Interview- Industrial Strength Nightmares Radio (DJ Spotlight)

Based in Toronto, Canada, ISN is an hour-long radio show devoted to industrial, EBM, electro, noise, gothic, and other forms of underappreciated music, with new episodes every Monday.

Host Edwin Somnambulist, a veteran of club and radio DJ'ing from across Canada since 1998, brings his unique blend of commentary, comedy, and cynicism to his weekly podcasts.

The show's current mandate is to focus on new and underground material, including work by local and independent artists. To that end, each show features a variety of artists and tracks, presenting different material every week. (https://www.isnradio.com

GC:  So tell us a bit about yourself and about Industrial Strength Nightmares Radio?

ISN Radio started back in 1998 as a campus radio program. It's always had a strong focus on playing the best of the cutting-edge emerging music in industrial, EBM, synthpop, and many other related styles of music, while also keeping the classics in mind as well. The music scene is dynamic and always changing, and it's important that we keep an eye out for the newest and latest sounds.

ISN: Even when the show was still on traditional airwaves, mp3 versions of the show were posted weekly on our website. Since 2007, the show has become a strictly internet broadcast based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with new episodes posted every Monday. The show is also syndicated out of Los Angeles through the intensely popular Real Industrial Radio digital station.

GC:  Is it just you or are there any other people working with you?

ISN: The show is myself and my co-host, Echo, but there are a number of people we work with both locally and internationally to help unify the scene and build things up together. These include the Revolution vs Machine club night based here in Toronto, Canada and Adelaide, Australia, and working with the team from the Singapore Dark Alternative Movement. It's always a pleasure to work with people who are interested in not only building their own community up, but in networking globally as well, to help promote underexposed artists internationally.

GC: Roughly how many listeners do you have per week?

ISN: The number fluctuates a bit from week to week, so it's hard to nail down a specific number, but on average I have thousands of listeners a week from all over the globe. Of those, a few hundred are local listeners.

GC: Do you strictly play industrial/ebm or any other genres?

ISN: I try to play a wide range of styles on the show, as I don't like to limit myself too much, but that's not always possible. In the beginning, I termed the styles of music I played as "anything that interests me". I still do that to some degree, though the main focus lately has been techno-industrial and EBM styles; high energy, high BPM music. Still, it's not unheard of for me to play many other styles including genres like goth, synthpop, retro, and many others, though those excursions have become less frequent lately.

GC: Favorite artists?

ISN: It's really difficult to nail down a list of favorites, as there's so many. In general, I'm a big fan of the artists working at meshing the techno and industrial sounds together, as we're seeing a lot of interesting new music coming out of that style.

GC: What makes your station different from other typical alternative stations?

ISN: I think, primarily, that it's the sense of humor that Echo and I bring to the show. Industrial can be a pretty heavy, politically-laden style of music, and I think it's important to juxtapose that with jokes and self-deprecation to keep a sense of balance to the show. The same could be said of life, I suppose. After all, if we couldn't laugh at ourselves, then things would get pretty depressing.

GC:  Do you promote or support any bands?

ISN: Not specifically, but I like to think that the show exists to support all the bands that we're playing; to help get the word out to people about the amazing new music that's being produced every day.

Check out the show: