Recently James Hickman from LARS Promotions interviewed Jay Bull from our partners; Metal Meyhem Radio. Heres what he had to say:
JAMES: Would you be so kind as to tell us what Metal Meyhem Radio is About?
JAY: Metal Meyhem Radio is an Active Rock Format Internet radio station. It focuses on two cross genres, Rock and Metal, and looks to promote up and coming bands, either signed to independent labels or unsigned, by helping to give them a platform to be heard amongst some of the more established bands that we all know and love.
JAMES: Where did the idea for a the station come from?
JAY: Good question! As a child radio intrigued me, I remember recording the Sunday chart show onto cassette and editing out the DJ and recording my own voice instead. What really sparked my interest as an adult, was attending a live broadcast of Power in the Park in the early 1990s, and being really intrigued how they streamed it all back to the studio to go out live on air. That then inspired me to get involved with the group that initially started the RSL for Radio Bognor. Long story short, Radio Bognor eventually won a full commercial licence from Ofcom and morphed into what we now know as Spirit FM.
     However radio in the UK was, and still is based around the Commercial Hit Radio format (Capital), or Adult Contemporary (Heart), nothing really catered for an alternative Rock/ Metal audience, and a couple of visits to the U.S. really highlighted that....a 'local' station may be a Rock Station, or even a Country or Hip-hop Station....I wanted to make that difference in the UK.
    I looked to set up a station around 5 years ago after initially starting Metal Meyhem as a live event. Unfortunately due to personal circumstances the timing wasn't right. However, in 2016 Metal Meyhem had a regular spot in a pub in Littlehampton, in which it did get a regular following...including my son, that is also into Hard Rock and Metal...growing up in my household, it was no surprise! Almost tragically, he had a serious bike accident. Whilst visiting him in hospital, I was thinking of a way that he could still virtually attend, and went away looking for a way to stream it so he could listen in. This was on Friday evening, Monday evening he was tuned in!
    Initially the server we started using just streamed repeats of the playlist used on the live night, but didn't go unnoticed by the some of the first bands that started our 'Promoted Bands'. This then led us to look at upgrading the broadcast server, as it was a limited use one. We did this and noticed more and more bands making contact, and upgraded again earlier this year.
    Music has always been an important part of my life, having been in bands myself, and will always be at the forefront of everything I do.
JAMES: How many listeners do you get?
JAY: We regularly have around 200k log in's to our steam every month.
JAMES: How long has MMR been going?
JAY: The Metal Meyhem name started around 8 years ago as a live event, but as a radio station it has been On Air for around 10 months.
JAMES: We see from your website you have a promoted bands section, how does a band get featured there?
JAY: Fairly easily actually. We have a direct submissions page on the website metalmeyhemradio.com/submit and on our Facebook page. We also recently partnered up with musicSUBMIT.com where you can also sign up with them for a small fee, and they will submit your details to radio stations.
    But in either case, what we request is a good quality .mp3 file(s) 192k minimum, a detailed bio, and all available links to website, social and Amazon/ iTunes pages... the more detail the better, potential fans want to know a lot more about you than; "We sound like Stone Sour"
JAMES: You have recently partenered with the Littlehampton Alternative Rock Society, how did that come about?
JAY: By mutual friends and members, and a shared mission...to bring new original music to the forefront. The rest of the L.A.R.S. team used to attend the Metal Meyhem nights, so we met then! But already we realised that our ideas were the same, so it seemed a natural fit that we work together.
JAMES: What's it been like working with them?
JAY: It's been a lot of fun, and satisfying that as a partnership, we can offer many up and coming local bands a platform, to both perform in front of a crowd, but to also get their music heard by a worldwide audience, live on the night, as well as appearing as a regular in the 'Promoted Bands' rotation on MMR... as well as profile pages on both websites. There aren't many promoters that offer the same!
JAMES: Where do you see the station going in the next few years?
JAY: Where I'd like to see it go, is recognised as 'the' platform that new bands get heard, and where listeners automatically go to to hear their new favourite band! I'd like to see a dedicated studio complex so that we can actually invite the bands to come to, to give live interviews...
JAMES: Where would you like to see L.A.R.S. then?
JAY: As we are now, standing side-by-side, doing what we are doing now, but bigger.... being the promoter bands turn to to get seen by a live crowd, and being able to offer options, a small venue for band that hasn't yet established a live presence, as well as bigger venues for bigger bands, and playing a part in helping get bands noticed to a live audience.
JAMES: Anything exciting in the pipeline for the immediate future?
JAY: We have just started a re-brand which better aligns us better with our On Air sound. We have also started a 'home grown' radio show in The Active Rock Chart which airs on Mondays at 7pm, and we have been speaking with the guys that produce the Metal Mayhem radio show about carrying that..but things in radio land are fast moving,  so you never know when the next big announcement will be made!
JAMES: Thanks for talking to us Jay. We look forward to seeing you at the next LARS event!
JAY: Thank you, it will be a great night and we at MMR are really looking forward to it!
Thank you to Metal Meyhem Radio for takling to us. Metal Meyhem Radio can be found online at http://www.metalmeyhemradio.com/ or downloaded their app to your smartphone or tablet FREE from the relevent stores.
This Article was writen by James Hickman for LARSPromotions.com
©LARS Promotions 2017.
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