Photo by RKNPHOTO
Presley interviews Kenny Williamson.
Three years ago, when Shane Presley answered a call to a post put out by his friend, Chris Bumeter, to start a podcast, he thought it’d be the perfect way to continue growing the small local music blog he’d started. After Bumeter had to leave the podcast, Presley decided to keep going, and 428 episodes of Rock Paper Podcast later, he’s got no plans to stop. The show is Presley’s way of marrying his passions of music and musicians who are based in or come through the city. No genre of music is off the table for him - He’s talked with everyone from bluesmen Alonzo Townsend and Marquise Knox to singer songwriters such as Cara Wegner and Beth Bombara.
“Meeting people has always been one of my favorite parts. It’s been incredibly rewarding in that sense of making lifelong friends throughout this whole thing. I get free shirts or CDs and tickets and things, and those are all great, but you can’t put a price on these friendships I’ve made over the years,” Presley says.
Just coming off of his anniversary show at The Firebird, Presley, who also works at Broadway Oyster Bar (An amazing coup to his affinity for live shows) talks about the bonds he’s made that go beyond the show, his dream guest, and supporting St. Louis music.
You’ve got 428 episodes under your belt! Do you worry you’ll ever run out of musicians?
There’s always new talent coming up, which is always exciting, but people [who’ve been on the show before] hit me up a year later with a new record or a big show to promote, so it’s always fun to circle back around and catch up later down the road. And the show constantly is evolving and expanding. More people want to get involved, so I’m even getting national acts and different people reaching out, wanting to be part of the show. I’ve had Lincoln Durham, he’s a singer/songwriter from Texas, on the show awhile back, my friend Patrick Sweany.
A lot of these guys I’ve developed a personal relationship with, just being a fan and following them around for several years. They’re not from St. Louis—just in town for the show for the night and we end up getting together and recording. I also just recorded with this group called Civil Youth from Pennsylvania. It’s a lot of fun meeting people from all over the country.
Who’s a new cool artist we need to listen to?
There’s this group, Discrepancies. They’re kind of hip hop/rock. They put out a record called The Awakening in 2016 and probably my favorite album of the year for rock, for sure. Just an incredible album but their live energy at a show is unmatched, and they’re definitely somebody to keep an eye on.
Do you have a favorite interview that you’ve done?
I’m a big fan of singer/songwriters, so those are always a lot of fun for me just to have somebody come on with an acoustic guitar and tell me stories behind the songs. I did one with Jackson Howard, Anthony Doria, and Drew Lance. They kind of did a song swap back and forth where they just sat around and played songs and talked about them. It was a lot of fun to be around these guys playing - that whole back porch, pickin’ thing.
How do you process all the music you consume?
It’s just something that I truly love. It’s hard to put into words what it means to me or what it does. It is a drug, in a sense. I’ve never done drugs, but I feel this sense of euphoria by being around great live music and just being around people and dancing and having a good time. It’s not even just the music, it’s the whole energy that’s created in the room by being around like minded people that want to have a good time and listen to music.
A big part of why I started working at Broadway Oyster Bar was because I wanted to be around the music more, but between working there and supporting my friends I try to [see shows] several times a week. On Friday, Saturday night I might go to two or three shows if the timing works out. A lot of times it works out nicely if I can go to an early show at The Pageant or Delmar Hall, then I’ll head over to Broadway Oyster Bar or Beale on Broadway and catch a later show.
What do you like most about podcasting?
What I love about podcasting is that I can do the show when I want, where I want. I think a lot of the beauty of my show is that I do a lot of these recordings on site at band practice, or I’ve recorded at Taco Bells and Denny’s, mall food courts, Steve's Hot Dogs, in a minivan—all kinds of random places. Wherever I can get a mic set up. There’s something about that compared to sitting in a studio all the time. I just feel like this is a lot more rewarding - plus I like that it’s uncensored and unedited and I can be my own boss and do what I want and have some fun with it.
What would you like to do with the show in the future?
I keep saying I’m going to ride this wave and see where it takes me. I’m having an incredible time doing the show as it is, but ultimately the big ending goal would be to own my own venue or do something like that to where I can give all these people a space to play. I think that would be a lot of fun. I feel like it kind of a ll goes hands in hand—all the networking I’ve done with the show and the people I’ve met, hopefully someday I can tie all my strings together and make something happen.
Find Rock Paper Podcast on the web, on Facebook, and on Twitter.
