Tina Edwards | My year in sound | Colleen takes us back to 1986

In the first episode of Tina Edward's "My Year In Sound" podcast, music obsessive Colleen Cosmo Murphy brings us back to her version of 1986.

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About this interview. – I remember discovering Tina during "Covid Times" on Instagram thanks to events she hosted for Classic Album Sundays that were aired on Facebook back then, around May 2020! She's been a DJ I've been following like you follow a friend, and I remember also listening to a few of her shows and mixes. I enjoyed what she did (and still do, of course, laughs!); it simply connected. So, seeing Tina interviewing Colleen in this first "My Year in Sound" episode really brought me joy, and I had to share this one here!

This conversation really hits a lot of musical, personal, and intellectual spots! I love how Colleen and Tina talk together about Colleen's journey; they both get along so well! If you want to discover more about Colleen's musical life, she shares some bits she didn't previously, like why she doesn't write album reviews anymore, how moving to New York in 1986 was a pivotal moment in her life, how live concerts impacted her musical journey and, of course, how much Balearic Breakfast means to her not only on the musical level but on the human level too (that part brought tears to my eyes, rargrf)!

The freshness of the interview is unparalleled, and it allows you to appreciate how much Tina is a great interviewer! As usual, I transcribed the interview and added a few links, videos etc. Enjoy... (and thank you so much, Tina, for the Pictures)!

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In our very first episode of #MyYearinSound, we’re joined by Colleen Cosmo Murphy – DJ and vinyl-loving curator, founder of global listening event Classic Album Sundays and the host of Balearic Breakfast, an eclectic radio show hosted on Mixcloud with a legion of loyal fans. Colleen’s music community know that she’s a vinyl-loving audiophile and curator who digs deep to find music that moves people. Today, she brings us back to her version of 1986: high school graduation from a small town in Massachusetts, working as an assistant manager at a record shop, moving to New York City and the beginnings of her passion-filled career. "𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘮. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 18 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘪𝘵? 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 – 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘣𝘶𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵".

Subscribe to our channel for more exclusive podcast content from the music community. ------------------------ 𝗗𝗝, 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗧𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗘𝗱𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁. 𝗘𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲, 𝘄𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗮 𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗼’𝘀 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰. 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗳𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀, 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀, 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿, 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀, 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀.

𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆: https://snd.life/spotify 

𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝘀 📱 INSTAGRAM:   / sol.soundoflife    FACEBOOK:   / sol.soundoflife  

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TINA EDWARDS & COLLEEN'S INTERVIEW

[Tina]

How's it going? I'm Tina Edwards and you're listening to My Year in Sound, a Sound of Life podcast powered by KEF. In each episode, we ask our special guests to put their year in music under the spotlight.

We explore everything from iconic album releases through to unforgettable live shows, all kinds of music memories entwined with personal experiences and anecdotes. What's more, they'll bring in three personal items to help illustrate their special year in music. We're joined by a woman who's dedicated herself to the pursuit of music, whether that's from behind the DJ decks, the radio mic, or the production suites.

Colleen's music community know that she's a curator who digs deep to find music that moves people. She's the founder of Classic Album Sundays, an intimate listening event that's been going strong since 2010. She's also the host of Balearic Breakfast, an eclectic radio show hosted on Mixcloud with a legion of loyal fans, and that also branches out into a compilation series.

Many will know Colleen as a vinyl-loving audiophile, hosting a London version of The Love Party, a weekend of DJs in the love dancing tent at We Are Here Festival, and playing sets around the world. You might also hear her playing out some of her much-loved remixes as well. Today we are going back to 1986.

Colleen, welcome to my year in sound!

[Colleen]

Hello, thank you.

[Tina]

It's a pleasure to have you here. Let's take it right back. What are your earliest memories of music?

[Colleen]

My earliest memories of music had to do with my aunts and uncles, who were teenagers when I was growing up, and they were the ones with the cool records, not my parents. So my aunt got me, you know, Elton John's Greatest Hits for my birthday. It was the first vinyl album that somebody had given me. I was also driving around with my Uncle Dennis and his red convertible with the top down listening to The Beatles. I have lots of memories of that, and I remember once sitting alone in my Uncle John's room with all the blue lights on, the ultraviolet blue lights, and the glow-in-the-dark poster, and I was listening to the radio, to his transistor, and I heard the opening notes of David Essek's Rock On, and it was unlike anything else. It sounded like nothing else, and I thought there were little people in the radio, you know, making the music, and so those are kind of all my early kind of musical memories, but they really revolved around my aunts and uncles.

