Interview with:
Brian, Scott & Ron
Conducted by:
Colleen via email
Date: 3/5/2013
Hello, Dollfaces, thanks for this interview. I have
seen you posting on my metal sister and founder of Obscure Chaos Zine on her
personal page and now the zine pages as well, Do you feel having good friends
is a good way to promote your station on their pages and has anyone got annoyed
that you have posted on their page? What pages have you found most supportive
to help Metal Thunder Radio out?
SCOTT - I would say that
the guys from Prime Evil and of course Ed Farsthey and Wendigo Productions have
been the biggest help to us in the (almost) year we’ve been around. But, the
support from all ends has been great! Nobody to my knowledge yet has complained
about us posting on their pages. Hopefully it stays that way!
BRIAN – Yep definitely
agree with Scott that Prime Evil, Ed & Wendigo have been in the forefront
of support, but I would also say the Mike from MP Project, Mike from Lardhand
as well as Unworked Apparel have been right there as well. As far as Facebook
pages I would say of course Obscure Chaos Zine, RMHO, LadySkullShine
Entertainment, Love of Metal & Yvonne’s World just to name a few.
RON - I would not want to
forget anyone but, we do have many friends who support & promote us. One
that comes to mind is Gini from the http://www.examiner.com who wrote a very
awesome article about the live show broadcast. I don't know of anyone who has
been annoyed by us posting on their page.
Your station hasn’t been around for a very long time
but it’s making a good connection in the metal scene. Reading your profile page
it states, “Our weekly, live online radio show airs every Tuesday at 9pm EST.”
and you’re on for about an hour and the rest of the week it’s quite, why? Did
you think about having an auto-dj for the remaining days or maybe getting other
Dj’s to join your team?
BRIAN – I
wouldn’t want to have an auto DJ. I’ve see a lot of stations that have an auto
DJ just so it can run 24/7 but I can’t see that people would be tuning in at
4am. To me the one hour live show we do should be an event for the bands, where
they know when they will be played & can promote it. With an auto DJ the
bands would never know when they would be played. As far as only being on once
a week, it’s tough to find time to do this since we all have jobs &
personal commitments.
SCOTT -For me it’s mainly a
time constraint thing, I run my own business so I’m tied up with work
obligations seven days a week for the most part, and because of that, have very
little free time.
RON - We all have day jobs
and it takes a fair amount of time the put together our 1 hour show. We are
just getting started right now but both of those suggestions could be
possibilities in the future.
Do you find it expensive to run a station and is this a
reason you have t-shirts to help cover the cost of the shirts and the station?
Has it been helpful? Wear can one purchase a shirt from?
BRIAN – There definitely is
a cost associated with running the station but I try to find the most cost
effective ways to do things. There was a lot of research to find the most
inexpensive way to stream, we use older computers & have a primitive phone
system but it all works & that is what is most important.
RON - Yes the t-shirt sales
are meant to alleviate the cost of running the show, but to date we've sold one
(1) shirt!!!!!! A shirt can be purchased by going to the merchandise page on
http://www.metalthunderradio.com
What can one expect when they tune in?
RON - Listeners can expect
to have an awesome time listening to sick underground metal music and 3 guys
(plus the occasional guest) talking about metal and other things, but mostly
metal.
SCOTT - People can expect
the best in underground metal from around the world. We don’t discriminate
either, if it’s halfway decent, we’ll put it on our show! Some people have
asked why we don’t play Slayer, old Metallica, etc and the bottom line is,
those bands don’t need our help, and you can hear them on mainstream radio. All
though we will pull out some rare live Exodus and Slayer from back in the 80s
from time to time.
How many listeners to you have at this current moment
and who are your biggest supporters?
BRIAN – Listeners to the
live show vary week to week but each show is also available on iTunes & I
know there are a lot of people that download it. As far as our biggest
supporters, aside from those listed above (MP Project, Lardhand, Ed, Prime Evil
etc.) I would have to say that Adam from Toronto & Fredrik from Sweden (CEO
at Concept Sweden Management) are among our biggest supporters. They are always
in chat during the live show & help keep things fun & interesting.
You’re bio also states, “Our playlist is comprised of
the best underground bands from around the world” today many have a different
concept to what “underground” stands for, in your words what does it mean to
you and what styles of music do you accept for your station?
SCOTT - Underground to me
means music that doesn’t have the benefit of mainstream radio play, or
mainstream promotion. Bands that still have to do everything themselves,
promotion, merchandise, etc. This doesn’t mean that a band can’t be signed to a
label and still be underground. Many great bands that we feature on the show
every week are in fact signed to independent labels but are still considered
underground bands.
RON - Just bands who are
trying to get their music out there. They don't have a big label promoting
their music. Some of the bands are signed to a label but the band still does
most of their own promoting and stuff. We accept metal of all types: thrash,
death, power, black, hardcore, plus more...
BRIAN – Echoing what Scott
& Ron said, underground bands are bands that are still pushing themselves.
Whether signed or not, they don’t have a big promotional machine behind them.
They are still out there selling their own merchandise, handing out fliers for
their upcoming shows & basically funding their own efforts. As far as the
music we accept, we take all kinds of metal but we’ve also received a good
amount of rock & hard rock songs as well. To the point that we’ve had two
separate special rock shows.
Where can bands send their material too and what format
do you take?
