December 21, 2013

Goodbye Chromewaves, and Thank You

I found out some sad news on Friday. Frank Yang, founder and sole contributor of Chromewaves, one of the best blogs covering indie alternative music with a focus on the Toronto live scene, has decided to call it a day after over 11 years.

Several years ago, while on a music discovery journey, someone who was being interviewed on The New Music mentioned Stereogum and Chromewaves as being great blogs for music discovery. I checked them out. I found Chromewaves' style instantly attractive. Run by a lone music lover, Chromewaves focused on new and innovative artists, the local Toronto live music scene and concert photography. It opened my eyes to blogs as a new avenue for music discovery.

Chromewaves had an impact on me. I thought that the person who writes the blog might be a bit like me. A musician, a music fan, maybe pretty close in age, and as passionate about music, and new music discovery, as I am. Frank demonstrated that one could write about music without doing interviews and could turn people on to new music from an introverted point of view.

And so I was inspired. I decided to start a blog of my own. I had a radio show at university in the early 90s so I wasn't a complete stranger to presenting the music I liked and to trying to be some kind of "curator", sharing the music that I enjoyed with an audience, no matter how small. Some of my early posts even aped Frank's style of collecting lots of songs and news items into the one daily post. After some time, I started to find my own  style. Brevity and single-topic posts would be my thing, eventually evolving from a few posts a week to a post a day, almost all year round. But I always remember Chromewaves as the blog that made me believe that I could do it, too.

For quite a while, I've felt like I could learn a lot from Frank: about building contacts in the music business, about getting into the photo pit for bigger shows, about building an audience, about camera gear and about being a better concert photographer. I thought that if I ever appeared on Chromewaves' blogroll, I would have "made it" in some way.

Frank, as you turn your attention to other pursuits, I want to thank you for the inspiration, the information, the music, and most of all, for sharing your passion. Good luck in everything you decide to do with the time that blogging previously occupied.