Dan Lynch is the voice of Rathole Radio. The online podcast has been one of Liverpool’s major underground success stories of recent years. It is driven by Dan’s enthusiasm and idealism, remaining resolutely independent and thoroughly entertaining. Dan wanted to be a musician from a young age. He also wanted to be John Peel. Then he threw into the mix a slow burning love of all things Internet. It has all collided with Rathole’s podcasts and Nerve spoke to him about his journey to cult internet stardom.

You Are Never More Than Six Feet From Rathole Radio

By Paul Tarpey 27/2/2015

“I went to Greenbank College (Liverpool) to study and they had a little music studio there. The tutor played us God Only Knows as an example of recording technique and production. It made me think, wow, as an instrument the studio is quite an interesting thing. It showed me how technology could really add to what was already there musically. You can build a whole soundscape.

“Part of the reason I got into technology was that I am dyslexic and written words were always a little difficult for me. If you gave me a sheet of A4 it wouldn’t excite me. Whereas if you told me the story I could always remember it word for word. Like a tape recorder.”

It was a little later on that technology started to play a more practical role in his career.

“I was quite late to the whole Internet thing and didn’t have an email address or anything till 2000, and it had been around for a few years by then. I decided to do a Computer Science Degree mainly because I had been working as a Sound Engineer and jobs were hard to come by. I was doing gigs and theatre and loved it but the money wasn’t good and there were a hundred people after one job.”

He went from his degree to work with the NHS but continued to develop his interest in music and how he could express this using the internet. This led to the idea of an online show that could be produced in his own home.

“I had always liked recording stuff at home and I found you can do almost anything with a laptop. It’s like having Abbey Road in a little box. So it was a small step to doing a podcast with a few friends of mine and I soon realised it was a great art form. We even worked out that you could talk over skype. So we had one guy in America, one in Australia, one in Germany, all talking at the same time and recording it. I wanted to be John Peel I suppose and I listened to a lot of stuff from independent labels, stuff people don’t get to hear a lot of. That grew into Rathole Radio in 2009 which is still going.”

Rathole Radio is an hourly show that Dan produces and introduces and goes out every fortnight. It has developed a strong and loyal fan base but with that comes pressures that Dan is happy to ignore.

“I do listen to what the listeners want but ultimately I am a benevolent dictator. If you are true to yourself and play what you like then you will have a relationship with the audience. If you play something because people are paying you to promote it then you lose that trust. Once you’ve done that you can’t get it back. Once or twice I have been offered something and it goes back to the honesty thing. The show doesn’t need the money so why dilute it. If you believe in something, stick to your guns.”

He can even see that shows such as Rathole Radio are filling the huge gap left by one of his heroes.

“When John Peel died I did wonder who would do everything he had been doing, but the internet has helped with that. There are loads of little independent music shows so it has developed since he left us. I would like to think if he was starting now he would be doing podcasts. In some ways it’s the equivalent of what pirate radio used to be.”

He believes the internet is not just replacing old methods of broadcasting but creating exciting opportunities in the industry.

“There is a chaos to the internet which is great. But it is still very young. Musicians can communicate directly with their audience which is brilliant. The model is changing. The days of mega rich rock stars will go but you can still be proactive and more people will be able to make a living out of music.”

Rathole is going from strength to strength but it does leave you wondering what a pre-web Dan Lynch would have been doing.

“I like to think I would still be playing music for people. Maybe trying to rig up an FM transmitter somewhere. But if you asked me what I would do without music then I would probably say jump out of the nearest window.”

ratholeradio.org

Dan will be at Jelly Liverpool this Thursday 5th March and will be a part of the WEA and Catalyst Media session Become The Media. Chat to him if you want to know more about independent media or anything else that fascinates you.

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