[Tina]

Beautiful. That's lovely. There's always, I feel, like a relative who is a bit of a instigator sometimes, whether it's like an older sibling or that cool auntie and uncle who kind of shows you a different way of listening to things, perhaps, than what your parents might.

[Colleen]

Absolutely.

[Tina]

For me, it was definitely like, you know, my mom was all about pop, you know, like Cliff Richard really mainstream pop, and then it was sort of, I don't know, I think, yeah, my auntie sort of introduced me to some cool stuff, but I feel like it's always that someone on someone else.

[Colleen]

Yeah, exactly. Your parents aren't cool enough when you're young.

[Tina]

That's it, exactly. That's the pickle. And I mean, the music that you love, that you champion is extremely eclectic, you know, from obscure disco through to shoegaze, through to indie, wherever it may be. Is there something that maybe ties together or maybe there's a common thread?

[Colleen]

Yeah, there's two kinds. There's good music and bad music! And that's about it! But I've always had very eclectic tastes, and I couldn't tell you why. But I started record collecting very early, you know, I was borrowing records from my aunts and uncles, even records like Kate Bush from my aunt. This is pre, you know, Hounds of Love. So this and Kate Bush was not a big name in America. I was just had very, very open ears. So I also started working in record shops at a young age, I started hosting radio shows in 1982 when I was 14. So I was just exposed, I exposed myself to a lot of music. I remember even going into Nuggets, which was a secondhand record shop in Kenmore Square in Boston, and going in when I was about 15 years old. And, you know, I was more into bands like New Order and Brian Eno. And I was looking through the records bins for more artists like that. But they're playing Roland Ressaint-Kirk. What is this? And I bought it. And they were really surprised. I think this kind of young, white teenage girl just bought this, you know, Rip, Break and Panic album. I mean, it was so I just really had wide open ears. And I still do. And I really feel there are two kinds of music, good music and bad music.

Of course, it's subjective, you know, subjective to my ears. But everybody has that ability, not just me.

[Tina]

Completely. How do you sort of define good music? Is it a feeling?

[Colleen]

No, you can't. I can't describe great music in words. It goes beyond words for me. It really does. I used to even write record reviews in the 1980s, actually, for Rockpool and then also for Project X magazine. And I stopped. I stopped writing record reviews because I hated describing music in words. I said instead, I'd rather interview the artists and find out their stories. But I don't read record reviews. I used to read my own and stopped.

[Tina]

I guess that's a whole another experience.

[Colleen]

But I don't read them. I don't really pay attention to them. I don't really think they're that important for me. I mean, maybe for people who don't have access to music, they need to figure out what they should buy or listen to. But I think times have changed, too. We can all sample anything and make our own decisions.

So I just don't even read record reviews. I just have no time for them. And I just I have a really hard time describing music in words. It is so deep a feeling that words just there are no words.

[Tina]

There is that phrase, writing about music is like dancing about architecture.

[Colleen]

Yeah, that's a great one. Right. No, I haven't heard that. But that totally nails it for me.

[Tina]

Yeah, quite an abstract thing to put into words.

[Colleen]

Exactly.

[Tina]

You mentioned you got into radio at 14, that's remarkably young!

[Colleen]

Well, we have high school radio stations in the United States. And I started researching some of these high school radio stations. I thought at the time, everybody has a 10 watt high school radio station. But we didn't actually. And in Massachusetts, which is the state that I'm from, only 19 towns had a high school radio station. And my town was one of them. And it just transformed my life. I was invited up to be a guest on another cousin, a third cousin on my mother's side, on the Anderson side, not on the Murphy side. She was doing a radio show. She was in the same year as me. She was a freshman. And she was doing a radio show with a guy named Eric Ewers, who has since become quite big in the documentary film area. And they invited me to come out to play some records. I brought some oldies. And I was really into the Doors at the time as well. And they turned the mic on. And I ran across the library, ran out of the studio across the library and hid. And I was so afraid of speaking on the radio.

