Like Chromewaves, Bradley’s Almanac was one of the very first blogs I read and got me thinking about starting my own blog. You can always count on great concert reviews that usually include some great MP3’s of select songs, if not the entire performance. Today, you can find a really great review of the Editors performance in Boston complete with photos and MP3’s. It takes a lot of time and effort to tape live shows, and get them out to the masses, and I really respect the dedication that is put into Bradley’s Almanac.

I was on my way to see Crooked Fingers at the High Noon Saloon, and a couple days prior to seeing the show, Brad posted this review of the Boston Crooked Fingers show. On the way into the venue, a friend and I were talking about the post, and we didn’t realize that we were right next to the band as we were walking in. It turns out that the guys from Crooked Fingers had read the post as well, and went on about how great they felt the Boston show went over, and how happy they were to see someone like Brad post such a great review. I thought that was pretty neat.

I’m really happy that Brad took the time to answer my questions. He gave really well thought out answers. If you haven’t familiarized yourself with his blog, please head there now. Thanks for your time Brad.

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Let’s get some general background on you. Where do you live, how long, etc.

I’ve been here in Boston since 1998, after growing up in Essex Junction and Burlington, Vermont. As glad as I was to leave my hometown behind at the time, I’ll always consider myself a Vermonter, and doubt I’ll ever be too far away from there. Definitely can’t imagine being anything other than a northern boy.

I want get an idea of your musical taste evolution if you will. What were some of the first albums/tapes/CD’s you bought?

Oh man. My 7” record obsession started pretty early… as an 11 year-old, I remember regular visits to a store up in Essex Jct. called Kinney Drugs. I’d buy pretty much any top forty 45s they had in stock… Queen, Rick Springfield, Men at Work. Duran Duran was a major obsession for awhile… I think I got ‘Seven and the Ragged Tiger’ for Christmas in ‘83. I was also big into those K-Tel compilations… I’ll never forget the first time I heard The Ramones on that ‘Rock 80′ collection.

Over the rest of that decade, my musical tastes traveled a very random road: From U.S. top forty straight on to a bunch of Brits (Beatles, Kinks, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson), then headlong into a major U2-REM-Cure-Smiths phase. In college I got all 4AD, shoegazey, britpoppy, and even dove into Industrial (RevCo, Ministry, KMFDM, Skinny Puppy, Pigface, etc) for awhile. From there it was mostly indie-pop-rock-whatever… I remember the SpinART records compilation ‘One Last Kiss’ really opened my ears to a ton of great indie bands.

My tastes now are a mix of all those influences, although I still see the early 90s shoegaze & American-indie scenes as my musical heydey. Not sure I’ve ever been as excited about music as I was back then, but there’s alway’s hope.

How about some of the more recent CD’s you’ve purchased?

New Radiant Storm King’s brilliant new one, ‘The Steady Hand’. I actually bought that one twice, once on iTunes thanks to total impatience and a bonus track, and once straight from Darla Records for the ace packaging and lyrics. Such an amazing disc. Other than that, I haven’t bought much lately… sort of promised myself I’d get through a stack of promo-discs I’ve been sent through the Almanac before I buy more new stuff. That’s gonna be tough, because there are a bunch of promising albums coming out soon. Just got the new Ester Drang in the mail, so I’m pretty excited to listen to that one.

Where do you buy the majority of your records? Do you support a particular record store in your area, buy online, and if so, where?

When I can, I try to buy straight from labels, from bands at shows if the timing is right, or from Insound. I’m also a big fan of CDBaby.com… their customer service rules. If online shipping is too pricey, I’ll head to the nearest Newbury Comics… their new releases are usually pretty cheap during the first week.

When I started listening to music, there were certain musicians that led me in the path of a lot of other bands. Did you have any similar experiences with bands growing up?

Yeah, definitely. My whole shift into the U2-REM-Cure-Smiths phase led to discovering tons of other bands, and changed my listening habits completely. I’d religiously track down NME or Melody Maker (not an easy task up in Vermont, believe me) to read about those ‘big four’, and would discover new bands or older ones I’d missed. That’s how I came upon stuff like the Replacements, the Housemartins, all the early 4AD & Factory stuff… Joy Division was such a major revelation for me. But really, my best resource for finding new music was UVM’s independent radio station, WRUV, and all the other people who worked there. I was a DJ there all through college, and I really hold that place responsible for making me as open minded about music as (I hope) I am today.

What are some of your favorite records of all time?

