For years now, Monster Riff has been an outlier. What Pat created didn’t look anything like the other blogs that focus on Stoner Rock and Doom Metal. It was clean, crisp, and had a lot of lists. It had a layout closer to what I’d see on Louder, Metal Hammer and even Rolling Stone.
But the content was nothing like those mainstream sites. The humor was biting and vicious, the commentary sharp and poignant. And no matter how restrained and refined Pat is, when it came time to take on an asshole like Stoner Meadow of Doom, he didn’t pull any punches.
When Clean and Sober Stoner was welcomed into the Heavy Underground by the Doom Charts, Pat was at the front of the pack offering advice and guidance, along with Ryan from Slightly Fuzzed. And when it came time to really dig in and get serious, we turned to Pat’s real job at Poetica Marketing.
So to be taking over Monster Riff barely a year later is…scary as shit!!! I mean, Cheesus Crust, how am I supposed to fill these shoes? The answer is simple: I’m not even gonna try. Pat is Pat, and no mount of imitation is going to make up for the fact that his was, and is, a singular and distinctive voice. Besides, he’s already pitching ideas to write about and post. He’s not leaving, he’s just stepping back a bit.
So, while I get my shit together and get ready for this next phase of Monster Riff, we all hope that you take a few minutes and check out this interview we did for our Youtube Channel.
I’ll leave you now with some of Pat’s parting words:
Yeah, just be excellent to each other. Yeah… No, it’s been a super fun ride. Some of my best friends in my life are because of the scene and we’ve been to some great shows. I’ll continue to go to some great shows. I’ll continue those relationships. But I think the most important thing that we can do is to be good to each other.
Pat Schober
And those will be my parting words, unless you have like more like specific questions. But you know, keep rocking on, keep writing music, keep listening to music, go to shows, buy records, be cool to each other.
And for those with a taste for more witty banter, we have an unedited version of our chat on Spotify Podcasts:
Exciting times! Can’t wait to see how the site evolves over the coming months. This is very, very cool for anyone living life as a gleeful slave to the riff! 🎸💜💚🖤🤘🏻🍄