The Glasgow PodcART

It is no secret that Glasgow Podcart have been a fan and followed Song, By Toad since our early days. As a well respected site run by Matthew Young & Co through in Edinburgh, Song, By Toad produces a regular podcast, reviews, live sessions and a record label.

Wedensday May 19^th sees Song, By Toad’s first Glasgow showcase happening in Mono. Meursault, Loch Lomond and Jonnie Common will all be performing and we are extremely excited. Our next podcast will have a track from each of the artists, but we were also lucky enough to have a chat with the man himself!

Halina: Please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about Song, By Toad?  

Matthew: Hmm, Song, by Toad is probably what you’d call a ‘music blog with a lot of extras’, I suppose.  I do a bit of everything – reviews, editorial, interviews, unrelated blethering, podcasts, live video, video interviews, live Toad Sessions, a radio show on Fresh Air Radio here in Edinburgh, occasional gig promotion, live-broadcast house gigs, and I’ve written for a couple of other places very occasionally as well, like The Scotsman, Drowned in Sound and the Skinny. 

And there’s the record label of course, which is a whole other matter.  It’s like I’m on a one-man mission to commit suicide by exhaustion within the next year or so.  I’ll be going full time sometime this summer though, so we should at least get a little bit of our lives back then.  Hopefully.

How long has it been running for and who else is involved?  

Hmm, Song, by Toad didn’t really leap into existence per se.  I started writing about music on the internet in 2004 as a way of letting my little brother know what stuff I was into.  I’d upload a bit of chat and a couple of mp3s to a password protected folder on my personal website, and he’d download it in Boston. 

I don’t think he really bothered that much though, but I continued writing, and it slowly turned into a series of album reviews.  It stayed like this on my static site (which no-one read) for a couple of years, until a friend introduced me to the Hype Machine, and I suddenly realised what a music blog was and that I was actually already writing one.

I transferred everything to a blog site in 2006, and since then I have added podcasts, interviews, live video sessions and, as of late 2008, a record label as well.  It was never exactly the plan to get in this deep, but it’s all become rather overwhelming, and having your own independent enterprise which is entirely your baby is kind of addictive.

In terms of involvement, the least obvious and most important is definitely Mrs. Toad.  She gave me the start up funds for the label, firstly, but most importantly she has allowed me to devote more time and energy to it than anyone else in the world would ever tolerate.  I am rarely ever in bed before 3am and no wife I know would be able to handle that kind of absentee-husbandry, never mind encourage it.  Oh, and she maintains discipline too – sort of the Malcolm Tucker of Song, by Toad.

Dylan Matthews is pretty much the official photographer, as well as being the Sunday Editor, tasked with getting  new and interesting people to write things on Sundays when I can’t be arsed writing anything myself.  Matthew Swan helps out with Toad Sessions, and nasty repetitive PR jobs from time to time, and Neil Pennycook helps us record and mix Toad Sessions. 

To be honest though, the biggest difference to the site is probably made by the loons who comment on it as regularly as they do.  It completely changes the atmosphere of the place and makes it miles, miles better to read if you ask me.  I think our longest ever comment thread topped 200, which is just nuts for a tiny blog.

When did this love of writing about and broadcasting music start?  

Hmm, no idea.  I’ve absolutely always written though, so I suppose you could say I’ve always been a writer, not in terms of some God-given talent, but in terms of the urge to write things down and try and put thoughts into words which has been with me as long as I can remember.

I’ve always been into music too, and used to spend hours recording mix tapes from vinyl records, but I never thought to put the two together.  I wrote a website for my football team when I was living down South and one of the other guys asked me to put an album review on the site for some inexplicable reason.  I think that was the first time the seed was planted.  It was a review of The Stills’ first album, if memory serves.

What album do you always go back to time and time again no matter what?  

Anything by Tom Waits – doesn’t matter what. 

You also run Song, By Toad Records, how do you decide which artists to work with?  

I guess I think of it in terms of a collection.  If it’s something I would be thrilled to have on the label then I’ll offer to release it, irrespective of commercial potential, which really doesn’t matter to me.  I am confident that my taste is inherently mainstream enough that if I just release what I really like, enough people will agree with me often enough to make the label as a whole commercially viable, provided we’re sensible about it.

You are putting your first Glasgow Song, By Toad night on at Mono. What artists are playing and why choose these ones to showcase?  

Well Loch Lomond are travelling over from the States, and we basically put this gig on so they’d have a couple of shows to play. I asked Meursault because they are easily our biggest draw, and putting on a gig in a new city where I don’t know as many people and am not really as much a part of the musical community I figured they were our best chance of not having an empty room!  Jonnie Common is playing because his band, Inspector Tapehead, are releasing their debut album on Song, by Toad Records in August, but unfortunately they couldn’t all make it.  Besides, he’s a good friend and a talented wee bastard.

We feel there has been a significant shift in the Scottish music network over the last year or so and people are working a lot more closely to expose music then competing. Did you also feel this shift and what has been the best thing to happen in the last year?  

I definitely do feel this shift.  I think it’s down to increasing fan control of media, and the massive dilution of commercial imperatives, which gives the amateur press a refreshing independence. Also, the internet means we are aware of the fact that we aren’t working in a vacuum, which is encouraging, and network effects mean that, generally speaking, a rise in status for one of us helps everyone, so why be jealous of other people’s achievements?

What piece of advice would you give to anyone that wants to start their own site writing about music?  

JFDI!  Just Fucking Do It!  Start on a free service, have a go for a few months, and if it seems like something you are enjoying and getting something from you can keep going.  Not many people will read your early stuff, unless you’re some kind of black-belt publicity whore, so the slow build-up of readership will give you time to develop.  Also, most blog stuff is pretty throwaway, so it doesn’t matter if it’s not great to begin with – you’ll get better a lot faster by just doing it than you will by agonising over it forever.  This applies to absolutely everything, incidentally, not just writing.  Less talking, thinking and planning, more just fucking getting on with it, please!

Finally, we know you also produce podcasts. We are huge fans and this is how we discovered you. What is your favourite podcast to date?

Hmm, don’t know.  The best in terms of being an actual piece of reasonable quality journalism was the Playing With the Past one I think.  I love the anti-Valentines ones with Mrs. Toad because they’re just silly, and the Poofcast was an inspired piece of unhinged ranting.  I dunno though, I don’t really worry about the podcasts all that much – it’s just me talking pish to myself in an empty living room, remember.

Halina Rifai

Song, By Toad Glasgow Showcase takes place in Mono Weds 19th tickets are available: HERE or on the door!

For more information on Song, By Toad please visit their beautiful website: HERE!