Ride’s ‘Nowhere’ was a life-changing album, The Wedding Present’s ‘Seamonsters’, too. I’ll always have a gloomy place in my heart for The Cure’s ‘Disintegration’ & ‘Pornography’. Let’s see, I’m just gonna rattle some off here… Throwing Muses ‘The Real Ramona’, My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Loveless’, Slowdive’s ‘Pygmalion’, Elliott Smith’s ‘Either/Or’, Sebadoh’s ‘Bakesale’, Seam’s ‘The Problem With Me’, Fugazi’s ‘Repeater’, Quicksand’s ‘Slip’, Jesus Lizard’s ‘Puss’, Joe Jackson’s ‘Look Sharp’ & ‘I’m The Man’, Joy Division’s ‘Unknown Pleasures’, Spent’s ‘Songs of Drinking & Rebellion’, all 3 Pond albums, Pixies’ ‘Doolittle’, Afghan Whig’s ‘Gentlemen’, American Analog Set’s ‘Fun of Watching Fireworks’, Bedhead’s ‘Beheaded’, Pedro the Lion’s ‘It’s Hard to Find a Friend’ & ‘Control’, Low’s ‘I Could Live in Hope’, Ida’s ‘I Know About You’. Alright, I’ll stop. I could go on and on… fortunately I have my blog for that.

Oh, and someone out there needs to compile a ‘Best of Guppyboy’ disc… that’ll end up on my list for sure. And if anyone else out there has heard of Guppyboy, give yourself a cookie. The rest of you, get searching.

Any idea how many albums are in your collection?

I’ve got about 400 seven inches, maybe 1700 CDs, but not as many LPs as I used to… a fire back in ‘92 took all of my old vinyl, including tons of rare imports and bootlegs. They were all fused together into these very large crusty blocks of black wax. Artistically very cool, but emotionally pretty painful.

If you could spend time with 3 musicians, who would you choose?

That’s a tough one… I’ve met enough people I admire that the novelty of that has sort of worn off, and a lot of the artists I’m really into now are so easily accessible. Still, I’d have to grab a beer with Robert Smith if I had the chance… the younger me requires that I say that. David Gedge, maybe Greg Dulli. But all I’d really want to say to those guys is “thanks for everything.” Elliott Smith, if only he were still here. Still hard to believe that he’s not.

I’m sure you’ve seen some great concerts. Can you tell me what the first concert you saw was and when? To follow that up, are there any particular shows that stand out in terms of being favorites?

Ok, I’ll have to qualify this one. First concert that I ever went to, but only because it was a mile from my house at the Champlain Valley Fair, was The Charlie Daniels Band. Yeeee-haw. The first one I went to that involved actual enthusiasm and intent was the one-two-punch of Foreigner with Loverboy in 1982. The “Foreigner 4” tour, I was 12 years old, and I’ll never ever forget the gigantic inflatable jukebox that appeared behind them during ‘Jukebox Hero’. And yes, Loverboy’s Mike Reno wore the headband, and they closed with “Working For The Weekend”.

As for live experiences that really stand out, off the top of my head… a couple of late-80s U2 concerts, before the suckage. Midnight Oil in Boston, on the ‘Diesel & Dust’ tour 1988. Fugazi in Burlington, VT in ‘93. Lots of shows in the early 90s up in Montreal, which was a short drive over the border from Burlington: Curve, Lush, Pigface, and Consolidated all put on amazing shows up there. Nine Inch Nails at Foufounes in 1990, too. Ride & the Pale Saints in Boston 1993. Ride & Slowdive in Seattle 1992. Catherine Wheel & Slowdive in Boston. My Bloody Valentine in Boston 1994. Bedhead in Bennington, VT in 1998, one of their last shows. Low at the Elvis Room in Portsmouth, NH, also in ‘98. Elliott Smith & Quasi at the Paradise in Boston 1998. Throwing Muses Boston reunion in 2000. Silkworm in Boston & NYC 2002. Twilight Singers at TT the Bears in 2003. Kristin Hersh & Tanya Donelly acoustic in the Rockingham, Vermont Meeting House in 2003. Arcade Fire at TTs in 2004… that was just before they took off, and I had no idea what I was in for in that tiny room. Just amazing.

There are just so many, I know I’m missing a ton. No way to narrow down.

What are some bands that you haven’t gotten the chance to see live, but would really like to?

I missed seeing the Smiths live, which bums me out. They actually played in Vermont in August of 1986 on ‘The Queen Is Dead’ tour, only weeks before I got into them. That just kills me. I never got to see the Afghan Whigs, either, although the Twilight Singers makes that a little easier to stomach. And whining about never being able to see Joy Division seems silly, considering no one in the U.S. ever got that chance. Besides, I was like 11 years old, and listening to top 40. But give me a time machine, and I’m there.

How did you choose the name of your blog?

Some friends of mine had a band called the Madelines up in Burlington, and Colin Clary was their lead singer/guitarist. They wrote a song called “Bradley’s Almanac”, which allegedly quotes some silly things I’d said. Lucky for me, it’s a great song. You can actually grab it at the clubfub section of the Almanac.

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Can you tell me what got you into blogging, and are you surprised by the popularity your blog has attained?

