Introduction

Hi, my name is Lizzie Soles and I live in Surry, VA. I’m an artist, writer, avid reader, music nerd, vinyl collector, mediocre musician, farmer, and majored in Biophysical Science (chemistry/ biology/ physics) with a minor in Criminal Justice. I also love hunting, gardening, fishing, foraging, and basket weaving (anything that contributes to self-survival).

My husband David and I have a small farm, which include an English Setter named Pearl, Siberian husky named Bandit, shepherd/ husky named Ellie, a beagle Minnie, and a cat creatively named Kitty, and a bunch of chickens. 

This will primarily be a blog centered around music (with some farming stuff) and is in memory of my brother in law, John Berlin, who died in December 2025. He was the only peer I talked to about music. I figured this would be a cool way to break down a lot of the bands we listened to, band merch we collected over the years, and discuss the band we formed in his memory— “Deadend Shrednecks.” 

We’re hoping to bring some different music to Surry, since we don’t really get anything other than R&B and country (no offense). We often ask ourselves, “I wonder how many metalheads live out here and we just don’t know?” Guess we’re going to find out. 

I primarily started listening to postrock when I was 8 (along with buttrock, hip hop, prog, electro, metalcore, deathmetal—like every other white kid in America) which eventually took me into postmetal, grindcore, sludge metal, doom, thrash, mathrock, and blackmetal (my personal favorite). I’ll try to log the concerts we’ve been to, along with the merch and setlists too. 

Im working on a book right now in John’s memory and plan on finishing it by the end of this year. 

I also have an Etsy store “Black Bungalows.” https://blackbungalows.etsy.com/

I turned off ads from here, so nothing here is sponsored/ paid for. It sucks trying to read a blog getting blown up by ads, so this blog is just for overflow material from the book. Thanks so much for stopping by and welcome!