After 500 posts and over 370,000 views, WordPress (who run this blog) have sent their congratulations to the North East culture site after completing its seventh year, aye seven years, can’t believe how quickly time has gone.

From the first post in February 2017, the free site – without any ads, pop ups or clickbait – has gone from strength to strength picking up views not only here in the UK but worldwide, including USA, Japan, Brazil, Sweden, Ireland, Australia and European countries Spain, Italy, France and Germany.

First up were metal bands Fist, Mythra, Raven, Satan, Venom and Tygers of Pan Tang followed by music memories from bands including Beckett, Angelic Upstarts, White Heat, Lindisfarne, Lorraine Crosby, Wildhearts, Dance Class, Kane Gang and Southbound.

Searching the site, you’ll find interviews with authors and photographers, there’s also stories from recording studios Guardian and Impulse.

As well as theatre producer Leah Bell and TV actress Lesley Saint-John, by far the most popular post at 15,000, there are stories from roadies, radio presenters and TV production teams.

During the 2020 covid lockdowns people looked for something new to read so their views added to the regular readers, resulting in monthly numbers of 7,000 with a high of 9,700.

Now the site gets a steady monthly count of 4-5,000, I must say a big thanks to everyone who reads the posts – much appreciated.

How long will it last? Well, the phone’s still ringing and stories keep dropping in my inbox, so I’ll keep gaan until the juice runs out.

Alikivi   February 2024