I've been putting off this post because I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted to interview Kopper, the creator of the new podcast/social networking site Garagepunk.com. I wanted to draft it out, you know, really polish this post. But there is a reason I dropped out of college - I simply put off the hard stuff. And this shouldn't be hard, should it? Here is the link if you want allllll of the story.
I'm sitting here listening to the latest episode of the podcast Mystery Action, and just enjoying the shit out of it! Its one of about 30 shows hosted on the site. All of the shows are playable from the page or downloadable for your pod machines. I love every single one of the shows. Some have over 100 episodes under their belts - all archived and available. For free.
To try and describe the kind of music using umbrella terms, well, I'll just end up looking like an idiot. I'll just say its like having the coolest friend who has the coolest basement pad and lets you lay around all day listening to his most radical, ecclectic record collection. His mom brings you both mini pizzas as snacks and doesn't mind that it "smells a little funny down there." And when you get tired of whatever he's playing - he puts on a completely different and equally rad collection of records. And he makes you awesome mixtapes that you can take home with you.
Garagepunk.com is my best friend. Forever.
Kopper, the creator, founder, and head honcho of Garagepunk.com says on the about-page, "...we'll cover anything we hear that is good—from traditional garage rock to trashy punk, surf/instro to rockabilly, '60s garage to swamp rock, broken blues to greasy R&B, soul to funk, frat rock to psych, freakbeat to power pop, proto punk to new wave, noise to lounge/exotica—and anything in between." And that's not all! Its not just a site with a bunch of rad podcasts - its also a social networking site. I hate saying those words but - if ever I REALLY wanted to be in a social network - its The Garage Punk Hideout. There are tons of specialized groups with active message boards. The most active are the ones by region - which rules because you get to find out about great shows, venues, and shops that might fly under the hipster radar.
After all this you're probably thinking "well it probably looks really boring and plain and usenet-esque." Nope. And you're a jerk for jumping to conclusions. I don't have web design experience - but I look at a lot of them. And the site design is cool, simple, and intuitive. You also get to have your own page with a lot of customization - minus stupid crap like "glitter graphics," and Farmville, etc.
And though they do have ads on their pages - they aren't intrusive, dumb ads. Most that I've seen have been for labels/bands that I already like. Hosts can choose to advertise or not. One of the shows advertises for some skateboard company - but that's all I've heard. And I like skateboard companies, as a general rule.
I just love love love it. The whole spirit of it. All the people I've connected with there are super friendly and helpful. I've found myself going there for answers to music-based questions more and more.
More from Kopper: "This was all done with two major goals in mind: First and foremost, we wanted to try to do more to expose the music that we think is good (as well as featured on my radio show) but that most people have never heard simply because they don't seek it out, have never been exposed to it before, or can't hear my show for one reason or another. Secondly, to encourage each and every one of you to support your local independently owned record stores, mailorder sites, and especially the indie labels that produce the vast majority of music featured here."
Times I most like to listen to the various shows: doing the dishes, painting, drinking beers with buds, in the car, while playing horrible online flash games, and in the shower.
If you give two shits about rocknroll - you should probably check out Garagepunk.com.
