What's the deal here?
Global Metal Blog is my humble attempt to combine three of my favorite things in the world: Metal music, traveling, and writing.
Looking back, my primary motivation in life was always freedom.
No matter what I did, said, thought, or felt, it always had that underlying expression of, or desire for, freedom. In one form or another.
I've been listening to heavy metal since my first encounter with Maiden when I was 10. Ever since then, my love for the genre and its various subgenres has only increased.
The same thing goes for traveling. Just like music, traveling makes me feel alive, aware, and immersed in the moment.
My first education was a music education. Music theory; ear training; bit of touring and recording... the whole package. Played in a couple of minor bands after that.
Been a free-time music journalist since early 2007, covering festivals and concerts, reviewing albums, and interviewing bands. Also worked as a stagehand and in a couple of record stores.
Today, living as a self-employed digital nomad, I work from wherever I want, spend my time in different countries, ideally trying to soak up some of the local metal scene if and where there's any to find.
That probably sounds pretty cool. And mark my words: It totally is.
But it didn't come easy.
In 2016, I started a complete life makeover. All I had to show for it was a useless BA after 6 years of almost finishing a Master's education that I only took because I was tired of menial dead-end jobs and social welfare support. Tired of numbing and distracting myself in various ways to cover up for the fact that I was going nowhere.
On top of that, I'd been struggling with various psychiatric disorders for years and years. My relationship was toxic and manipulative. And living in little gray, flat, rainy and windy Denmark, I often didn't see the sun for days and days on end.
Pretty shitty deal.
So I started looking into self-employment, online business, and personal development. Reading books and blogs, subscribing to newsletters, watching videos, going to workshops, investing in courses, getting coaching, and networking with people all over the world.
Fast forward a small handful of years, and I'm living that very freedom that I'd recognized in rock'n'roll from the very beginning.
And one thing to be said about freedom is, it's infectious. Freedom, by definition, can't be contained. It wants to spread, grow, succeed.
And another thing about it is, it comes with great responsibility.
So I feel responsible to share my version of freedom however I can. And for someone who loves metal music, traveling, and writing, this seems like the way to go.
Moral? Live your goddamn dream, people.
If you want it bad enough, and if you keep on doing the right thing, you
WILL have it.
In a few decades, you're going away forever. Don't end up looking back on mediocrity; your one life is way too short and precious. You've probably heard variations on all this before, and it's
for many a damn good reason. Get on it already.
For all of us waiting, thy kingdom will come
– Andy
DISCLAIMER:
My 20 years of experience in writing stuff online compel me to state the following:
I write about stuff that I find interesting.
I express what happens to be on my mind, which often includes words, jokes, and sometimes viewpoints that certain people will choose to take offense at.
You might not like all of what I'm writing, and you don't have to read all of it – or, indeed ANY of it.
You're free to ignore whatever's not
relevant to you, and you're free to not form opinions about anything here – or, for that matter, anything else in the world.
You're also free to crawl back into your "safe space" if you're one of those morbidly paranoid downer kids who seek out offense wherever you go, and interpret everything as "oppression", "power structures", and "microaggressions".
In any case, the world owes you nothing. You're ultimately the only person who's 100% responsible for your own happiness, and it largely comes from within.
And in a relatively short time, all of this will be forgotten.
The sooner we, as a species, start to live by all of the above, and exterminate reggaeton, the world will be a much better place.