Interview ~ Roger (Tainted Reality): September 1, 2007
via instant messanger
Tainted Reality has been bringing fans JRock since their first airing on WIXQ in fall of 2005. They've come a long way since then: they've progressed to managing the US tours for a handful of Japanese bands, they now have their own Internet Radio Network, and, as usual, they're always surprising fans with exlusive interviews with Japanese bands and other treats. We got a chance to talk to Tainted Reality's CEO, Roger Shackelford, over instant messenger, to learn a little more about what goes on behind the scenes of Tainted Reality.
First of all, how did you get into radio?
At college in Millersville. When I went for orientation, they told us about their TV and radio stations; I signed up for both immediately. Radio, however, prevailed over my work at the TV station by the second year due to various political issues happening at the TV station at the time, and because the radio show I was on at the time, Bad Transitions, really started to take off.
Ok, and what made you move on from Bad Transitions? What inspired you to make your own show?
Bad Transitions was a great show, and my partners on there were great people. However, with three minds having different objectives for the same show, things got a little heated at times (oftentimes on air, which kind of added to the charm of the show). Main problem was, one DJ wanted to play mostly industrial and metal, the other wanted to play classic rock, and I wanted to play J-Rock. It got to a point where I felt all of the different conflicts were hurting the development of the show. So, after talking long and hard with the people involved in the show, I decided to move on and formed Tainted Reality, as much as I didn't want to at the time.
Where did you come up with the name Tainted Reality?
That was actually the second most difficult part. (laugh) It took me months to come up with that name. I wanted something catchy, like Bad Transitions, but not too J-Rock-y (Like I didn't want to name the show after a song or call it "Mana Love Muffin Terrific Hour Show"). I decided to go with a theme that is reoccurring in my writing. In a lot of my stories, a character's perception of reality is destroyed and redefined. At the time (to the best of my knowledge), there was no radio show that specialized in specifically J-Rock and VK. Some people didn't think something like that was possible back then, because the market seemed so small. So, when I finally came up with the name, I tossed it by a few people to see what they thought. I was kind of "ehh" about it, but they seemed to like it. So, I went with Tainted Reality.
When did you start interviewing bands, and how did that come about?
My first interview with a band was with BLOOD on Bad Transitions. I never knew at the time that they had been to the US before, so when I first saw an article about them in Astan Magazine (A German Goth music publication), I thought to myself "Wow, here's a J-Rock band that's more interested in being known as a Goth band than a visual band!" I was immediately interested and looked up more info for the band and eventually came across Kiwamu's e-mail addy. I e-mailed him... and he never responded. About a month later, I decided to give it another shot, and he replied. We set up an interview, and my partner at the time, Andrew Wieler, and I asked the questions. We hyped that bitch up for a month, posting in every single Goth and j-rock community and publication we could find. It was a huge break for us, and brought in our first gigantic listenership. It was really cool, but a bit overwhelming at the same time.
BLOOD is now sponsored by TR, right? How did it progress to that? And how did you get involved with your other bands, Suicide Ali and The Candy Spooky Theater? Maybe sponsored isn't the right word--but when they come to the USA, you do all the organizing for their tours, right?
Yes. Basically, what happened was after the interview, Kiwamu and I kept in contact. We were talking about his PVs one night and I flat out told him "Your PVs are borderline embarrassing." He admitted to me that the PVs were an afterthought, and that the music and image came first. I told him to let me make one, as that's what I was going to college for. Our first attempt, which was to have them shoot band footage in Japan, and me shoot plot footage here, failed, as I had to reject the band footage due to overtly poor quality. I told him the only way it was going to be done right was if I could direct the whole thing, and they invited me on tour with them in Mexico to do it there. There I met Yuu of Suicide Ali, who was playing support guitar for them on that tour. Fu~ki and I came up with a killer PV concept too, but we were forced to cancel when Kiwamu got food poisoning.
A few months later, as Tainted Reality first started airing, Yuu and I were still pretty good friends, and I asked him if Suicide Ali wanted to be the first band interview on Tainted Reality. They were really excited and agreed. At the same time, BLOOD's US agent stepped down from her position, and asked me to fill her place. I agreed, but was kind of in over my head. I had never managed a band before, let alone one from half a world away. I spent the rest of that school year trying to book their first real US tour (at real live houses, not conventions). After two failed tour attempts, the third try was the charm. Even to this day, tour booking is probably the hardest thing I do, as many live venues don't have interest, are 18+ only, or don't even contact me back.
So you met Yuu of Suicide Ali when you were with BLOOD in Mexico. What about Candy Spooky Theater?
Candy was actually introduced to me through Kiwamu. At the time, I was looking for new talent to bring to the US, as Suicide Ali was unavailable. I was first introduced to ZULL, who was an amazing fellow, then Peggy and Jack soon afterwards. We immediately started negotiating a US tour, and before I knew it, they were signed on with us.
You said the hardest part of managing the bands is finding a live house for the band. What's the hardest part once everything's been booked and you're on tour?
Being on time. We are notorious for being late everywhere, and it's always the same problem: Traffic. We always try to leave places almost an hour before we should, but somehow, traffic always fucks everyone's day up.
I remember reading in Kiwamu's blog, after this last BLOOD tour, that you forgot the map in New York, haha.
No, all I had were MapQuest directions, which were always sufficient for me, but the hotel we were staying at was really hidden. We had eight people traveling with us, and we all drove by the thing eight times before we finally found it! But just for the record, that was the one show that entire tour we were on time for.