I think boredom got me into it, mostly. Years ago, I had a job that provided me with lots of downtime between projects, especially during the whole dot-com crash and slow burn. So I built the Almanac to stay sane. And also as a way to help me fill in the blanks in my increasingly-faulty memory. Being able to go back and read what I was into, what albums I loved, what I was reading years before… that’s one of the main reasons I do it. Digital posterity. A place for the older me to read later on. I kept journals when I was younger, but stopped after they all burned, so the blog was a way to get that back.

Am I surprised by the Almanac’s (marginal) popularity? Every single day. It still shocks me that more than my parents and a few friends read the thing. I get a little thrill from each emailed compliment, every post comment, every time someone tells me they found a band they love thanks to something I linked. That’ll never get old.

What are some of your favorite blogs? Music or otherwise.

Frank at Chromewaves.net is my blogging hero. Seriously, the discipline (or insanity) it must take him to write something every damn day, and almost always something worth reading… it’s just mind-blowing. The guy’s a music-loving machine with really good taste, and just a hell of a writer. Other regular music stops are a long list of usual suspects: Largehearted Boy, Information Leafblower, More Cowbell, BrooklynVegan, Torr, Stereogum, Coolfer, Yeti Don’t Dance, Muzzle of Bees (not just sayin’), Donewaiting, Angry Robot, For The Records,The Big Ticket, You Ain’t No Picasso, World Of Sound, Gorilla vs. Bear, False 45 ^th, so many, many more. My blogroll is just burstin’. As for non-music stops: BoingBoing, Engadget & Gizmodo, Newsarama, Slashdot, BrianWood.com, Off On A Tangent, BuzzMachine.

How important do you think music blogs are in general? Do you think they will continue to be as popular as they are today?

I’m a terrible judge of such things… I’m not entirely convinced of their importance, at least beyond how hugely important they are to me personally. But given the ever-increasing flood of music-promo email and packages I get every day, clearly lots of publicity people think they’re valuable.

Since blogging has become so easy, so commonplace, the number of places to read about new bands and find new music is multiplying daily. And just as the ease of self-production and home recording in the 90s resulted in lots of mediocre bands releasing mediocre music, the ease of blogging is creating an infinite number of mp3s to wade through before uncovering something special. Whatever perceived influence the handful of really good independent music blogs have right now will probably become diluted by sheer numbers of other places to scan… we only have so much time in the day to surf, even with an RSS reader. Just like there’s always a new favorite band waiting out there undiscovered, there’s a new favorite blog writing about that same new favorite band. The search never ends.

Since we’re relatively early on in the evolution of the music blog whatever-sphere, it’ll be interesting to see which ones have staying power, since so many are run by just one or two people. Interest and enthusiasm wanes, people get older, priorities shift… our favorites may disappear, but hopefully those new ones will rise up to take their place.

Let’s get away from music for a bit. What are some of your favorite movies and television shows?

Movies: Wings of Desire, Lone Star, Wild At Heart, Time Bandits, Being There, City of Lost Children, The Ice Storm

TV: Twin Peaks, Sports Night, Buffy, Sealab 2021, Veronica Mars, The Wire, Carnivale (dammit), Battlestar Galactica (the new one, duh)

… and I’ll throw in Comics, because they mean as much to me: Preacher, Queen & Country, Planetary, Powers, Y the Last Man, The Walking Dead, Watchmen, Hellboy, Transmetropolitan, and my daily fix of Kochalka’s American Elf.

Outside of music do you have any other interests or projects?

Aside from listening to and blogging about music, I hit the drums sometimes as well. I’ve been playing off and on since 1991 in the bands listed here. Right now I’m playing with the guys in Charlene, and sometimes with the Broken River Prophet.

My free moments are best spent with my little family… my better-half Amie, our cutest-dog-ever Nina (whose head is resting on my lap as I type this), and our two cats, Hazel & Rammy. Amie and I fill our time together with TV, movies, books, comics, eating out, taking Nina for walks, and exploring Boston. We’ve got a nice little life in our Lower Allston pad.

My weekdays are spent in a cube, clinging to what’s left of my soul as it slowly withers away, and trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up.

A lot of people have a favorite concert t-shirt, do you have one?

I’ve got dozens, but I’ve never thought about picking a favorite. I treasure my Spent t-shirt, but it’s nearly disintegrated. My Vermonstress t-shirt fell apart, but an Almanac reader kindly sent me an unworn replacement. How cool is that?

In your opinion, what’s the best place to eat on your city?

For the best damn fries, music, and a pretty comfy atmosphere, I’m gonna go with River Gods in Cambridge. For a pricier dinner for two, we like seafood at Skipjacks in Copley Square. Their gingered calamari is super-delicious.

Animals dressed as humans. Funny or not?

Lemme ask Nina … … nope, clearly not funny. Seriously, don’t even think about it.