So You Want to be a Star on Garagerocktopia Radio...

Back when we began this humble little blog some years ago, we could barely get anyone to pay attention to us. Very few artists would talk to us, nobody read the blog, and we were just one speck of billions wafting through the reaches of the internet. But, we hung in there, we kept doing what we do, and over time, we’ve made a few people take notice.

Mind you, we’re not ready to label ourselves “influencers” or anything like that, nor is that at all what we’re after. Mission number one has always been, and remains, to feature music we find that we think is very cool, give more information about it to whomever will listen, get word out about these great artists as best we can, and hope that others think it’s really cool, too.

Along the way. the blog has too many pinch me moments to list here, but whether it’s the proto-punk of The Dictators, or old-school Garage Rock like The Standells or The Shadows of Knight, or new school powerhouses like The Bell-Rays, or Power Pop legends like the Flamin’ Groovies, or hard-rocking Mod bands like Chris Pope and the Chords UK, or far too many others to name, we have assembled here a veritable encyclopedia of amazing music, one that continues to grow all the time.

But just as important to note, there was never a requirement that an artist or a band had to have any kind of legend status. While many of the bands and artists featured on the blog have carved out what we feel to be their own bits of history, we have also always been about spreading the word about newer bands and newer artists as well, bands and artists who carry on the grand tradition of rock and roll made by people who love rock and roll for people who love rock and roll. Peruse the contents of this blog and you’ll find no shortage of artists richly deserving of far wider accolades.

Little more than a year ago, we launched Garagerocktopia Radio. The growth of that program has been slow and steady, which brings us to the point of this post: word has gotten out about what we’re doing, and artists are responding. Add to that a listing on the Radio Indie Alliance, no small part of our growth, and we seem to be gathering a little more attention these days.

We continue to want to be a showcase for newer artists and help them become the legends of tomorrow. But, with just a flood of submissions, we realized there has to be a few -- and we do mean just a few ground rules, and thought it might be helpful to let you know what we look for here.

First suggestion: before sending your music, give the show a quick listen. You can always tune in live on alternating Tuesday nights on KUCR radio, 88.3 FM in Riverside. The station does have a fine audio link. But, with the internet, and its potential worldwide audience, that may not be practical. While we think we’re plenty worthy of staying up late (or getting up super early) for, we don’t want you to be sleep deprived, so you can also tune in to our Mixcloud page, where we post both Garagerocktopia Radio and our Blues Show, Blue Mood.

We’re not music snobs. We love all kinds of music, be it rap, country, or whatever. But, as distasteful as the word “format” has always been to us, we gotta stick to the rules just a bit. Give the show a listen and you’ll find it’s a very wide variety of music. But, as fun as free-for-alls are in pro wrestling, for radio, it doesn’t fly nearly so well.

Please skip sending us links to streaming music services or streaming video sites. We simply do not have time to chase down every link. If you want to submit music to us, please just submit music. Also, make sure your music is fully tagged. We want to make sure we get all names and all titles correct.

Also, please include all the pertinent information: bio, names of band members, who plays what, and we particularly like to know where the band is based. We don't want to say you're from Philly if you're actually from Edinburgh.

And while this has not been too much of an issue, remember, we do broadcast on terrestrial radio and as such, there are rules about naughty words. They sure don’t offend us in any way, but the FCC smells a big fat fine -- and perhaps a license revocation -- every time a potty-mouth lyric airs. Besides that, we ourselves are in the education field (interestingly, teachers seem to be one of the most common professions amongst artists sending music to us) and we want the kids to be able to listen -- and maybe develop a love of rock and roll like we did. So, please keep the edits radio friendly.

A couple of other points: from day one, we noticed that cool music is being made quite literally everywhere. While we never expected all of the music we play on the show would come from North America or the UK, it has amazed us just how every corner of the globe (that doesn’t really make sense, does it…?) has more cool music going on than they know what to do with.

And speaking of more than we know what to do with, we get a lot of music, and we do listen to everything that comes in. Nothing just gets thrown away or deleted without a listen. While we can guarantee that part, with just a two hour show, we simply cannot guarantee airplay. Believe me, deciding what to play and not to play is often an agonizing choice, but even if what you're sending us is a perfect fit, we can't make any assurances.

We have exactly zero requirement that the music be in English, and in fact, we’re hoping to be able to feature some of the truly awesome Spanish-language music being made all over Latin America and Spain. We know the French-speaking world is much the same. But in fact, it’s clear that when it comes to cool music, there are no language barriers. If there are any Mongolian Mod bands out there -- we’re waiting to hear from you. Yes, you can sing about Genghis Khan if you want -- if it's cool, we'll play it!

We at Garagerocktopia have always appreciated the music we cover. In normal times, it has often been a wonderful pick-me-up or an essential component in keeping us going during our work days. But, in the time of this pandemic, as well as social and political turmoil, this music has most certainly helped prevent us from losing our marbles. There have been several social media memes saying how, in effect, these times have shown us how pop stars aren’t so important.

We strongly disagree. Whatever music, be it the kinds of music we feature on the blog or the mega-big pop, country and rap stars, we think the often-dark times of the last four years has more than reinforced just how important music is in our lives, just how critical it is in keeping us alive (which sadly, so many were not able to stay), and diverting us from hopelessness.

Garagerocktopia Radio does not pretend to be any kind of lifeline or any kind of essential service. All we’re here to do is help introduce people to cool artists and cool music. It’s not much, but we think every little bit helps, and this is our two cents.

Don't Forget to listen to Garagerocktopia Radio, alternating with Blue Mood, Tuesday nights on KUCR Radio, 88.3 FM Riverside, California, where you can hear artists like Reptilians From Andromeda, plus many others who have appeared on our hallowed pages and whose music has inspired us. Can't tune in live? No problem! head over to Mixcloud and catch the show there.

We have some other features already in the works here at Garagerocktopia. Artists have been sending us some very cool stuff. As always, we don’t make any guarantees in stone but we’re happy to say we’ve gotten a lot of very promising music sent to us, and we’re always happy to spread the word about about bands that are playing the way-out kinds of music we profile here. Send us a line and we’ll talk.

Also, we do have a Facebook page for this blog. We don’t put personal stuff on it – no pictures of grandkids (which we don't have anyway) or our dinners or politics or anything like that. What we do post are announcements about upcoming features, maybe extra stuff about the bands, and any cool music, movies or TV Shows we stumble across that might have even the most tangential connection with the music featured here. While we don't spend all day thinking about it, we do like "likes"  and "follows" on both Facebook and Mixcloud if you're so inclined ...