Interviews

Radiotakeover

Interview with Shawn Van Der Poel on Feb 5, 2004 by Archive Bot

Radiotakeover is doing their part in maintaining music business integrity. Dedicated to conducting business with punk rock ethics, //rto is one of the most successful and loyal companies to the genre of punk music. Still attending shows, founder Shawn Van Der Poel is just as passionate about music and the work he does as he ever has been. Thanks go out to Sean at Invisible Youth for hooking me up and of course to Shawn for taking the time to do this interview.

PB: Can you explain exactly what Radiotakeover is? I'm sure there are people out there who aren't clear about this.

Shawn: sure, we are an artists development company. Our focus is on developing and building young bands. We have 4 camps (divisions that do different types of artists development) right now: we have the website, that is our center, our core. We have a booking agency/video/marketing/technology. We are all under one roof.

PB: what are some of the day to day operations at //rto?

Shawn: keep the website up and always adding new music, managing a 200 person street team, booking over 30 full time bands around the world, and making dvds are the main operations on a day to day. The most important is having fun.

PB: who are some of the clients you currently have?

Shawn: we work with bands and labels big and small. The booking agency has bands like Thursday, Coheed and bands like Spitalfield. The promotions company works mostly with developing smaller acts like the Beautiful Mistake, Spitalfield, Anatomy of a Ghost and the AKA’s.

PB: and how do you go about in gaining clients?

Shawn: we do a great job for the ones we have... and others just seem to call us... its kind of strange... but I think that indie labels have such tight budgets to work with that they can’t afford a total marketing department. They can use us. It started with the tours that we would book. We noticed that promoters were having a tough time booking smaller acts so we would take 4 bands that we would love to work for... bands that maybe never toured before... and put together a tour and call them radiotakeover tours to help bands "get out of the gate."

PB: you started //rto with Eric, Mike and Todd in 1999; what were some of the influences or inspirations behind starting such a project?

Shawn: hated working for software companies and loved hardcore... I have been going to shows since 1989 and would do anything to make it my life. We wanted to build something that did not exist and people could hear bands from all over the world for free.
Open kids up to new styles of music... and build a community.

PB: congratulations on your success so far by the way.

Shawn: thanks - I just think of us as part of a bigger family and that our success is also yours and other people that run punk rock websites.

PB: "punk rock ethics" is an ambiguous term to use. What do you mean by this?

Shawn: just looking out for one another and not letting the "business men of the world try to take over.” Running it with the old school punk rock ideas. We love what we do this is why we work here.

PB: is it really work then or is it a hobby?

Shawn: well I will say - its a ton of work… on a hobby…

PB: right-o that makes sense.

Shawn: I would have never thought running a company would be so much work. I never sleep -- 1 hour cat naps on the couch in the office a night. I work 24 hours in a row and not even think about it... because I love what I do. And if this weren’t a real job I would do it anyway.

PB: how involved or connected are you with your clients?

Shawn: very... I got to the shows... I hang with them… I go to every meeting I can... I love everything we do here... and try to be a part of everything that goes on.

PB: isn't it difficult to spread all of the Shawn love since there are so many clients?

Shawn: haha yea tell me about it.

PB: no wonder you don't get sleep.

Shawn: yup sleep... is highly over rated. You only need 3 one-hour naps per 24 hours and I am fine.

PB: you've mentioned the other branches to //rto; Face the Music being one of them. Are the remaining branches formally known under other names?

Shawn: yea I broke it up like that to help give focus for clients but we have Highroller Studios. We have done the Hellfest dvds and the New England Metal Fest. We did the Lamb of God dvd, Converge, tons of them.

PB: Ok so let's talk about the office environment. What's it like there?

Shawn: no shoes - dogs - and a bunch of kids under 30 with tattoos and punk rock hair cuts.

PB: is that a given, no shoes?

Shawn: hell yea its a sock only policy. But we are very serious and work hard and are very focused. If we were not we would have been out of business the first year in.

PB: "I was that kid in the lunch room with the Dungeon & Dragons books, the kid that would think about what countries I was going to takeover next in the game of Risk" (a quote from your bio) Let's be honest here Shawn, were you really like that in high school?

Shawn: yea, for the time I was in high school. I dropped out my second year. I love D&D. I still play with old nerd friends from high school. I still carry a 12-sided dice in my pocket that I used in high school. In fact the same dice I took over the world of Grayhawk with but that is another interview.

PB: so now that you're this 20 something, tattooed punk rocker, what are you like as a boss then?

Shawn: good question. I am open minded and very open to new ideas and I tell my teams that without their ideas… we will fail. I let the whole company help me run it... everyone has a say and we vote on it together.

PB: very much a democracy eh?

Shawn: I try. However, sometimes things drag on and no one can come to an understanding... so I take everyone ideas and I think about it... and I execute the best idea with everyone’s thoughts in mind.

PB: how do you think your colleagues would describe you as an employer? The same idea?

Shawn: yea because they get paychecks and have health benefits and we do have rules as a company. However they were set fourth by its employees.

PB: lastly, what does the future have in store for //rto?

Shawn: we have a lot coming up... in the near future. We might be announcing a new camp this year... that will work hand in hand with everything else. We have Hellfest, and New England dvds coming out and some kick ass tours being planned.