Welcome to The Drip Tray

One tall vanilla latte with an extra shot to go, please

Hey there! Welcome to The Drip Tray and thanks for reading my very first post. Whether you know me personally and I nudged you in the right direction or you’re a perfect stranger who just happened to stumble upon this, I appreciate you. You could be doing any number of things with your time right now, yet you chose to spend it with me. I think that’s pretty cool.

I decided to call this blog The Drip Tray because the idea is that it will serve as a space where I can feature what falls through from all of my other projects. You know, like a container that collects the dregs of the main thing you’re making in the kitchen. Kinda like the crumb catcher of a toaster, but ickier with a wider variety of ingredients. Hopefully the content that I post here will be more appealing than the stuff that lies congealed at the bottom of your coffee machine, though. And that’s no tall order!

‘Who the hell are you and why should I care about what you have to say?’, I hear somebody call from the back. Well, I’m glad you asked because that’s a very good question and I don’t quite know how to answer it by any other way than showing you. Then you can decide for yourself whether to continue reading or not, although I’ll totally dig it if you do. You may have already picked me for an outspoken introvert who loves yelling into the void to hear the echo, and you’re probably right. I suppose a proper introduction is in order to justify your scrolling before I get carried away. Are you still there? Sweet, just checking.

I’m a hungry consumer of music, movies and books. Generally sad songs, cult classics and traditional literature. Essentially, I like stories. I make hip hop, host a horror film podcast and write – reviews, poetry and short fiction mostly. I’m also 35,000 words deep in a manuscript for a personal essay. Sharing impassioned opinions with like-minded people helps me see art from different perspectives and appreciate it more, which is where The Drip Tray comes in. I swear I’m not sponsored by a company of the same name, I just want to keep mentioning it to ensure you remember it early on. So please comment whatever you want regardless of your position and I promise to engage. That way you can have your say, too!

I listen to new music and watch movies that I’ve never seen each week, so I’ll probably comment on my latest finds and experiences here. I also go to live shows fairly frequently and try to read before bed every night, but I’m currently slogging through The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky so I’ll be slow to change the subject on that front. At the time of writing this, the last film that I saw was X (2022), written and directed by Ti West, which I found somewhat predictable given how many good things I had read about it online. Although, it was original enough with a significant tonal shift halfway through and I give it props for tackling the complicated topic of recreational sex amongst the elderly.

As for music, I’m currently in a Parkway Drive phase after watching the documentary Viva the Underdogs on Netflix about their arduous Reverence tour in 2019 that ended with the band headlining Wacken Open Air Festival. The fact that one of the biggest heavy bands in the world is independently managed – and from Byron Bay of all places – still blows my mind. I’ve also been spinning Pushing Daylight, the debut solo record by Benjamin Stewart of Slowly Slowly and Congrats, a whole lot. He’s one of my favourite songwriters and this album scratches every itch that I had after almost getting bored with my regular playlists. Give it a spin if you like acoustic alt-rock with darkly poetic lyrics.

Now that we’ve gotten the pleasantries out of the way and you’re all up to date, I’ll have the first piece of my mind up shortly. If you’re still reading this, thanks again. Have a cheeky extra shot, my shout. Then pull on your gumboots, my friend, because shit’s about to get sticky as we wade through the drip tray in my head (sorry, I had to squeeze in one last plug). If you’re so inclined, here are links to my music and podcast. Lastly, feel free to follow me on Instagram and don’t be afraid to slide into my DMs. Until next time!

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