Music Podcaster - Darkcompass Rowley Cutler MiniInterview
Rowley Cutler produces the long running British show Darkcompass, and more recently Darkcompass Metal Show. Here is Rowley’s 5-Question MiniInterview…
When & why did you begin podcasting?
Back in December 2004 - I was sitting in a bedsit in Birkenhead, spending too much time doing nothing other than work. I was watching The Culture Show on the BBC when an article came up about podcasting. Adam Curry was being interviewed, and at the end of the snippet the
reporter said. Only time will tell if this is a fad or the future of media. I thought - I have the kit, why not. So I made my first podcast on the 14th of December 2004 I made my first show, introducing myself and what I plan to do with this new medium. Of course that never happened - it has become the show it has become today, dedicated to the only other love to my family - music, and comment. I suppose Adam Curry is my inspiration - I thought if he could do it so could I. I was called two weeks later after starting my show from Paul Nichols - Podcast Paul, asking me how to do it, I was still learning, but I explained it all and how to do it, and that knowledge was pushed onto Richard Vobes, who’s now probably one of the most prolific UK podcasters.
What is the most significant thing to happen to you personally as a direct result of producing your podcast?
I have spilled my heart out on podcasts in the past, all through my diagnosis or MS and into my depression. Podcasting became an obsession, even though I took almost 2 months off in 2006, it’s a good feeling that my thoughts on music and UK current affairs has enlightened others.
One of the best things is listeners experiencing music from other countries. One instance was I played a band called Julia’s Window from Finland. Who in fact is still one of my favourites. A listener in California contacted me and asked how to contact the band. He wanted to play a track on a DVD he was making of EXTREME QUADBIKING. I gave him the info, and about a month later a DVD came through the post of the biking. Sure enough half way through Julia’s Window was in it. Now, that would not have happened if I had not played their music on my podcast. It made me feel good inside, it still does.
What podcasts, if any, do you regularly listen to or watch?
Too many, I have around 50 in iTunes. Podcasting my preferred method of listening to music, tech news, to relax (with a good audio book, like Table Rappers) life, the universe and everything. Faves are PCPodcast, Ourobouros, This Week in Tech (as well as MacBreak and
Windows Weekly), Geek Brief TV, PodfinderUK, really too man to mention here.
As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
I wanted to be a teacher, strangely enough. It’s not panned out that way, well not really. I work in IT, the web at the moment, but I’ve done things all over - right down to plugging in network cables right up to Project Management for multi million pound installations all over the world. Every time, teaching people the do’s and don’ts of IT, so in an indirect way I’m teaching. I suppose in podcasting I’m teaching people about new music and how the world works. Thinking of it that way - hell I am a teacher!
What does the future hold for you and your show(s)?
I am going to continue enlightening or teaching people the ways of new music not just through DarkCompass, but also now through my METAL show. I am sure there is more development to come - the wonders of this medium of audio/video is that it is constantly evolving, and I’m
sure DarkCompass will develop along with it. I’ve not done a Video Podcast yet - so maybe that’s something I need to start looking at. All this is still new, 3 years of podcasting for me is early days.
