Ok, where were we? I had recorded my first Interview for the radio show and decided to put it out as a podcast.
I found the whole process of setting up and publishing the pod, really easy, aided and abetted by my old school mate Stu back in the UK who is a wildly successful podcaster, with half a dozen podcasts on the go. He was and continues to be an amazing source of knowledge, inspiration, and advice, shout out Stu, check out his podcasts Off The Beat and Track, Hardcore Listing and my favourite Acceptable in the 80's. He was also my guest on episode 6 and told a fantastic story about singing live with REM.
I use Zoom to record my interviews, which again is ridiculously easy to do, but I find the quality of sound is not as good as an in-person studio recording, because often bands/artists use iPhones and Air pods, or dial in from their kitchens on laptops and the sound quality is less than ideal, sometimes interviews are done over the phone, which I initially found really challenging to record. The first phoner I ever did was with Buster Bloodvessel of Bad Manners, amazing chat about Rude Boys, Ska, and Perth’s best Pie shops. The quality of the recording was so bad (my fault) that it wasn’t usable. I did meet him after the gig though.
With that in mind, I didn’t trouble myself with an expensive studio set-up, I spent about $500 all up on Mic and Webcam, and I just sit in my home office and record from there.
I was lucky enough to score interviews with some phenomenal Perth artists in the early days, I try and pick artists I think will go places, because it's easier to book them now, than when they are massive names, one of the early acts I had on was Siobhan Cotchin, and 1 year on from that, she’s just finished a stadium tour of Australia supporting Matchbox Twenty and Goo Goo Dolls.
Early on, I also snagged an interview with Rowetta from Happy Mondays when they announced their Australian tour, literally just slid into her DM’s on Insta, and she said yes. After about 4 or 5 interviews with local acts, I started putting out my podcast, the idea of it was to get behind the public image of the musician to find out what the person is really like and what music they listen to and are influenced by, I called it Between The Bars. I ordered some podcast merch with the podcast title around the Def Monkey. I posted about it on all the Local Perth music-based Facebook pages.
After I’d got about 3 or 4 podcast episodes in, I read a Social Media post from another Perth Community Radio station RTRfm, announcing their new Podcast series “Between The Lines” where they would talk to local Authors and find out about the person behind the writer and the stories………
You could make a case for parallel thinking, but in the same town? Just weeks after I’d launched Between The Bars…….?
I chose to look at it as imitation being the highest form of flattery, but, and I mean this is the most respectful way, I did NOT want people to think that my podcast was in any way affiliated with RTRfm.
Around the same time, I’d started to think about the format of my podcast. In those early episodes, one of the questions I’d ask was If you were making me a mixtape what would be your track 1, attention grabber? I thought about the scene from High Fidelity where Rob is describing how he makes up mixtapes and “the rules” I also thought about Mixtapes and playlists I’ve made up in the past, and there are recurring themes throughout, I started adding categories, A Song You sing in the Shower, and a song you wish you could play to your 18 year old self, and my favourite, a song to let the listener know you are romantically interested. The Mixtape format was born.
The crossover point was an interview I did with Albany based Simon London & the Spirits. Simon is a top bloke, cracking songwriter and musician as well as being a Spurs supporter. When he came on Between The Bars, I asked if he would indulge me for another 15 mins at the end to try out a new format, he very kindly obliged and we recorded The Mixtape Podcast Episode 0 – The Demo Mixtape. I felt it was a raging success in terms of format, and being a massive introvert, socially awkward and rubbish at making conversation in general (why did I start doing this again?) A fixed, structured format was a fantastic safety net for me as a presenter.
I re-branded the podcast and social media pages as The Mixtape Podcast and It aligned much better with the radio show. That very same day 20 Between The Bars Podcast T-shirts arrived. I gave most of them away, I've got one left, let me know if you want it.
I've since re-ordered The Mixtape Podcast Tees, see blog cover photo. Hit me up on Insta or FB if you're keen. $30 Aus plus postage!
So that’s Podcast name stealers, what about Cult Leaders??
After only 2 or 3 episodes in, I received a DM on Insta from a guy called Jesse, telling me how much he loved the podcast, and asking me if I would be interested in joining his religion? I was flattered enough by his kind words to read on, and not dismiss him as your standard American nutter.
Dingir Zu as it turns out is the first and only OFFICIALLY recognised religion based solely on Rock n Roll music. Founders Jesse and Kimberly are work colleagues who had the idea and somewhat impressively followed it through. The reality of it is that although officially recognised by the state of North Carolina as a religion, Dingir Zu is a Facebook group where new bands come to find new fans and network. within the group you have prophets (The Bands) and Apostles (Podcasters, radio show hosts and Journalists)
You can find his group here: Dingir Zu | Facebook
Is that a religion an Atheist like me could get behind? Of course it is, I couldn’t wait to sign up, I thanked Jesse and asked if he would do me the honour of being a guest on my Podcast, to which he agreed.
Episode 4 of Between The Bars with Jesse is one of my favourites, it was the point in my podcasting career when I realised the value of letting my guard down, being myself and realising that’s what puts guests at ease and brings the best out of us both, Jesse also spoke about Dingir Zu being labelled "some weird cult". which I felt was incredibly harsh and misrepresentative.
We talked about live concerts as religious experiences, shared stories and laughs, it was such a fun chat, listen here:
In the next Blog, I’ll talk about interviewing my musical heroes, trying to crack the marketing side of podcasting and becoming a Youtuber, In, Fish Jokes, Insta Posts and AI Master Strokes.
