Is this on? Yeah? Okay, let’s go.
Hello and welcome to Deep Cuts, my first ever crack at the Substack game and another corner of the Internet that I’m taking up to ramble about music.
If this is your first encounter with me, heya, nice to meet you. I’m Emma, and I pop up in various music publications every so often with some words and opinions. So far, I’ve been published in the likes of Kerrang!, NME, Alternative Press, DIY, Guitar.com, Rolling Stone UK, The Telegraph, Stereoboard and some other places too.
I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a newsletter for some time, as far back as when I was in university and I was living an odd little double life as a student and journalist (and sometimes more a journalist than a student). I didn’t quite have the time back then, but now, I’ve realised the importance of making time to write stuff just for the fun of it. I love the stuff I write for work (which I’m tempted to write in inverted commas because it often doesn’t feel like it), but sometimes I want to connect with writing in a different way, and write because I want to and not just because there’s a deadline hurtling towards me.
I’m freelance, as many journos are nowadays, and everyone who teaches you stuff about freelancing will tell you that you need multiple streams of income, just so you don’t end up shit creek if one dries up. I’m hoping this can be another one. I’m keeping my subscription small for now, thanks to, well, the economic shitshow, but we’ll see what happens.
Most importantly perhaps, I also want to write about alternative music in different ways from what I usually do. We’re talking opinion, essays, reactive pieces - maybe you’ll even get some personal essays in there too if I’m feeling like oversharing. How often I can promise these, I’m not sure, but it’ll be semi-regularly, at least. It depends on those three tenets for writing - inspiration, motivation and time.
I’ll wrap up here - I’ve got another post to share, and Netflix to catch up on. You can follow me on Twitter at @emmabwilkes and I’d love it if you stuck your email in the subscription bar (or maybe entered some bank details?) on your way out. I’ll see you around, yeah?