The great thing about radio is its limitless potential. Whether you prioritize where you record or the type of content you showcase, you could have an idea and see others invest in it as you build a station. Just ask the good folks over at DKFM Shoegaze Radio. Founded by DJ Heretic, the station is dedicated to all things Shoegaze and Dream Pop. This is a sound pioneered by the likes of My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Cocteau Twins, Pale Saints and more.
Many thought the genre had died a long time ago. But DKFM spotlights the new and wonderful within the genre 24/7, proving that it’s not only breathing, but thriving. Deeply wedded with this emerging community, DKFM’s work goes beyond radio. It helps new acts along their way by organizing festivals and writing about them on their official blog.
We caught up with DJ Heretic to get the full story of DKFM, its plans for the future and the reemergence of Shoegaze.
What inspired the idea for DKFM?
DJ Heretic: Back in the day, I was a DJ at certain clubs playing 1980s New Wave for a new millennial crowd, some of the old goth, Industrial material. At one point I landed on a website called turntable.fm which was a really big deal in the underground community where everybody showed up and loaded up their iTunes library and played a song for everyone. Folks would either stand up and applaud for it or would say that’s not working.
When I discovered the Shoegaze rooms on the website, that was a revelation. I knew there was new and exciting and interesting music coming out in the Shoegaze and Dream Pop genres. But I was surprised at the depth and breadth that was really starting to blossom. This was 12 years ago, a time where a genre that had essentially been considered dead by the mid-1990s had come back in full force and people from all around the world were finding new and unique ways of championing the sound.
I realized very quickly that I’m not going to hear this on any local radio or national broadcasts. So I started building an online platform and focused 24/7 on making it a real and viable alternative even to college radio programming. Just to let folks know that Shoegaze not only wasn’t dead but was seeing a significant renaissance. I started out by just trying to prove to my bonafides that we could provide different kinds of music within the same genre framework. As time went on, we began providing what the audience craved. As long as we were able to focus in and provide the kind of regular musical service that our listeners were looking for. We just only got better and more popular.
Did you ever consider Shoegaze to be dead?
There are certain forms of music that I’ve enjoyed that are kind of frozen in amber. Everything from New Wave to late 1970s Progressive Rock. At some point folks will come back and do interesting things with it. But it still has a significant date stamp on it. I had begun to think that Shoegaze and Dream Pop was just never going to come back to the extent that it had back in the day. A lot of that has to do with major label sponsorship, with 4AD’s investment in bands like Cocteau Twins, Creation Records pouring a lot of money into My Bloody Valentine back in the day. But so many folks had heard what they loved, internalized it and reinterpreted it. I wouldn’t have thought it could come back as strong as it did and it’s exceeded my expectations tenfold.
You mentioned trying to find different sounds within the realm of Shoegaze – how has that process been?
It’s unusual because folks have started coming up with genre alternative descriptors like Dream Rock, Bliss Rock or Bliss Pop. They’re borrowing certain elements and fusing them with the more traditional Alternative Rock sounds. In the hopes of drawing in just that much wider of an audience. In many cases it works. You’d often be surprised at how folks are trying to bring new and creative elements in.
We have our own regular proving ground for new music and we call that our New Tracks Weekend. Spending the entire weekend just digging through new releases. Whether it be the things that are most likely to click with our audience or the deeper cuts we feel they might be interested in. We allow our listeners to vote via our app and the website. That way they’re able to have a two-way communication with us. Our social media channels are quite significant as we’re able to get almost instantaneous feedback about what folks are really vibing with. It’s a wonderful way to proceed.
How have you been able to recruit hosts?
We managed to find some really great folks when Strangeways Radio had closed down. Especially those folks who are specializing in Shoegaze and Dream Pop. But as far as that goes, we’ve got former BBC employees hosting their own programs. Folks coming from Japan, the Carolinas, Toronto, Los Angeles and San Francisco. For the most part, they’ve kind of contributed to the thought process of what we’re programming. Especially the social media outreach. If they’ve got a pre-existing platform like a Mixcloud account, it really helps us to dive in and find out what they’re about, what kind of reputation they’re developing and where they’re going beyond that. We try to make sure that we’ve got fresh programming from unique hosts every weeknight.
DKFM’s programming is very unique in that it spotlights Shoegaze. What has the process been like?
We’ve tried to maintain a very consistent listening experience across day programming. Where folks will recognize that you’ll have some of the classics salted through. But also a lot of the new material that’s come out in the last 20 years. Having said that, we’ve got our primetime hosts who are picking up specific aspects of the genre. Some folks are only going to focus on individual, nation-specific programming from, let’s say, Belgium, and some of the amazing Dream Pop and Shoegaze artists coming from there. Other folks are specifically focused on what’s new and breaking. Some are doing absolute classic shows.
