Festival Baby test
Below are a number of articles I wrote whilst working at festivalbaby.com, as both a staff writer and as Web Editor. The articles include a number of features, interviews and style/tech/fashion guides.
Festival Baby Meets… Dave Davies - An interview with Dave Davies of The Kinks
In June 2015 I sourced and conducted an interview with Dave Davies, guitarist and singer-songwriter for legendary rock group The Kinks. During the interview we discussed his youth, his belief in meditation, the band's career, and the possibility of a reunion with the band and his brother Ray. The article was later referenced in The Guardian.
The Festival Lover's Christmas Gift Guide - A seasonal guide to shopping for loved ones in preparation for the upcoming festival season
I co-wrote this Christmas Gift Guide and sourced many of the products myself by liaising with various PR agencies. The guide was purposefully designed to be tongue-in-cheek yet informative at the same time.
The Men's Autumn/Winter Style Guide - A style guide featuring both well known and up and coming labels from the fashion world.
A male Autumn/Winter style guide featuring many brands including Brick Bear Clothing, Samsoe & Samsoe, Scotch & Soda and more.
Festival Baby Meets… Norman Jay MBE - An interview with legendary DJ Norman Jay MBE, discussing his career and his passions.
An interview with DJ Norman Jay MBE. During the interview, we discussed his career, the early years, and the odd occasion when he DJ'd Thierry Henry's wedding, despite being an avid Tottenham Hotspur fan.
At Festival Baby it was always important to respond to the latest music news, and so, as line ups for 2016 began to filter through, we compiled this Getty gallery of ten of the best headline acts to look out for.
At Festival Baby, it was important for us to write about genres which were becoming increasingly popular, and the artists leading the way. While I had not listened to a great deal of grime music before, I undertook much research so that I could put together an informed piece, which culminated in this Getty Gallery.
New Music - Reviews of some of the latest albums to be released
A feature I introduced on Festival Baby was the New Albums piece. Written most weeks, it was an objective rundown of some of the newest albums to be released that week, and added to the website's overall authority on all matters music.
In late 2015, we ran two awards features, recognising the best festivals in various different categories. The initial nominees article was followed up by this 'winners' feature. In conjunction with the piece, we ran a Twitter poll online, garnering a great response and much engagement from our followers.
In Spring/Summer 2015, one of my roles was to attend festivals in the UK. In addition to a preview, I attended festivals and subsequently wrote a review, in addition to constant social media coverage whilst there. For Bestival 2015, I was also responsible for much of the photography that ended up on our site.
Before album reviews became commonplace on Festival Baby, I wrote this long form review of The Libertines long-awaited 3rd album. While I personally enjoyed writing the piece thoroughly, I later decided that, due to resource constrictions, it would be better if we reviewed several albums weekly in a more concise manner.
In late 2015 I was kindly given permission to use photographs from a book by Barbara Pyle about Bruce Springsteen in 1975. There were hundreds to choose from, and the article allowed me creative license to pick and choose the most fitting pictures which I felt to be most interesting.
In Autumn 2015 I decided Festival Baby should write an article about the best snow/music festivals for three reasons. Firstly, I wanted to foster relationships with the festivals as there was potential to gain advertising revenue. Secondly, a large chunk of our demographic were of the age in which such festivals tend to appeal and finally, given the time of year, we wanted to drum up excitement for festivals in 2016 and talking about skiing/snow festivals was a good way of doing this. Furthermore, the article had crossover appeal (and was amended for) our travel magazine, Escapism.
To follow up the festival season, which I covered extensively, I wrote a review of some of the acts which had impressed me the most. The feature allowed me to talk about some of the most high profile acts at festivals in 2015, as well as some lesser known, emerging talents, and I was glad to give our readers an insight into some exciting bands to look out for in the coming year.
Working closely with Netflix's PR team, I produced a Getty gallery recommending the best music documentaries on the paid for streaming website. The article showed both informed analysis of the artists and my ability to source interesting features from external sources. It was later amended in the run up to Bestival and republished to garner more traction.
When I saw that One Direction's first single following the high profile departure of Zayn Malik was trending across social media, I decided it was important to cover it in some way. I wrote a tongue in cheek, absurdist critique of the song towed the line between irreverent humour and acknowledging what was a much talked about event well. The article was one of the most successful pieces of July 2015
Festival Baby Newsletters
At Festival Baby, I was responsible for writing weekly humorous yet informative newsletters covering music festivals and music in general. The attached newsletter includes a gallery-led piece on Bruce Springsteen and a competition I personally organised with Sennheiser. If you would like to see more examples of these newsletters, please feel free to contact me.