Over the years, I’ve managed to annoy a few people with my reviews and commentary. Some of them play on records you probably own.

So lets make clear what my writing is, and isn’t.

It is for me. It is about how I respond, relate, and react to art, music, live performance, and my experiences. It is what I want to say, how I want to say it, to the best of my abilities. It’s not for you. The purpose of a review is for the writer to give you their honest response to what they experience. We’ve been thrown off other sites years ago, for not writing asskissing reviews that would keep millionaires happy and keep the site getting free guests lists and access. We buy our own tickets, have our own opinions, and do this for love of music. We’re not going to tell you something is good if we think it isn’t. You lay your money down on this stuff ; you deserve an honest steer on whether we think whatever it is is good.

It isn’t to please you. It isn’t to get yet another English degree. It isn’t to gain clickbait, or to troll you. If you think what I write is to get impressions and clicks … you won’t believe it isn’t. This isn’t a revenue generating site. No ads. No click throughs. No Amazon links. Nothing. This costs us money.

I am not a machine. Last time I checked I was a living, breathing human with emotions, pets, and a need for both food and sleep (not necessarily in that order). The way I think and write reflects my personality and who I am. There is no contract between the reader and the author on this site. You aren’t paying me. I am not for hire. I owe you nothing. I write what I want, when I want, how I want, and I put it up here. If you like it, that’s up to you. If you don’t that’s up to you too.

The writing I do is not to pass an exam. I’m not going to tolerate you sending it back to me with green pen and notes about fronted adverbials. I don’t give a fuck if you think my writing style is not to your taste, or not technically correct. I’d rather be an imperfect Leonard Cohen than a precise Celine Dion.

Remember the above. There is no contract between us here. If you are rude, obnoxious, insulting or otherwise unpleasant I have no obligation to engage with you. I may say things you don’t like – that is your right not to like, or agree. It’s not your god-given right to be rude to me. I can withdraw, block, disengage. That’s my right to. I don’t have to be drawn into your discussions around, amongst other things, the ‘correct’ use of language or whether you are right and I am wrong. Just because you can @ us on Twitter doesn’t mean I owe you a fully researched essay with sources on my opinion. I owe you nothing.

Any situation you cannot leave is a prison, and we do not tolerate prison.

What is the purpose of art? It is to communicate ideas between humans. To show, illuminate, or enlighten. To make someone see the world a slightly different way. Sometimes you want art that makes you cry your heart out. Other times, you want it full of explosions and popcorn on a Saturday night.

As a fan of a brand, a director, a band, a writer, whomever it is, I am under no obligation to like anything or everything they do. Liking their past work does not mean I have to – not should it – have unquestioning acceptance of every part of their work without reservation.

Art that is never seen isn't art. Art exists when two things happen : when what is created is received and is then interpreted. Everyone decodes it on the basis of what they see and know. The artist controls what they create. Not how it is received. The majority of the time most people have the common vocabulary to create a broadly similar meaning – generally this is a consensus reality.

If art is product you don't get to tell people what it means to them. An artist gets to control the message being transmitted. Not the message received. Meaning exists in the mind of the audience. And if what the artist is communicating is being misinterpreted, that might be where the artist isn’t as successful at communicating as perhaps they intended.

Entitlement issues go both ways. Some artists seem very … touchy to criticism. Including imaginary criticism that only exists in their heads. The view from the stage is very different to the view of the stage. I’ve had performers wonder if I was at the same gig I was, and whilst factually I was, my experience is very different from theirs. My expectations of art might be different from theirs. The relationship between art and consumer involves two intellects meetings ; the creator making, and the viewer decoding what it means to them. There are facts, and there is truth, and the two are sometimes miles apart.

The world is a big place. It is entirely possible for different viewpoints to co-exist in this world. I write about how art, music, etc., affects me. How it makes me feel, what it does to me, how I see how it interacts with my reality and my soul. Nothing less. Nothing more. I am not a service industry. You aren’t my customers. I don’t owe you anything. You haven’t paid me. I have no obligation to you for you to like what I do.

In short ; I am not your bitch.