One of our best and most surprising shows on Mixcloud that continues to get traction today is a show called ‘Shoegaze Classics and Rarities.’ Stuff that has not been heard in 30 years. We’ve cultivated an audience that’s hungry and loves the classics but just as hungry to learn about the new and find something that they can fall in love with and champion.
You guys have a blog section on your website, as well as a chart section. What purpose do they serve?
The charts help to provide a feedback loop to our own audience. It shows a reflection of what the listeners are vibing with. As far as the blog is concerned we cover everything. From touring bands who have allowed us to come in and shoot professional photography for their event, so folks can get an idea of what they are going to see. Or features or reviews, everything kind of ties in together and you can hopefully dive in and discover a deeper understanding of a band, what they’re trying to accomplish, who they’re trying to reach and the process that’s taken them to get where they are today.
What kind of equipment do you have in the studio?
I call our setup the production terminal! We’ve got a RØDECaster Pro mixing board and a cloud lifter filter that helps to ensure that even if I’ve got the ceiling fan on and we’ve cut out all the extraneous noise. We’ve got Shure SM7B microphones and we run every show through Adobe Audition. Then our broadcast terminals are all based on sadly rather aging Mac Minis. Which do nothing else other than continuously schedule and broadcast based on the parameters that we’ve provided to hosts, wherever they are. We’ve got multiple multi thousand dollar jingle beds that we ordered from Dallas, Texas when they were still doing a lot of the seven voice acapella hits. All in all, we do our best to provide a really great sounding experience for our hosts.
Tell us a bit about DKFM’s journey with Mixcloud.
Licensing is really important to us. Mixcloud was a key to our strategy there. Knowing that they pay artists whose music is played and ensuring that everyone gets proper credit for having their music performed. We were looking for a smart and intelligent alternative to archiving our specialty shows. We’re getting out content on a 24/7 basis and Mixcloud is our memorialization of some of the great things that we’ve done in the past. Whether it be regular programming, specialty shows or the interviews that we do.
It’s so easily searchable; folks can find out about us whether they know us or not. They can jump in and suddenly find a whole world that caters to the things that they’re looking for. Mixcloud and DKFM tend to serve one another because they communicate with one another. We can watch our listener numbers change, and we can see what endures by looking at the Mixcloud Stats. So it’s a valuable partner in seeing what is working and what we might do more of; sometimes these things will surprise us entirely.
How has Host Tagging enhanced your Mixcloud experience?
As soon as it was announced we jumped into Host Tagging. One of the things that we’re most concerned about is seeing that the folks who’ve volunteered their creativity, get the credit and the blessing for the work they’ve put in. It’s nice to be able to mention the name of hosts but to be able to plug in their existing profile. To build their profile adjacent to ours. It means that if folks are liking what they hear from us, but really liking what the program is doing they can jump over to the host’s page, follow them, understand what they’re doing and build a direct communication channel. Host Tagging just makes that a lot easier for us so we can celebrate the folks who are providing great content for the station and reaching a new audience every week.
How do you continue to build your community?
Nine years ago we signed on with some bands that we loved to help coordinate the dreamgaze festival. It started in Los Angeles and moved to San Francisco, a portable feast of bands specific to the genre. Since that time we’ve kind of borrowed that concept with the blessing of the bands that we originally borrowed it from and re-transplanted that flag in Austin where we did multiple Dreamgaze ATX festivals bringing together both well-established and newer bands. Then we had a pandemic, but we put together three dreamgaze worldwide festivals where bands from Japan to Finland to Norway to Scotland to Ireland filmed and put together a 20 minute performance. We stitched them all together and folks tuned in from all around the world to celebrate the gatherings that we couldn’t do in the midst of the pandemic.
This year we’re back helping out with Kalamashoegazer who we’ve worked with in the past. We have a brand new festival in Portland, Dreamgaze PDX, where we’ve gathered folks from around the world to do two days worth of Shoegaze. The community is there and they’re hungry and they’re waiting for something new. I’m being approached even at major festivals that have nothing to do with Shoegaze by people saying, ‘aren’t you the Shoegaze guy? Aren’t you DJ Heretic?’ I never would have expected this 12 years ago when we first got this underway. I hear the same stories from our DJs saying people have begun to recognize them because they know what they do. They know the contribution that they’re making to the scene. So it’s a community that gives back, recognizes one another and celebrates one another.
What do you hope to achieve with DKFM?
I like to be surprised every day. A lot of the things that we’ve achieved so far, we kind of accidentally fell into them. They were absolute happy accidents. Whether it be pulling someone who used to work at the BBC to being involved in the festivals we work with. None of this was the material that we expected and the next thing you know these opportunities present themselves because of who we are and the level of commitment that we showed to the community and to the musicians. I’m just grateful that every day, every week and every month there seems to be a new opportunity presented to us. So anything that happens is a gift to us.