Back To Where It All Started…
When Second Shifters first started, when the thought of it was still just a foggy idea, one of the first things to come into focus was the idea of working directly with the artists.
As a radio station, and as a site that focused on a darker theme, that meant interviews with groups that fit the genre. One of the first bands bands we played on the station was a perfect place to start.
Merry Widow had been recommended by a long time friend1, and they couldn’t have been a better match. The band had been around long enough to have released their first album and to have gained a following that was starting to grow beyond the borders of Jacksonville, but they were still at a place where they could find extra time to devote to an interview with an unknown online station that was just starting to find its bearings. And most importantly, they were willing to see if it led anywhere.
Florida… wasn’t exactly close. It was twenty hours of driving away from that little town in Illinois where Second Shifters was born. This was important though. It was the first time… the first interview… and it was worth doing everything possible to get it right.
Except bringing a microphone…
So much had been planned for. Interview questions memorized – Check. Software that could handle recording a full interview in the best quality possible – Check. A custom-built computer, a monitor, a keyboard, mouse, and speakers – All check. (Why not just bring a laptop? It was 2003 – Those were way too expensive.)
Up to this point, though, everything spoken on Second Shifters had been with a headset, because there was never anyone else in the room. A normal microphone that could be passed around between people in the same room – it hadn’t ever been needed.
Luckily, Merry Widow had one they were happy to bring along.
The interview started out great. Everything was flowing smoothly. Until looking over to the screen to see that the audio had stopped recording after a minute because of forgetting to enter the license key for Cool Edit Pro.
Son of a bitch…
Round two.
Everything went perfectly this time. The band had a good story to tell for almost every question. And the 45-minute recording saved successfully. Thank fucking God. (Or Goddesses, or Allah, or Satan, or Syntrillium Software. Whoever is responsible – They deserve praise.)
When it came time to debut the interview on air, there were some decisions to make about the best way to present it for everyone to hear, and to help bring a focus to the music, and most importantly, the people that made it.
The more and more that thought rolled around, the more and more it became clear that there was a big part of that 45-minute recording that was important to make it all happen, but that wasn’t needed in the final form of what went on air.
It was the questions.
In every answer that they gave, and in every story that they told, Xelana, Georgie, and Sketch had given a self-contained something that spoke entirely for itself. The interview didn’t need the interviewer’s voice. It needed the music that the band was speaking about, to make it complete.
So, that’s what played on the station – the artists that made up Merry Widow, mixed with the music they had created.
It was stumbled on by accident, but it focused on exactly the right thing – them.
As Second Shifters starts over again, the direction we want to face is the same one that we were facing back at the start. We want to focus on the artists, and on what they create.
…And we hope that you’ll join us for where that path leads.
- Thank you Adria. ↩︎