Happy 1st Birthday, When The Sun Hits!! Enter our contest to win an iTunes gift card!

Exactly one year ago today, on July 22, 2010, Danny and I decided to stop talking about it and just do it - we were going to start a music blog. I still remember trying to come up with names...we had about 5 contenders, but we BOTH knew "When The Sun Hits" was perfect for us, and adopted it within minutes. We had the idea, we had the name, and after much geeking out and discussion, on that rainy July day the blog as born.

We had NO IDEA WHATSOEVER that the blog would resonate with so many people...we are continually surprised by that to this day. Because truly, we started the blog out of sheer love for music, and a shared enthusiasm for shoegaze and dream pop in particular, and thought it would amount to nothing much but a forum for he and I to nerd out freely. But with every day that passes, more and more dreamers find us, or we find them, and the blog has grown into what you see today. We've interviewed some of our idols, met some amazing people, formed some extremely important friendships, learned about so much music, and shared as much of it as we could with the readers...and we will continue to do so for as long as we can.

We just want to thank everyone who's helped us make it this far. There is no way we could name everyone individually, because there are so many wonderful people and musicians out there who've helped and supported us along the way, or those who've joined the family to help us grow. We love you all, and here's to many more birthdays!

The Contest:

I've been trying to satisfactorily photoshop some shoes or fx pedals onto a nice psychedelic colored birthday cake all day, but I totally suck at that, and the video below is much better anyway!

However, if you think you can create the mother of all blog birthday jpegs, we will send you a $25 gift card for iTunes! We like to laugh, so there's your one helpful hint. Submit your efforts either in the comments below (if possible) or email to whenthesunhitsblog@gmail.com. You have until Sunday, July 24th! There are no specific rules, just make something kick ass! We will then convene, choose a winner, and champion your jpeg magic for all to see! Happy photoshopping!

Love to you all,
Danny, Amber, Rob, and the rest of our WTSH family.

Foxtail Somersault covers the Sugarcubes' track "Birthday".