Howdy, I’m Kopper. For over 20 years I’ve been a punk/rock’n'roll music fan, promoter, ’zine publisher, writer, reviewer, photographer, organizer, record store worker, shit disturber, scenester, DJ, webmaster, and now, a “garage punk” blogger and podcaster.

What’s GaragePunk.com all about?

GaragePunk.com was originally set up back in June 2001 as the new home for my then-weekly radio program, The Wayback Machine (KDHX-FM 88.1 in St. Louis). Later, it got a lot of worldwide exposure because of the now-defunct GaragePunk.com Forums message board, which attracted a LOT of traffic to this site. Enough traffic, in fact, that I could begin selling banner ads to help pay for the rising hosting fees involved. After three years of having nothing more than a goofy pic and a “Pick Your Poison” menu on the root directory of GaragePunk.com, I realized I should do something more with the site, so I decided to turn it into an audioblog. Meanwhile, one of my oldest friends, Bill Streeter, thought it would be cool to start a music podcast on this site, and feature a rotating schedule of various garage/punk/rock’n'roll programs hosted by different people, kinda like a real radio station. This was all done with two major goals in mind: First and foremost, we wanted to try to do more to expose the music that we think is good (as well as featured on my radio show) but that most people have never heard simply because they don’t seek it out, have never been exposed to it before, or can’t hear my show for one reason or another. Secondly, to encourage each and every one of you to support your local independently owned record stores, mailorder sites, and especially the indie labels that produce the vast majority of music featured here.

What is Podcasting?

Podcasting is a term coined in 2004 when the use of RSS syndication technologies became popular for distributing audio content for listening on mobile devices and personal computers.

Basically, a podcast is a Web feed of audio or video files placed on the Internet for anyone to subscribe to. Podcasters’ websites also may offer direct download of their files, but the subscription feed of automatically delivering new content is what distinguishes a podcast from a simple download or real-time streaming.

Podcasting lets people create and upload their own audio programs on the Internet which can be downloaded to iPods and other mp3 players or listened to directly through Web browsers. The software applications also allow users to subscribe to their favorite podcasts and have them sent automatically to their players for listening at their convenience.

Podcasting has the power to turn anyone with a Web-connected PC and a microphone into a broadcasting personality, and RSS is the syndication standard publishers and their listeners use to distribute and download their latest audio recordings.

What’s covered by GaragePunk.com?

We listen to and feature an eclectic mix of genres in our podcasts, but will pretty much stick to stuff that we consider REAL rock’n'roll. With that in mind, we’ll cover anything we hear that is good—from traditional garage rock to trashy punk, surf/instro to rockabilly, ’60s garage to swamp rock, broken blues to greasy R&B, soul to funk, frat rock to psych, freakbeat to power pop, proto punk to new wave, noise to lounge/exotica—and anything in between. If you are an artist, label representative or publicist and would like to submit material for airplay/podcast play consideration, please contact me first. I may also occasionally post about B-movies, indie films, books, magazines, lowbrow/outsider art, cars, sports, politics, and various other trash culture topics.

Where can I buy records you feature?

Links to labels, artist websites, MySpace pages, or other places to purchase records or more tracks can be found right here on the site. Most of the time you can buy a copy directly from the label or artist. Just check the links in the sidebar on the right, which includes links to online shops that carry much of this stuff. Alternatively, you’re encouraged to shop and support your local independent record stores. If they don’t have what you’re looking for, ask them if they will order it for you. That way the money goes directly to the artists, indie labels, and independent record stores—and not to the local Megastore.

You may submit materials (CD, Vinyl, Cassette, DVD) for airplay/podcast play consideration to us. Please use the contact form to email me about it first, though.

Thanks for visiting. Come back often.