Who am I?
Born in Basildon, Essex on the 27th November 1991, Rhys Stevenson is a freelance music journalist of whose musical passion is Alternative music. Having attended Bromfords Secondary School and Bromfords 6th Form (Achieving Double Distinction in BTEC Business Studies and Distinction / Merit in BTEC ICT), he then went to the University of Essex in Colchester where he initially studied BSc International Economics but changed his course to BSc Business Management and is currently in his 2nd year (3rd year at University).
Being the only Heavy Metal fan in the family (although his grandparents, mum et al have grown to tolerate his choice of music and from time to time admit some of it they like), the music genre was to become a topical discussion in the family.
Rhys' freelance music journalism began when he was looking at an advertisement on the Gothic social networking site www.Vampirefreaks.com, the Dutch e-zine 'Alternate Zone' was looking for new budding journalists and so he took this opportunity on. After feeling he had to move on to new pastures he came across the American e-zine Grave Concerns, but only after a few months did not like the aesthetics and so therefore left, however the major boost came when the UK magazine Terrorizer launched their own online freelance journalist programme 'Wretched Spawn' and so Rhys decided to join on board.
It started to become surreal as he delved into the world of Global Metal, unearthing bands from all over the world from Greenland to Iran and from Kenya to Puerto Rico, etc. He managed to get an internship at Terrorizer's office in London and ended up forming a unique partnership with the magazine team, as well as other key major people in the Metal music industry.
A year later and the 'wretched spawn' was shut down, which left Rhys stranded on what to do and so the initiative set in. As you read his short biography, what you're looking is a website that he has made himself and has been going since the 9th May 2011. The website has already reached over to 158 countries and just over 41,000 hits. Now carrying out CD reviews and much much more for all unsigned bands and record labels like Nuclear Blast, Fearless Records, Victory Records, Salute Records and many more, also doing other bits and bobs for promoters, management and other people in the music industry, whilst hosting his own radio show 'Metronica' on RED Radio at the University, there is nothing to stop Rhys from achieving greater things in the future.
In 2012 he was awarded with the 'Dignity & Respect Champion' award for his and the Essex University Metal society's participation in the Dignity & Respect Festival of which the society chose to show 'Satanic Angels'; a documentary showing the difficulties of Heavy Metal in Morocco as a band is tortured and beaten up for supposedly being Satanic. The society (photo at top) was also awarded 'Bronze Standard Status'; an achievement which means a lot to Rhys. He also did press for the Metal Hammer Golden Gods and Bloodstock Open Air as media, He is now branching out to other types of music within the alternative music scene, recently doing gig reports on The Horrors, The Rasmus and is now building on this success.
2013 brought him a 2:1 in his marketing coursework from which he focused on the mainstream and heavy metal music industry, so far he is on par to finish the year on a 2:1 or a first...
Being the only Heavy Metal fan in the family (although his grandparents, mum et al have grown to tolerate his choice of music and from time to time admit some of it they like), the music genre was to become a topical discussion in the family.
Rhys' freelance music journalism began when he was looking at an advertisement on the Gothic social networking site www.Vampirefreaks.com, the Dutch e-zine 'Alternate Zone' was looking for new budding journalists and so he took this opportunity on. After feeling he had to move on to new pastures he came across the American e-zine Grave Concerns, but only after a few months did not like the aesthetics and so therefore left, however the major boost came when the UK magazine Terrorizer launched their own online freelance journalist programme 'Wretched Spawn' and so Rhys decided to join on board.
It started to become surreal as he delved into the world of Global Metal, unearthing bands from all over the world from Greenland to Iran and from Kenya to Puerto Rico, etc. He managed to get an internship at Terrorizer's office in London and ended up forming a unique partnership with the magazine team, as well as other key major people in the Metal music industry.
A year later and the 'wretched spawn' was shut down, which left Rhys stranded on what to do and so the initiative set in. As you read his short biography, what you're looking is a website that he has made himself and has been going since the 9th May 2011. The website has already reached over to 158 countries and just over 41,000 hits. Now carrying out CD reviews and much much more for all unsigned bands and record labels like Nuclear Blast, Fearless Records, Victory Records, Salute Records and many more, also doing other bits and bobs for promoters, management and other people in the music industry, whilst hosting his own radio show 'Metronica' on RED Radio at the University, there is nothing to stop Rhys from achieving greater things in the future.
In 2012 he was awarded with the 'Dignity & Respect Champion' award for his and the Essex University Metal society's participation in the Dignity & Respect Festival of which the society chose to show 'Satanic Angels'; a documentary showing the difficulties of Heavy Metal in Morocco as a band is tortured and beaten up for supposedly being Satanic. The society (photo at top) was also awarded 'Bronze Standard Status'; an achievement which means a lot to Rhys. He also did press for the Metal Hammer Golden Gods and Bloodstock Open Air as media, He is now branching out to other types of music within the alternative music scene, recently doing gig reports on The Horrors, The Rasmus and is now building on this success.
2013 brought him a 2:1 in his marketing coursework from which he focused on the mainstream and heavy metal music industry, so far he is on par to finish the year on a 2:1 or a first...