RON - There are a number of
ways that bands can get us their music. Facebook
(facebook.com/metalthunderradio), Twitter (@metaltradio), Email
(contact@metalthunderradio.com), and the Contact Us page on
http://www.metalthunderradio.com All song submissions should be in the mp3
format.
Being that your station runs for a short time it makes
it harder to keep the bands in a regular rotation. How often will these bands
submitting their material be heard? How are you working that out or is it a
onetime deal?
RON - That depends of how
many songs they have submitted. Of course the more songs they submit the more
they will be heard.
BRIAN – Each week we try to
have as many new bands as possible, but we will always repeat a couple of songs
& like Ron said the more songs they have submitted they more they will be
played. We also have each show on our website along with each band that we
played that night with links to their pertinent sites so even if we might have
only played a band once or twice, visitors to our website can always find
them.
What bands have you heard for the first time and now
you have become a fan of?
SCOTT - There are a lot of
bands that we feature that I consider stellar, some that come to mind right off
the top of my head are Bull Riff Stampede, Klank, Dead Label & Slasher.
RON - There are too many to
list. There are a lot of talented bands
that are not being heard. That is the whole point of our show, giving these
bands a venue to be heard.
BRIAN – Adding to the bands
Scott mentioned I would have to say the bands that I think of right away are
Estampida, Kill Syndicate, Tellus Requiem, Diztord, Gormathon.
Have you done live band interviews?
SCOTT - Yep, we sure have.
Did a live phone interview with Mike Usifer from Prime Evil, and we also did a
taped phone interview with Tord from Sweden (Diztord).
RON - Plus a number of
on-air call ins. We also interviewed all
the bands at the live broadcast show (King from Deceased, Ronnie & Danny
from Malignancy, Mike from Sacrificial Blood, Mike from Prime Evil, Drew from
Midnite Hellion, Duke & John from Thorn Constellation) .
Did you book the show or just hosted the show On
January 12, 2013 St. Vitus Bar in New York with Thorn Constellation,
Sacrificial Blood, Midnite Hellion, Prime Evil, Deceased, and Malignancy? How
did the live streaming go with your listeners and how was the overall turn out?
Are you going to do another show with Wendigo productions?
SCOTT - That show at St
Vitus was a collaboration between us and Ed from Wendigo Productions. We came
up with the bands and Ed worked his magic and got them all to agree to do the
show!
BRIAN – The live show
really went well considering we were kinda doing this blindly. We didn’t have
any point of reference of doing this before. The club was completely sold out
& the online audience was phenomenal.
It was great that while we were interviewing various band members,
people listening online were also asking questions via chat. It was a great way
for the bands to talk to their fans who were not in NY. In some cases we had
questions coming in from fans in various countries around the world. We did
have a bit of a buffering issue but overall it went off without a hitch. I am
sure we will be doing another show sooner rather than later.
What are your own experiences in the metal scene, band,
promoters, club owners, etc.? What styles of music do you enjoy most outside of
the station?
RON - I was the lead
guitarist for Shadow of Demise & let’s just say I have a very eclectic
Ipod!!
BRIAN – I was the bass
player for Sudden Fear. We played every place we could throughout the 90’s
& came across a plethora of promoters & club owners. Some good people
& some assholes. I’m sure Scott & I could spend hours telling stories
of our time with SF but we’ll save that for another interview. As far as music
I listen to, mostly metal but also some rock & classic rock.
Who came up with the idea of doing an on-line radio
station and who came up with the name?
BRIAN – I had the idea of
doing a radio show after I had gone back to school for broadcasting. They tell
you that the best way to get into radio is to have an internship & build a
demo reel to hand out to stations. Since I have a full time job & a family
I didn’t have any time for an internship so I decided to try to do something on
my own. I came up with the name & had asked Scott if he wanted to do it
with me. After a few shows Ron came down to hang out & it clicked so he
quickly became part of the team.
The radio industry is
constantly changing & right now more & more people are moving to online
radio & podcasts. So we’ll see how far we can take this.
Did you always want to be a DJ or did it just happen?
BRIAN – It actually just
happened. I originally went to broadcasting school to learn the behind the
scenes aspect of radio & to get into production.
So far what is one of your funniest moments since you
started the station?
BRIAN – I would say the
funniest thing that happened so far was when Scott couldn’t make it to the show
but was able to call in for a few minutes. While he was talking the computer
crashed & his last word just kept repeating until the computer shut itself
off. That moment has made it’s way into our intro & will live forever as
the day that Scott became a robot.
What do you think is the single most important thing
for a new metal band to do to promote themselves?
RON - Hustle. Don't just
lay back and think everything is going to be handed to you. Also support. The
scene, other bands, and anyone who is trying to help you.
SCOTT - In my opinion
(Scott) the single most important thing a band can do to promote themselves is
write great music. And get out there and play! And don’t just rely on others to
promote your shows, get out there and hit the pavement and promote youselves!
Utilize the internet, facebook, twitter, etc. Get as many people to hear your
music as possible. To sum up, bust your ass day in and day out! Don’t be lazy
and think you’re too good for the grunt work. No, you’re not. And if you want
to have a shot at making it, you better be willing to bust your ass! Ok, that
was more than one thing haha
Keep Rockin’ All Knight and Good Luck with your
station. I’ll have to stop over one evening. Tune in Every Tuesday Night Live 9 p.m. EST. . . Any last words for our readers?
RON - Keep the metal scene
alive.
