I love writing. I’ve been writing since I was a kid, but only got “serious” around ’94, when I started fervently listening to music, both on CD and tape. I wasn’t too keen on popular music for the longest of time due to bully issues in primary school, but once I got free of those terrible years, music opened to me and I still reap the rewards.

For a long while, I wanted to write about music and balance it out with creative writing. I never took my music writing seriously until I arrived to Sheffield. By then, I’ve done a couple of things for personal blogs, trying to find a voice. Thanks to Forge Press, the student newspaper at the University of Sheffield, I managed to get enough practise to launch Sloucher.

I wrote a lot and I think it did affect my everyday life. Every piece I wrote became an obsession and sometimes I would skip any commitments for writing. Some people appreciated this, some didn’t.

Eventually I got invited by a band, The Violet May, to “tail them” for a whole day. First the played at the Frog & Parrot. It was a crisp february saturday in 2011, and after that early show, they would go to Rotherham to play at Rawfusion, a city wide festival (or so it said) that ended up being a bit of disaster. Organiser blamed the city council for reducing the event to only one joint, City Council kept mum.

Anyways, we all ended in one tiny pub, and it was a dry night, so many musicians (and some thirsty reviewers) had to sit and watch bands while sipping j20s or soft drinks. It ended up a bit of a disaster and you can read all about it here.

Anyways, I was waiting between sets, checking earlier photos on my camera, when this song that I had been looking for (around 17 years) comes up randomly. I run towards the audio booth and the guy tells me the name of the band.

Stiltskin’s Inside is a great track with a cool video. Supposedly used in a Levi’s ad (that I don’t remember), Inside is a late period Grunge masterpiece, perhaps you could also argue its a precursor to numetal, on its softer facet. I’d eventually listen to this song daily after that unfortunate festival, stopping only when it got to be too much.

I think about that saturday a lot. I guess it’s one for the checklist: covering an artist for a day and ending up in all sorts of weird situations, including getting goosed by an older woman at a lowlit bar. Don’t ask any further.

-Sam J. Valdés López