But then I got used to it. And I had a radio show every single year for four years in high school. So it was a great, it was a great time. And I learned so much. And each year was quite different musically as well.

[Tina]

Nice. I guess, yeah, it must have been a really great way for you to document your music loves at such a formative time.

[Colleen]

Absolutely. Yeah. And it was like, it was so eclectic as well, because most of the shows on that station were top 40 or classic rock. I think there was one Christian rock show as well. But mine was all different. You know, the first year is more, as I said, more oldies, 60s stuff.

But then the next one was called, I did more new wave and indie. The third year, I did a show named Punk, Funk and Junk, which is where the name Cosmo came from. And that was early hip hop, electro, funk, but also punk, hardcore and everything else, new wave, post punk. And then the last year was Strawberry Alarm Clock. And I brought the poster in for that. And that was my show that I had, let's see, Mondays and Fridays from 6 to 7.30am. Beautiful.

[Tina]

We're going to dive into that in good detail later on. I'm excited to take a closer look at that. I would love to ask you, you know, as a DJ, a radio host, a curator, you know, a journalist, a producer, there's so many things that you do. Do you find that they fulfil you differently in a creative sense?

[Colleen]

Absolutely. I don't think I could just be one. Part of me sometimes thinks, gosh, you know, I'm a jewel of all trades and a master of none. And I go through that sometimes thinking, what if I had just dedicated myself just to DJing and producing? Or if I had just dedicated myself to radio? Or had just dedicated myself to my Classic Album Sunday's Platform? Would it be better?

[Tina]

I don't think that's you.

[Colleen]

I don't think it's me. I think I have too much interest in all of these things. In fact, it's hard for me to say no. I've learned how to say no now that I'm in my mid 50s! I don't say yes to everything. But they all kind of balance each other out. Plus, because I've always been interested in kind of underground genres of music, none that have been hugely commercially viable.

The fact that I have a few things kind of ticking along and, you know, I've always thought, you know, juggling a few different balls and one's always kind of an effect. You know, I've been supporting myself independently since the late 90s. I haven't had a proper job. I've just worked for myself. So, you know, taking that flying leap and jumping off the cliff sort of, so to speak, and just hoping that you can survive, you know, living in major cities and paying rent. And so I just had to, you know, work really hard. But I love my work. You know, I love what I do. So I wake up like, oh, what can I get started on today?

[Tina]

Yeah. And one, you know, feeds the other. I think, you know, I sort of, I think it's almost like being a professional fan. It's like you're sharing your fandom through as many different mediums as you can.

[Colleen]

That's a great way of putting it. I feel like I'm a musical curator, educator and sharer.

[Tina]

Yeah.

[Colleen]

It's like, you know, I'd love to turn you on.

[Tina]

Yeah. We've got to be careful (laughs)! I know you're a real, like, audiophile. And, you know, I'm thinking about with the love dancing tent that we out here, you bring a sound system in and, you know, you're very particular about audio. And I wonder where you got that kind of such care for audio from?

[Colleen]

Well, I started, I studied sound at NYU and I went to New York University, but it was more recording and editing, you know, and tape. And it was more, it wasn't really for music. It wasn't like micing up drum kits or anything like that. It was more recording voice, mixing things, doing radio drama, editing lots of tape. I was a teaching assistant as well in the sound department. And so that was, I wasn't afraid of sound equipment, but in terms of playback, you know, I had a crappy hi-fi, you know, just something that was cheap and cheerful and worked.

And I think I had two tape decks. I was really happy. So I could dub tapes. It wasn't until my friend, David Mancuso from the loft started teaching me about sound. And first, it started with him just showing me pragmatic, pragmatically, like how to operate the turntables that he was using and using these Koetsu moving coil cartridges or using class A amplifiers, you know, low, very low wattage and horn speakers and all of those elements. And it was really him who taught me about audiophile equipment.

And when we started our loft parties here in London, we bought a bunch of equipment and some of it landed in my house. And that's when I really started getting into it. My husband and I, you know, we had these two Kliphshorns and then just kind of whatever kind of solid state amplifiers that we'd been using for years. And we were just starting to change component by component by component, you know, going to a different preamplifier, going to another amplifier, switching back and forth between valve and solid state, and then upgrading our turntable and then getting a Koetsu that David got for us in Japan.

