Tin Can Chronicles Gives East Coast Musicians Their Due

A Saint John music podcast co-created and hosted by artist manager, Peter Rowan and actor, playwright and radio host, Neil Bonner is introducing people to talented local musicians spanning multiple genres in the East Coast music scene.

Rowan came up with the idea of doing the Tin Can Chronicles podcast last year when he was “yelling at the East Coast Music Hour,” and sharing his thoughts and frustrations on social media about the challenges imposed on East Coast music.

“It’s always been frustrating when you work in the music business on the East Coast and if you’re not working in traditional genres,” says Rowan.  “There’s always been a very frustrating lack of access to media and resources, certainly relative to the amount of impact and creation.”

After the Internet responded back with, “Why not make a podcast?” he ran with the idea and began pursuing funding and thinking of people he wanted to work with.  Bonner is a native of Saint John who Rowan had seen performing and knew through the music scene.

The podcast, only on episode three, received grants and support from the Canada Council and Music NB.  Paying artists for playing and using their music in Tin Can Chronicles’ “Locals Covering Locals” segment was incredibly important to Rowan and Bonner.

“We can just basically say ‘Thanks, we want to feature your music, we want to use it on the podcast and we’re going to pay a little bit of money,” said Rowan.  “The fact that we’re acknowledging that there’s a value to this is really super important to us.”

“The great thing about it is what you need to do one is much more accessible than say even doing a radio show or something like that, you can just sort of do it on your own time and in your own way, however you’d like to do it, about whatever you’d like to do it about” said Bonner.

The hosts had minimal podcasting background prior to Tin Can Chronicles – Bonner had some experience while Rowan had none.

Monetization and sustainability are important factors for Tin Can Chronicles and the larger podcast medium.

“We paid our studio, we paid Weaver Crawford Design, it’s just such a pleasure to do something like this and actually pay people for their services,” said Rowan.  “It’s gratifying as an organization, and I know it’s gratifying and on the receiving end of it when you’re just sort of like ‘Hey, we’d like you to do this job for us, and this is what we can pay you, is this okay?’, and then actually pay them.”

The podcast is recorded at the Broadview Wind Tunnel, the studio of Monopolized Records, which is owned by Corey Bonnevie, a producer and audio engineer and recorder, and member of Little You, Little Me.

“I knew that we were going to be able to put ourselves in a position where we could do pretty good recordings so that we sound good, that we don’t make it harder for someone to like what we do by sounding poorly,” said Rowan.

“The work he’s done on the live recordings we’ve made at ‘Locals Covering Locals’ segments are just fantastic, top notch, really truly professional,” adds Bonner.  “It inspires us to bring our respective A-Games to the podcast.”

Rowan says the music industry is waking up to the potential of podcasts and how people are gravitating toward the medium.

“It’s still a little bit of a Wild West, in terms of its relationship with the industry standards because the usage of music usually involves some sort of fee or a payment or a license,” he explained “In some ways they’re still trying to figure it out, but I think it’s huge.”

“I think that people are really digging deep into it in a way that they maybe weren’t before this pandemic started as well,” adds Bonner, saying people want to listen to more long-form programming and have more time for entertainment because of lockdown.

Their upcoming third episode being released on April 27 will feature new tracks from East Coast acts, Fishstixx, The Virals and Stephen Hero & Brydon Crain, with “Locals Covering Locals” segments featuring performances by artists Adam K, and Juniper.

“Part of doing the podcast is to try to build the ecosystem so that when we are back to a world of more ‘normal,’ that the support of local music and local art will have had chance to maybe sustain itself,” said Rowan.

This story was originally published on Huddle.Today – an Acadia Broadcasting Limited content partner.