than anything else. Have this picture from the very first time I fell off of her for your amusement:

I also love watching films and am completely and utterly in love with a number of actors and actresses but Jennifer Lawrence wins the prize for life-ruiner. I struggle with motivation and work best under pressure and strangely enough when i'm angry. There's so much more I could write about myself here but as you are on a predominantly music blog i'll talk about that.

If I could be surgically attached to my iPod I would be. I can't leave the house without it and I even take it to gigs despite there clearly being no point in that. I started off as the queen for all things pop and then eventually the likes of Blink-182, Taking Back Sunday and New Found Glory began to infiltrate my young ears courtesy of my film blogging brother. From then on I became "the one who listens to weird music" and if that's what people wanted to call it then hell I was damn proud as now those bands that were considered "weird" have made the world fall in love with them, here's looking to Paramore, Fall Out Boy and the likes. My brother would give me bands to listen to and within a day I would know their entire discography by heart but eventually he had to go to university and left me to my own devices to find new music. Then as I left school and began my A-Levels (Media Studies, English Language and Literature and Psychology) people started asking ME what I wanted to do at university. Decision making is most certainly not my forte. I think everyone always expected me to work with animals but I knew I could never have dealt with anything gross/sad so this led me to music journalism. Hurrah of course it all made sense. So i'm heading off to study music journalism in September but until then I have this blog. 

Why "Sunlight Through A Straw"?

Sunlight Through A Straw is the name of a song by Anavae. Having been a fan of Becca and Jamie's previous band End Of The Spectrum i've been a huge Anavae fan from pretty much day one and even had the opportunity to interview them. To me, and if I remember Becca's answer to someone's question correctly, the idea behind the line "sunlight through a straw" is that even when things are crap there is always that something/someone that offers a little ray of hope and to me and so many other people that is what music is - that little ray of sunshine. 

What will I find on your blog?

I try to keep to certain themes on my blog and my philosophy is pretty much that if I don't like it I won't write about it because I believe in sharing what I think is good not bad mouthing something I don't like because at the end of the day everyone has their own opinion so what's the point in drawing attention to what I hate when I can bring positive attention to what I love?

 I have the introducing label which does as it says - introduces new and/or small bands that I think deserve all the attention possible. Bands such as Anavae are in this section and were unsigned when I posted about them and now they're signed to LAB Records so I would keep your eyes peeled. I then have interviews which is a label that is severely lacking at the moment but i'm working on it - promise! There's also album reviews which again I plan to fill with reviews eventually. Gigs of course are also reviewed on here and I have tons lined up and loads still to review so keep your eyes out for those. If you're ever stuck for what to listen to next I used to do top tunes posts weekly but a lack of time meant my blog was either filled with those or I missed weeks so as of this year I do them monthly. Musical Ramblings is a tag full of anything and everything but mostly lists. From bands coming to steal hearts to my favourite female vocalists and my attempt to remain un-fangirly at "Now". 

There's also a search bar on my blog so if you want to see anything by a certain band or anything just type it in and it should come up!

Anything new?

I intend to start a new label soon of "artists everyone should love" these bands are a bit too "big" to go under the "introducing" label but people might still need convincing of their brilliance. Other things to look out for in the future include my top 100 songs and if I can possibly bare it, my top 10 albums although that is SO going to be impossible to narrow down. I also want to launch a "gallery" as such, just a label with all my gig photo's in. Should I ever finish my stack of coursework I also want to start doing monthly overviews of what has been going on in the musical world. 

Can I find you anywhere else?

Yes! Again, when I have the time I write for Yuppee and Lo-Fi Music. Alternatively follow me on twitter to see my incessant ranting about coursework and how bands are slowly but surely bankrupting me and ruining my life. 

How can I be on your blog?

If you're in a band or you're a record label and you want to be featured on my blog feel free to drop me an email at sunlightthroughastraw@gmail.com 

I love hearing new stuff and would love to hear from you. Also if you have your own blog or perhaps you don't but you really want a go at the whole blogging thing I am open to guest writers so if you've been to a gig and want to write a review for this blog then drop me an email or a tweet or whatever and we can organise something!

I'm also open to any suggestions on what to write about or if there's something you want more of, again just send me an email or a tweet. 

Now, I really must sleep.