Got any other interesting stories from tours or even interviews to share?
We had some down time with Candy Spooky in Boston, and Nancy showed the band Happy Tree Friends. Zull didn't like it, but Peggy was almost hypnotized. Like he just saw the Holy Mother of God or something! He was completely in a trance and demanded that we show him more of this cartoon. This literally went on for hours. I think that's Peggy's new favorite show!
Haha, I've seen that show...its gruesome!
I guess that just goes to show you how his mind works.
I suppose so! Kiwamu has a bit of a reputation of having a temper, has that ever caused a problem for you? Or was his reaction to the bad sound at the Knitting Factory this time the only time he's gotten angry while on tour with you?
That was the only time he lost it on a tour I organized.
That must mean you're doing a great job!
Does it? (laughs)
I hope so! Ok, switching gears a bit. Tainted Reality, as a radio show, has come a long way, especially recently. You now have your own internet radio network, with purple SKY editors Boo and Crank doing a show on Tuesdays, your regular show on Thursdays, and a talk show on Fridays. Also, you've teamed up with JRock Revolution for the JRock Revolution Reports. Did you ever imagine, when you started Tainted Reality, that it would come this far?
I don't want to sound like I'm full of myself or something, but I always wanted Tainted Reality to bloom into something like this. It's all about improving the original formula, winning over new fans, and creating more opportunities for people to experience J-Rock in the US. Honestly, I still think there is much more work we have to do.
Well, there's certainly room to grow yet! Was that why you started the internet radio network, so Tainted Reality could bloom more? Or are there other reasons?
That was part of it. The biggest reason was because WIXQ didn't broadcast during the summer. This always hurt us as many fans would forget about us over the summer, so we had to almost always start from scratch. And also, I recently had to drop out of college, so if we didn't have the internet radio network, it would put the radio incarnation of Tainted Reality into indefinite hiatus.
How have things been doing since then? Have you had any serious problems since you launched the internet radio network?
Well, the biggest issue is finding funding. So far, the whole network, including server fees and licensing, are coming out of my pocket. We are currently trying to find sponsors, and after the other staffers nagged me enough, we started taking donations via Paypal on our website. I also want to try to find other talent to produce quality J-Rock programming so we could broadcast more than three times a week.
What sort of things are you looking for to fill in the other days of the week?
That would be up to the producers of the shows. But I would like some variety in the program. We already have Wild Zero which is a variety program, Tainted Reality which is a request program, and the talk show which speaks for itself. I would like someone to try and approach me with an original idea. Yes, this is an open casting call!
(laugh) Maybe someone from another part of the country besides the east coast? That would definitely affect the diversity of the show, don't you think?
Definitely. That's the beauty of the internet, distance doesn't matter. Take myself for example. I have never been to Japan. So, if anyone out west has ideas, by all means, e-mail them to us.
Speaking of ideas, whose idea was it to team up with JRock Revolution for the JRock Revolution Reports? How did that come about?
JRock Revolution actually approached us about the idea. They are trying to further innovate the J-Rock scene like we are. So, when they approached us about the idea, we were more than happy to help out. They are a fine group of dedicated individuals, and I enjoy working with them a lot.
Good, good. What about you, how do you plan for your shows? What do you do to prepare for going on air?
For a normal Tainted Reality airing, honestly, not much prep at all since the fans pretty much entirely choose the playlist. I try to keep the talking to a minimum there, with a "Just play the music, damnit" mentality. The talk show is another story. We struggle to come up with fresh topics to talk about every week, and get interesting co-hosts (usually via phone). However, our biggest talk show yet was actually made up 10 minutes before we went on air, and that was our paranormal show.
Haha, stories of the Mothman and the Jersey Devil, and UFOs and all that jazz!
And Peggy abducting a Jersey Devil.
Yes! What about the rest of the Tainted Reality staff? Who are they, how did you meet them, and what parts do they play with Tainted Reality?
The staff mostly came together before the first BLOOD tour, with the exception of Charles, who was there from the beginning, but recently stepped down. We have Nancy who is our Promotions Manager, Gin who is our Production Assistant, Maria who doubles as our art director and webmistress, and our translators Kendra and Becky. We also have people who help us out on tour, Alwin, Matt, Kerry, and Trish, and also Juan Monarez who designed the Tainted Reality symbol. Basically, I met all of them through constant networking in the J-Rock scene.
So...what is Tainted Reality to you, personally?
J-Rock Entertainment. Pure and simple.
And where are you planning to go with it now? What's the next big goal for Tainted Reality?
It's a secret. But it involves a new band.
Oh...so you have some surprises in store for JRock fans in the near future?
Well, I guess we shouldn't sell ourselves short. Along with that, we have a couple of other tours in the works, as well as another CD we're producing, similar to Darkest Labyrinth.
Sounds good! Anything else you'd like to say?
Yeah, I want to thank all of the fans that support us, and everyone that helps out with Tainted Reality. None of this would be possible without them, and Chuck Norris.
Shouldn't Chuck Norris be thanked first, not last?
Ya know... someone tried to put Chuck Norris first on a list. This is what happened to him: http://norriscarkick.ytmnd.com/
(laugh) Okay! Thank you!
interview by Melony; photo by Claire Kirby
links
Tainted Reality Website
Tainted Reality MySpace
Tainted Reality LiveJournal
The JRock Revolution Report presented by Tainted Reality
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