10/05/2023
Just a quick update as I’ve had a few people in recent weeks asking if Nite Songs will be coming back and what its current status is so I thought I should say something…
It’s now almost three months since I made the conscious decision to put Nite Songs on hold. This isn’t the first time in the last 27 years of being a music writer that I’ve made the decision to temporarily step away from things and normally it’s around this time that the urge to jump back on the horse again kicks in.
This time though…it just kind of hasn’t. If anything it’s felt more like stepping away from it was the right thing to do. Looking back now at the last few weeks of the zine’s existence I can see that I was suffering from burnout. Badly. If I’m honest, I should probably have called it a day after doing the Album of the Year list last year. The trouble is that when you’re pushing the mental pedal into oblivion and heading for a wall at 90mph, you’re often the last one to realise. And it’s only when you step back that you see it how it really is.
The last few months, it kind of feels like I’ve learned how to be a music fan rather than a music writer again. Being able to listen to albums and appreciate them for what they are rather than forcing my exhausted brain to think up cool new metaphors to describe them is something I’ve denied myself for an awful long time. It’s almost like taking the goggles off and being able to see things as they really are without any pretences or comparisons for the first time in years. And I’m gonna be honest, it’s just a really nice feeling. Trust me, I have heard some great new albums in recent months - if you haven’t heard the new ones from Therapy?, Rich Ragany & the Digressions, the 69 Eyes, Ryan Hamilton, Obey Robots, L.A. Guns, the Damned, Louise Distras, the Hip Priests and Emily Breeze then I heartily recommend them. And it’s been great to be able to listen to those records without any preconceptions or self-imposed review deadlines and just enjoy the music for what it is.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that while I thoroughly enjoyed it while it lasted, no, sorry, Nite Songs will not be coming back. I’m still really proud of what I managed to achieve over two years in what was essentially a one man operation throughout and I’ll still be doing the odd article here and there for friends’ zines but honestly, letting it go has just felt like the biggest weight off my shoulders and I feel that the time is right to officially put the whole operation to bed. The blog will be staying up on the internet though for those who fancy reading back through it in the future - like I say, I’m still proud of what I achieved with it.
Thanks again to anyone still out there reading this. Hopefully see you all at a gig somewhere down the road.
-Andy
“And now it’s gettin’ dark, too late to stay between today and yesterday…” - The Barracudas