[Tina]

And what is a  Koetsu?

[Colleen]

A Koetsu is a moving coil cartridge. So you have another, there's moving magnet cartridges, which is what we usually use for DJs. But moving coil, instead of having a magnet, the cartridge has a coil and it's very sensitive. But once it warms up, it is so much more dynamic than moving magnet. And it's just such a beautiful sound. Now you cannot back cue, and you can't even look at it wrong because the stylus might break. So they're very delicate. And this is what David used. So when he first asked me to play records, this was what I was worried about because he was really broke at the time. And the cartridges, this is the early 90s, were $2,000 each, and he only had two. And if I had broken one by just back spinning or looking at it wrong, he wouldn't have been able to fix it.

[Tina]

Wow. So you've begun your DJ career using sort of the best.

[Colleen]

Well, I was also DJing on regular stuff too. And yeah, so I was DJing. This was musically hosting with David was different than DJing. There are two different things, really. I mean, not that they don't, again, feed into one another. Everything I do feeds into one another. But I would say they're pretty distinct experiences in some ways as well, especially with the equipment.

So yeah, once you hear music differently, it's really, I wouldn't say it's hard to go back because I still love listening to music on headphones and in my car, and I can listen to music anywhere. But when you hear it in its glory, you really want to share it with people. And that's why I started Classic Album Sundays, because we had all this equipment in our house. People are coming over, listening to albums, their favorite album. I'd say, just what album do you want to listen to? Just pick one of your favorites. We put an album on. And a friend of mine said, this is like a Classic Album Sunday, because we were hearing things completely differently.

You know, all these records I had grown up with, like Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division. When you hear it on a great sound system, you hear a level of detail that I just never heard before. You know, I could hear all these things that Martin Hanna was doing production-wise, and all these different layers, and it was incredible. So I just started to immerse myself more into the sonics of the recording. But of course, also in your DJing, it does make a difference too, because you're amplifying whatever the music is very loudly. And then you might be able to hear some of the mistakes. And you can also hear some of the problems maybe with the pressing, or the mixdown, or the recording on a great sound system too. So that's one of the sad things about it. But when everything is done right, when the song is mixed properly, it was mixed properly, it was recorded properly, it was pressed properly, and you play it back on a great audiophile hi-fi, I mean, it is just such a great experience just to immerse yourself into the recording.

[Tina]

And I love that that's an experience you picked up with David as well. It seems like he was a really big figure in your life, still is a big figure in your life. Are there any other sort of things that you've taken away from your friendship with him that play to this day?

[Colleen]

Well, what we were just talking about, he would always say good sound is a human right. But the two other things is being independent, and not feeling like you have to say yes to everybody else and doing things your own way is another thing. But also community building. I think David's greatest legacy is community, actually, and inspiring people. And that's something that I feel that I've done with both Classic Album Sundays and also Balearic Breakfast.

Artur, the Balearic Blogger

I mean, Balearic Breakfast is a success. There might be partially me and things that I've done, but it's also a success because of all the people that get involved. I mean, that's really, they're all talking in the chat group while I'm doing the show, and they've made friendships amongst one another. And, you know, someone started a Balearic Breakfast blog that comes out every week, and then interviews other people. And I'm not even, you know, it's great. It's the springboard for other people to be creative as well. You know, getting other people to do mixes, or doing song requests, just normal people that just have a huge passion for music, but don't work in it like I do. And, you know, I'm really proud of that aspect of Balearic Breakfast. And that's something that I think I learned from David.

[Tina]

Beautiful. And I think, you know, it's so wonderful when you see something that you have created with a seed of thought, and obviously, you put an awful lot of work into it. But when other people kind of adopt it, and to some people, Balearic Breakfast feels like it's theirs. You know, like they might go to your Instagram every week because they want to recommend a song for the next show or something.

[Colleen]

They might be thinking about all week, what can I recommend? And, you know, they're all, and literally, they're all chatting to one another. They all got to know each other across continents, across oceans, different sides of the world. You know, that's really, really beautiful. I mean, I just love seeing that. And, you know, I just, and they're all united by a love of music. It's great.

[Tina]

Amen. And that's why we're here.

