Greetings world. My name is Ben and I'm the beer and music nerd in charge of this wonderful mess of a blog. Yes, that's me in these silly pictures. No, I'm no longer interested in being mysteriously pseudo-anonymous. This post will exist beyond today, so I guess it needs to be stated that as of today, I've been running Black Metal & Brews by myself for about eight months. In this time, I've made a LOT of acquaintances and a handful of awesome friends. I've had the opportunity to review albums from bands I practically worship and I've been privileged to work with smaller bands I'd never had heard of were it not for BM&B. To be honest, the only thing I ever expected was to use this blog as an excuse for showing off my small but beloved collection of tapes and records and perhaps to begin developing my skills and portfolio as a writer before I completed college. However, in just this short time I've watched my readership and blog grow exponentially, often in ways that both excite and humble me.
What started out as a blog that was lucky to get ten views in a week now gets about a hundred views a day, sometimes more if I write about something that's already popular. Some of you may be reading this and thinking I'm about to throw in the towel or something, but I assure you that the truth is quite the opposite. I'm making this post because I'm expanding BM&B into something bigger and better. Perhaps something that will even have a lasting impression on the many music communities I love and support. I currently have plans to turn Black Metal & Brews into a physically distributed zine. I've named this new project Fermentation and I hope to have the first edition (including a limited version with a bonus cassette or CDr) ready by Spring of 2014. Black Metal & Brews has always been a website free of advertisements, but I have recently added a Paypal Donate button to my sidebar so that individuals who would like to contribute to the creation of this zine (or just help fund all BM&B-related endeavors) can do so.
Black Metal & Brews and Fermentation will occasionally feature contributions from others, but due to my high standards and inability to have a paid "staff" of any sort, more than 99% of content comes from my own head. Please be patient with me if you have requested a review or if you have contacted me and I haven't replied immediately. I'm a human being with a busy life, but I love sharing music. If I'm interested in what you're doing, I WILL find a way to feature it. Thanks for the support. I look forward to supporting as many of you as I'm able.
