By: Kidman J. Williams

Why should you care what I think about music? Should you? Probably not.  No more than you would listen to any other music journalist. You should probably trust me more than anyone at Rolling Stone. That stone has been rolling down the side of a steep cliff for years now.

You might have asked yourself, “what qualifies this fucking guy as a music critic, a music journalist, or a damned Music Editor.”

Don’t be so pushy I’m getting there asshole!

I am always willing to put myself out there on a limb so that you (the reader) will not be lied to and/or deceived. I will never tell you look at that dragon when it really is just an iguana smoking a cigarette. I value my reputation and your trust.

A Brief Overview of Kidman J. Williams

 

I came from an immensely musical family. That doesn’t really qualify me for music journalism though does it? ? I myself play five different instruments. I play guitar, bass, trumpet, harmonica, and my vocal coach was a Juilliard graduate that I studied under for about two years. My aptitude for music is pretty vast and my taste in music is extremely wide.

I was with the band Call to the Wise for quite a few years as our frontman and two-bit guitarist. I really was a hack compared to Dan Von Jenef’s guitar work. The other members of the band included Lou Lou on the bass and Steve Smith on the drums. We made for an interesting band. There were other members as well, but that was a great lineup.

We lived the rock-n-roll lifestyle to the hilt. There was drinking, sex, more drinking, and the drugs weren’t that bad either, and of course more drinking. The whole world was open for our brash brand of alternative metal groove, then adulthood crept in through the backdoor and we found ourselves with injurious record contracts from a few different labels.

After that, I went into the radio broadcasting industry and delved deeper into my writing career. I don’t suggest being a writer, it can be a glamorous job, especially as a music journalist; kiss stability good-bye. Kiss your life good-bye and most of all, if you are an honest writer, kiss steady employment good-bye. For the most part the radio industry was amazing and fun. Everyone I met was such an interesting character. I’ve interviewed music stars, TV celebrities, and even a couple movie stars and authors. It was an interesting time.

I’ve had my issues over the years. There was one national magazine that I worked for, the owners were stuffy types from the U.K. They didn’t like my “brash, bold, honest, and sometimes vulgar approach to writing.” My editor Jessica stood up for me and kept me on. Then the change happened. I started producing numbers for the magazine becoming one of the top producers in numbers for the magazine. I had at one time with them, a cover story in the print magazine along with three of the six features on the website. Life was looking good.

I have done many different interviews and covered everything in my writing career from sports to strip club reviews and a lot of music journalism.

I have done interviews with the likes of Hank Williams III, Mushroomhead, the drummer of Korn, and former Misfits frontman Michale Graves. That is just to name a few.

Honesty is the Policy

 

I am the kind of writer that will tell you the truth. I bashed an entire venue one time. I said the bands at the festival were great. The whole show was. I was very fair in my critique of the actual show. The bands did a wonderful show. The venue however, robbed the patrons blind! They were asking $5.00 for water and $14.00 for a 16 oz. can of Miller Lite. It was a shit show with high caliber talent to bring in unsuspecting customers so they could properly rob them.

What good is a journalist if you can’t trust him? If you can’t trust a journalist then they are nothing more than a salesman or a politician. This is why we have such a problem with the mainstream media today. They are all salesmen and politicians. They are no better than a used car salesmen with a picture of eight kids on his desk or a stripper putting herself through college.

Our album reviews will be true! We aren’t like other wheeling rock magazines. Did you get what I did there? We aren’t going to like everything we review. There just isn’t that much good music out there. Frankly, there are a lot of really horrible bands that get pushed on the consumer.

My point is that I believe in telling the reader what is what. I won’t shortcut what it means to be a music journalist.

What to Expect

from the New Music Section

 

We will be moving forward on doing CD reviews, giving you the most honest and fair reviews that the business has to offer. There won’t be any ego boosting of overly popular artists. If Jay Z puts out a phoned in album or Metallica does another Lulu like album, I’ll tell you it was a travesty to the legacy of Lou Reed and Metallica.

Concert reviews will be taken objectively as well. We will deliver an honest interpretation of the show and PR willing, we will give you a set list as well. We will give you all of what you want out of a concert review.

I can’t stress the word honesty enough to all of you. That is the whole basis of what I want to bring to our music section because if I can’t be honest, what good is a music section with reviews. If we are lying to you then we are getting paid to lie to you and I just don’t subscribe to that kind of business.

We will also be bringing you Artist Spotlights, music editorials, we may even bust out a few listicles from time to time, and of course interviews.

I want to bring only the highest standard of writing to you (the reader). I will along with major music stars be bringing you the newest and most interesting artists that you may or may not have heard of. Thank you for reading Gonzo Today.