Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michael Whiteside. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Michael, thanks for joining us today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

Until recently, any chance to be a footnote in history seemed instinctually appealing, particularly if it meant being recognized for any talent or creativity that I allegedly possessed. But these days I am more concerned with honoring and reconnecting with nature, because that’s where I feel like I can build the most spiritual and metaphysical bridges to whatever lies ahead, be it in this world or the next.

The last year or so has really put it into perspective that, when we ask ourselves things like, “what legacy am I going to leave behind,” there’s a good chance your ego will be answering that question for you, trying to shelter you from any realization of “what difference does it make?” The thing is, I really feel much better when I let go of the notion of being remembered, and just focus on the present, and doing what I can to make that enough.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve been playing in bands since I was 16, which from a young ages always been a dream of mine. Even though guitar playing was in my family throughout the last several generations, it was actually drumming that set me apart in whatever community I started out in, for better of for worse.

After high school, I continued to tour and record with various projects, but I also kept tab on my growing number of friends by helping them get press on a site called Sputnikmusic.com, where I honed my skills for a number of years with reviews and news articles.

Eventually, I moved to Eugene, Oregon in 2013 to take my music to the next level, but around the same time, people started taking my reviews semi-seriously. I enjoyed the thought of writing for bigger bands and bigger audiences, and maybe even technical articles, but it wasn’t my main priority – for the next few years, Muscle Beach Petting Zoo, Thom Simon, and Childspeak were all I could think about. This chaos gave me a body of experience in the music scene that I couldn’t have got any other way, and it also sharpened my voice considerably – however, this didn’t translate to any kind of usable opportunity for another couple of years.

Thankfully, in 2019, I received an email from Nikk Hunter, founder of online math rock magazine Fecking Bahamas. The magazine was relatively notorious in the underground journalism scene for maintaining a specific, almost collegiate tone when it came to technical and progressive music. Nikk asked me if I had any ideas on the table, and I went for the best one I had at the time – an article that ended up titled ‘Math and Machines: The Devices of Math Rock.’

Agains all logic, somehow the article became one of the site’s most viewed articles, and I was a darling of the Fecking Bahamas team. This was a very dreamy couple of months, being asked to handle exclusives and interviews for some of my favorite artists, many of whom I’d never even really thought I’d have the chance to meet on tour. Of course, the ensuing pandemic made things fairly difficult, but this also became one of the site’s most celebrated periods, as we managed lands bigger interviews with artists who would generally be too busy to set up a more intimate conversation.

At the beginning of this year, we dropped our eighth compilation, our biggest and most diverse to date featuring artists from all over the United States’ West Coast and Pacific Northwest. This is probably my proudest accomplishment so far at Fecking Bahamas. We aim to deliver two more by the end of the year – one for the East Coast / Midwest regions, and another for the South / Southwestern regions.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

If you’re in any artistic community, one of the most meaningful things you can do is network with the people around you. This sounds very tech-bro, of course, but I mean it from a more naturalist standpoint – building community is key to any kind of future, whether it be for you, your brand, or your family. This doesn’t mean you have to set people up to lean on you, though. It actually means it’s okay for you to lean on them!

For instance, some of my favorite music over the last couple of years has been found solely by reading completive blogs, and when that happens I always go out of my way to celebrate and respect the work they put into it, because for the most part, this is all a labor of love, but still a ton of work.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

With enough empathy, anything is possible! But in all seriousness, when you do your best to be reliable and generally dependable in any circumstance, it says a lot about you. The road can be chaotic and bring out the worst in an otherwise totally normal person from the sheer exhaustion of it all. If you can keep up with the people running the gamut professionally, sometimes that is all you need to be remembered, whether as someone they can count on in the future or just as someone who was nice to them that day, and either one goes a long way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://feckingbahamas.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/feckingbahamas/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beckingfamahas/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiy4hl66fGgJBz87QDDepqg

Image Credits
Kai Weybright Ashley Janelle Sam Gehrke