At first Uncle Stepmom was just a radio show, a part-time hobby, and a place for me to express myself into the vast expanse. It is still very much that. However, with year(s) worth of shows accumulating on the drive, it wasn’t just time to start archiving the shows, but to have a place where music and voices can be more amplified and celebrated.

I also feel that it is time (past, present and future) to bring in more community, more outside opinion and taste, and more ideas to the table. Hence, you find this place here today.

As a musician, an outsider, a weirdo, and self-proclaimed music critic, I feel a great joy and desire to bring more underground music out into the light. Sure, my actual stepkids don’t think I’m up to date on music; but I do know a lot of great bands, past and present, who aren’t getting the airtime or attention that they deserve. Bands I love, and bands that I’ve never heard of.

I wanted to create a community-board style space where I can share more support for bands, and get music recommendations or suggestions for the show. As an extension of my radio coverage, I want to have a place again to provide PR/content to these bands to share.

So, yes, I want to write about music again, but I also want to hear from you how good that show was, what your favorite album is, and the why’s and how’s you began to fall in love with music in the first place. I do not want this to be a vanity project.

I’m stuck with this thought. Music is a great source of enjoyment and entertainment, and that’s pretty cool. I just think that good music and artistry should transcend that. It should disrupt what you think you know about music, or at least, put words and harmony to the feelings that words cannot express. But I know that other people have other feelings, other disruptions, other expectations from what ‘good’ music is; and I want to learn from that.

My passion for this stems from the same thing that made me fall in love with music as a little girl… I know my next favorite band is out there, and I don’t want to miss it.

That’s the energy I want everyone to take away from (and to put into) their experience with Uncle Stepmom. Music promoters and enthusiasts often tend to echo one another, and if we’re not careful that can snowball into what feels like gatekeeping.

So, at Big Unc’s house, I want to open the conversation up, I want to hear your best take on that new album, or that last show. I want to know the next time you plan on putting art into the world, or how you celebrate music. Basically, I want the gate to stay open, and (just in case) to keep the key under the doormat.

Be kind to each other out there, go support a local punk, and… of course…

Enjoy the tunes, weirdos.

-Ali O’Malley