This is the “Music & You” part of the interview conducted with Josh Roberts from Bandhack.

If you haven’t read it yet, the first part of the interview is here.

PART II

MUSIC & YOU

When did you become interested in music? What was the first album or single you ever purchased?

I started really getting interested in music around 6th grade which is probably a little later than most.  My first album was Schubert Dip by EMF and single was Slam by Onyx… don’t judge me!

Are you in a band yourself, or have you been in a band in the past? Is there a clip on YouTube or elsewhere we could watch?

I am not in a band currently.  I was in a pop/punk band in high school called Scastic9, but was forcibly removed due to lack of talent.  Luckily, there are no videos; however, I did recently run across a picture of us playing a show at a coffeehouse.  We weren’t wearing pants for some reason.

http://images.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources/UBLPORTRAITS/440561.jpg
I am the classy guy playing bass in the middle with my pants at my ankles.

Musical likes and dislikes? Favorite artists?

I’m all over the map with my taste in music.

I’m a big punk rock fan… one of my favorites is The Reaganomics, a Chicago punk band with Red Scare Industries.  I’m also currently listening to Cobra Skulls, and just about everything else that Red Scare puts out… also Groovie Ghoulies and Koffin Kats.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have an incredible soft spot for innovative acoustic guitarists… Michael Hedges, Adrian Legg, and Leo Kotke.  I’m also a huge Keller Williams fan. Continue reading →

Quite a juicy interview, this is the conversation I had with Josh Roberts from Bandhack (the directory for local bands & musicians recently reviewed on MusicKO). He makes a far share a valid points, especially as regards the future of Facebook and the role the Internet plays (and has played) in the distribution of music.

And don’t forget to read part 2 of this interview (“Music & You”).

Full Name: Josh Roberts
Age: 27
Startup: Bandhack.com
Position: Editor & CEO (Chief Ear-Candy Officer)

PART I

THE STARTUP

Tell us a little about your startup. How was it conceived? What are its most distinctive features in your opinion?

Bandhack.com is a website intended to serve as a directory for local band/musician Facebook pages.  Local artists connect their Facebook page to our site and we stream a consolidated view of band info, shows, photos, and videos.

The site was conceived by my partner in both business and crime, Clayton Pyrant, as well as my wife, Holly.  The idea actually came from a few too many rum-and-cokes as well as the frustration of trying to find local band pages.

If you want to fully understand the concept behind our site… go to Facebook and try to find a list of local shows or local bands in your area.  As soon you see that Facebook doesn’t offer a meaningful platform for doing such a thing, you’ll understand the gravity of what we’re trying to do.

The most distinctive feature is the connectivity.  There have been many other local band directories before us.  Most die off quickly, though, because their model requires bands to manually update info, shows, and other content.  Since Bandhack.com pulls its content directly from Facebook pages, all of our content will always be pertinent and up-to-date.

What was the original launch date?

The first band connected to our directory on December 28th, 2010.

What has been the response so far? What features have people requested?

The response has been great!  We’ve had a number of bands connect to our directory in the short amount of time we’ve had the site up.  We’ve also gotten some great feedback on our local artist reviews!

There are some really great local bands out there that no one’s ever heard of yet.  So we’re thrilled to be able to put them out there a little bit… and they seem to really appreciate it too.

We haven’t had too many requests for additional features; however, we have a pretty long list of things we’d like to do ourselves.  We just completed a major site redesign and are now working on developing in-house band profile pages and syndicating our calendar of local shows to other sites.  We’re also bringing on a really great amateur music writer to write news and reviews. Continue reading →