I honestly can’t believe we are writing an end of year reflection again, but as the days turn colder and snow has already fallen up here in the north it is time again for the team to meet up and share with our readers a few thoughts on a year; where once again the music business has lost some iconic figures and seen some great releases that will resonate in years to come.
This year only two of us were able to join forces, myself, Anna-Louise, and Mark – one of the two editors here. The reason it’s just us is because Benny’s wife is in hospital, Lorraine is out of the country with work and Stevie has a one year old and is in full Christmas and family meltdown! I am asking the questions, doing the write up, and leading things for this one!
So…Mark! The readers won’t know this, but we have known each other since nursery!
Mark: This is so true. We were in this little school where our classroom only had six children attending, and we were all friends going to each other’s parties! I remember it was a great little group and I have happy memories, we lived nearby too.
Anna-Louise: Rock the Joint Magazine was your idea. Where did it come from?
Mark: This is me returning to my 15/16 year old self, he would be very pleased with the magazine! My teenage years were often spent listening to vinyl of my favorite bands, and those tastes grew more eclectic between the ages of 16-early twenties. I’m currently doing a PhD part-time in Biblical theology alongside family commitments, online work as a proofreader and editor etc. The magazine came out of COVID. Myself and Benny had both worked for other music magazines and had some really great connections. We believed we could do better ourselves and set out to do so! We quickly gained Stevie as a reviewer, then Lorraine and (lastly) yourself. We also have gained some live reviewers who help from time-to-time!
Anna-Louise: Also a special mention to our student journalist Tracy Nash who did some great work over the Summer for us. I joined as I like the review side and I have started doing some features now too. I think 2025 has been a great year for new music, breaking through, when bands like Morganway and First Time Flyers have joined some heavy hitters like Miley Cyrus and Lady Ga-Ga in releasing really classy albums. At one point we thought the album was dying due to streaming, but it has made a strong return. And let me just say with a smile that the review for Miley Cyrus “Something Beautiful” that we did is the number one review on the Google front page!
Mark: Absolutely! I do like Miley, but we also reviewed the new Taylor Swift album this year (and right now I keep seeing these AI generated Christmas cats dancing to Swift all over YouTube!) but my favourite album of the year was “Icons” by Younblud (albeit I agree that First Time Flyers came up with a wonderful debut). There have been some great tours as well in 2025, I saw a few, Morganway I note as being really good. I think we’re often right there watching grassroots music as it happens, and many of our artists are climbing steadily upward. Amy-Jo with her “Friends Along the Way” tour is building her support base, Olivia Lynn did her first headline shows, plus our friend Kirstie Kraus is playing some shows in the UK this December all the way from the USA. I know that the huge return of bands like Oasis get all the media, but making sure the small venues are packed out too is vital for the lifeblood of music.
Anna-Louise: I’m going to mention the Christmas music that becomes a backdrop to every shopping experience from mid-November onwards. We note in the print that we are a Christian affiliated magazine, with a love for all faiths or none alongside, and we do, accordingly, feature some Christian artists along the way. But Christmas can be a difficult time as well. I’m going to quote Benny’s December editorial as he isn’t here with us today. He said “Christmas always pulls us in two directions at once. It’s a time to laugh loudest with the people we love… and to miss the ones we’ve lost. A little like Janus from Roman mythology, we find ourselves gazing forward with hope while peering backward with reflection. And as we get older, that backward glance seems to last just a heartbeat longer each year.” It’s been a year when the music business lost Ace Frehley and Ozzy Osbourne and I know you’ve had it difficult too.
Mark: Yes, I’ve had a difficult time. Without going into things too much I have missed Dad a lot this year (he passed a couple of years ago) and my mother has become increasingly unwell, taken into hospital in early November where she remains right now. I suffer from bad asthma, exasperated by stress, and I have really struggled with myself. Thankfully I have a wonderful son and family who I can focus on; and the PhD is consuming too. But I wholeheartedly agree that the season can be difficult and a time for missing those that we can no longer be with. As we get older it can be a sad season. But as a Christian I focus on the celebration of the birth of a wonderful child who went on to change the world.
Anna-Louise: As an old friend, I think you have done remarkably well! And despite the challenges our team has faced this year—illness, grief, parenting chaos, and the realities of life—we’ve kept the magazine alive, because music matters. It lifts us, connects us, and gives voice to people who deserve to be heard. I want to say that our readership figures seem to be fluctuating, sometimes we are saying 1,000 readers a day, other times this year, 2000 a day. Where are we at, seeing we started in March 2022 with zero lol.
Mark: We have had a couple of months (October notably) when the monthly average did go above 2000 per day, driven by a couple of high profile reviews. But that is not the norm. I have just done the mean average daily for the last 30 days and it came up as 1044 per day. But you know…we are a small magazine, very low social media presence (you can see us on Instagram @Rock_The_Joint_Magazine) and not much inward investment budget! But we compete with quality journalism and real reviews that listen to the music!
Anna-Louise: We’ve even broadened the merchandise side of things, incorporating some Velma-and-Daphne-inspired designs on bags and goodies—which, frankly, have gone down rather wonderfully. I also want to thank all those who have donated on Ko-Fi. It’s lovely when people remember to say thanks and get us something as we are providing free content without advertising so readers get a better experience. I also think how lovely it is to chat to artists from all over the world who stop and say hello. I began 2025 talking to Jessica Lisette (check out her Sherlockian single “Elementary”) and I get excited about who is next up!
Mark: All good points! I want to thank the artists who trusted us with interviews, the PR teams who sent music our way, and—above all—you, our readers. Whether you’ve been here for all four years or only arrived yesterday, you’re part of this story. And I know the missing members of this little team would echo that.
Anna-Louise: Let’s touch on books before we go. I’ve just been reading “Alice With a Why” with my niece. Now, we have a bit of Alice here at the magazine with our Alice with guitar (Cheshire Cat on her guitar), and this book was a real joy. It was a modern take on the tale and it just took me all the way back into that world.
Mark: I read a great history biography on Catherine Howard called “Young and Damned and Fair” and I got into the Jim Butcher books on The Cinder Spires, a steampunk fantasy series known for airships, magic, and talking cats. I really liked those, but you know me, I’m always reading something!
Anna-Louise: We should say something about the art we have used here. I should note Lorraine contributed all these using some AI art generation tools and we were all really happy with the results. I think they are so cool!
Mark: I concur! I’d also note that although these are AI created by Lorraine, it took her some time to get it right. AI is a tricky art tool. Other art on the magazine such as the Alice or the witch (see poetry page) are not AI, they are human created in full.
Anna-Louise: I’m wrapping up now. I think that music has always helped us find our way through the noise of life—joy, grief, stress, celebration, all wrapped into sound. And I would also note that we are strong advocates of music therapy to help with mental health. As we wrap up 2025, we raise a glass to every gig, every songwriter, every duet, every lyric that stayed with us. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and here’s to another year of discovery. We’ll meet you in the front row again soon.
And frankly, for something that began with zero readers, two cats, a teenager and a pot of tea in lockdown, that still amazes us!
So to note, as a finishing point, to keep us improving the magazine, we really do need your support, and if you can go to the ‘Support Us’ button and buy us a drink for Christmas, it helps us feel appreciated and keep improving the magazine. We also have our merchandise shop, Lorraine, looking great in the gear! Read on, check out our many great features and reviews, and do bookmark us on your pages!
By Anna-Louise Burgess
and
Mark C. Chambers
