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About Me - My Musical Journey!

Hey everyone! My blog Mad About Rock (renamed in 2017) was previously just known as carinasmusicreviews.blogspot.co.uk. It's run solely by myself (Carina), so a bit about me...

I have been writing for music sites/magazines for over 10 years now. I started out writing for a site called Totally Unsigned, which was for all genres but I focused on rock/metal, then I got asked to write for an underground metal site called Basement Sound. I was with Basement Sound (Records/Radios) for 3 years, getting some experience of radio shows, record labels and promotion, as I was an Editor/A&R/Promotions for them until the creator of it decided to call it a day on it due to other commitments, so I took over the site..all was good until someone hacked that site! 

 So here I am, on my own personal space! I used to post other work I have done from other outlets also on my site but now Mad About Rock has sort of become its own thing which is cool! 

I currently sub edit, write news, reviews and interviews for Dark Art Conspiracy https://darkartconspiracy.com/ also and have done some awesome interviews over there with likes of Floor Jansen (Nightwish/Northward),  Lacuna Coil, Ensiferum, Finntroll, Oceans Of Slumber,  Black Dahlia Murder, Twin Temple, Havok and more.

I used to write reviews, features and do interviews for Stencil Magazine https://issuu.com/stencilmag but Stencil sadly ended in January 2020 (RIP). I wrote for Stencil for 8 years which is crazy! I got to interview incredible rock/metal bands!

In the past, I have written for Metal On Loud, Indie Band Guru, Ryan's Gig Guide (printed), Angle, Sound and Motion, CMS and more. Also as a freelancer, I write one-off guest pieces/features also and have had features in Terrorizer, (check out the live review for Terrorizer here: http://www.terrorizer.com/news/live-review-vader-immolation-16-april-2017-arch-brighton/) Burning Fist, Brighton XYZ magazine (https://issuu.com/xyzmagazine/docs/xyz_nov_pdf_web/20), Planet Loud and more. I like to continue promoting bands as much as I can, and regularly get promo releases sent to me from big metal/rock labels, as well as awesome underground bands! I write original interviews/reviews/news/features for Mad About Rock.

 I also interview bands, and to date, I have had the pleasure of interviewing members from the likes of huge metal/rock bands (through various media outlets such as Stencil Mag, Dark Art Conspiracy and Mad About Rock) such as Dream Theater, Killswitch Engage, Nightwish, Trivium, Skindred, Wednesday 13, Halestorm, Shinedown, Atreyu, Black Stone Cherry, Papa Roach, Bullet For My Valentine, AFI, Billy Talent, Alestorm, Rise Against, Asking Alexandria, Sevendust, Lacuna Coil, Straight Line Stitch, Cellar Darling, While She Sleeps, Life Of Agony, Chris Jericho,  Havok, Finntroll, Ensiferum, Oceans Of Slumber, Textures, Ginger Wildheart, Cellar Darling, Venom Inc & more! 

 I have also covered/reviewed live events such as MammothFest where I also was a PR Assistant for them when first starting out and from 2016 until 2019 I was on the press team until MammothFest sadly called it a day. I had great fun working for MammothFest! I have reviewed other events such as Download Festival (for Dark Art Conspiracy), Metal Hammer Awards and Breakout Festival for Planet Loud.

 I'm constantly expanding my musical ventures and have done music PR work for The Origin Agency and Mammothfest in the past.

 I also studied music at college, so I have a BTEC National Certificate/Award as I play the guitar also. Basically, music is a big part of my life, which I'm sure many others can relate too!! In October 2015 I was lucky enough to visit the awesome folks at Kerrang (the biggest rock magazine going!), as I got selected for journalism skills day with Kerrang, so got to meet and get advice from the team there, which was so surreal, seeing as grew up reading, and one of the reasons I wanted to get into music writing! In April 2016 I got to go back to Kerrang Magazine for a week work experience which was amazing and received some brilliant feedback! 

 If you want me to do a review/interview or want to contact me about anything else music related please get in touch via the 'Contact Form' on the site.
Anyway thanks for reading and checking out my work - appreciate it greatly!

 Keep rocking and discovering new awesome music! Let me know of any new music out there worth checking out!!

 Carina, Mad About Rock 

Comments

  1. Unknown15 August 2019 at 09:38

    Hello Carina.
    My name is Catalina and I have been working with and helping local rock bands in building a rich alternative scene in the far away land of Medellin, Colombia, a region know for its prominent urban latin music. We are doing small steps, but it, nonetheless has become a thriving and exciting community of great artists that I am sure you will appreciate.

    I would love if you could premiere or maybe feature the band The Dekline and their debut single "La Vita Bohème" in your publication; after reading your articles on various artists for some time, I feel this band music will resonate with your audience. Below I will share some information about the song and the band

    La Vita Bohème is the debut single from the Colombian rock band The Dekline, for release on August 27 2019. The song was written and produced by the band members themselves and is representative of the core sound of the band, a mix of heavy guitars with a punk inflected sound, emphasis on melody and sometimes over the top excess.

    Here is the link to the song if you want to check it out:

    https://soundcloud.com/thedekline/la-vita-boheme-1/s-Awpzu

    We would appreciate the feedback you can give us and we hope that you are interested.

    The Dekline are three guys and a girl in their mid twenties that met at music production school in their native Colombia. They decided to make a band with the faith that guitar music will make a comeback in the next decade, Their music tries to canalise an encompassing, ambitious songwriting style and filters it through the ferocious sonic blueprint of punk, trying to surgically implant memorable melodies into the consumers head in an effort to help mask the sometimes serious or painful subject matter.
    .

    Soundcloud Link:
    https://soundcloud.com/thedekline

    Facebook Link:
    https://www.facebook.com/Dekline/

    Contact:
    catabernalsolano@gmail.com
    jeexxstudio@gmail.com
    thedeklineband@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Albert24 March 2022 at 08:18

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

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