[Colleen]

Yeah.

[Tina]

So let's introduce the year once more. It's 1986. We've got the likes of R.E.M. and The Smiths coming around. Hip-hop is breaking through into the mainstream. I'm curious to know why you picked this year and to ask you to paint me a picture of who Colleen is in 1986.

[Colleen]

So 1986, we start in January. It's the last half of a year of my senior year of high school in Massachusetts in a small town. I'm 17 years old. Then I graduate in June. Then in the summer, I am working as an assistant manager at a record shop, Strawberries Records and Tapes. And then in August, I turned 18. And two weeks later, I moved to New York City.

[Tina]

Big year.

[Colleen]

So this is a huge year. And there's a lot going on musically. Like, all the time, there's a lot going on musically because, you know, working in a record shop, working on the radio and high school radio, making that transition to college radio. And plus, I went to so many gigs. You know, it was just great. It was also great for film, too. I saw so many great films that year. But yeah, it was just such a big, pivotal music year for me, but also a pivotal year for me in terms of my life, you know, moving from a very small town in New England, about half an hour, 40 minutes outside of Boston, and then moving to New York City to Greenwich Village. I mean, right in the thick of it.

And, you know, going to NYU, going to New York University, and then the first week just volunteering at the radio station there. So it's a massively pivotal year for me.

[Tina]

Brilliant. And you've brought in a few items to talk us through it. So can you talk me through, and I know you've not been able to bring in all of them. One of them we're talking about sort of metaphorically. What one do you want to talk about first?

[Colleen]

I'd like to talk about the high school radio show first because it's really important. I have this poster. As I said earlier, I did a radio show every year. And this is my senior year. I had a show called Strawberry Alarm Clock. And it was called Strawberry Alarm Clock for three reasons. One, the record shop that I worked at was called Strawberries Records and Tapes. It was owned by a gangster, Morris Levy, who was in The Hitman, and who in September 1986, after I, you know, had already moved to New York, he was arrested.

[Tina]

Oh my gosh.

[Colleen]

And yeah, so he was arrested. And it turned out he'd been working with the mob. And he'd been one of the co-founders of the jazz venue, Birdland. He had been, you know, he was hugely, you know, a big figure in the music industry from the 19, late 1950s onwards. But he owned this massive chain called Strawberries Records and Tapes. And I worked there from 1984 through even when I would go back from college, you know, the first summer I worked there as well.

In any case, so that's one of the reasons it's called Strawberry Alarm Clock because I worked at a record shop called Strawberries. It's called Alarm Clock because it was a morning show. It was 6 to 7.30, so before homeroom.

[Tina]

That's a commitment as a teenager.

[Colleen]

And I also worked in a record shop sometimes till 10 o'clock at night, you know, because during Christmas hours on the weekdays, you know, I'd work till 10 o'clock at night, get home, sleep, get up at the radio station for six.

[Tina]

Something I know about you is that you don't need a lot of sleep!

[Colleen]

Yeah, I don't need a lot of sleep. I never have. I never have.

[Tina]

I could wish for anything. My nine hours a night is just, I cannot negotiate with it!

[Colleen]

I can't even remember when I have ever gotten nine hours, maybe twice in my life. But the other reason is I was also good. There was a scene in the 1980s called the Paisley pop scene, and it was kind of it was kind of big in Boston. Actually, we had a lot of kind of 60s type garage bands. They were invoking the sound of the 60s, the three o'clock and the Liars. But I also got into bands like Plastic Land. I think they were kind of an XTC to Dukes of the Stratosphere. So there was this kind of feeling of this kind of Sergeant Pepper sound coming back. And there was an old 60s band named the Strawberry Alarm Clock as well. And they had a big hit called Incense and Peppermints. So that's why it was called Strawberry Alarm Clock. And I played everything. I mean, I played all the kind of music that wasn't top 40 or classic rock that I was into. You know, and it could even play Sade because Sade wasn't necessarily getting a load of, you know, play on commercial radio.

I mean, there was some, but I was playing the more obscure songs, playing hip hop, new wave. It could be rockabilly. I mean, it was literally just a whole array of music, which was great.

[Tina]

Did you ever stop to think about how to tie that music together? Or did you think it doesn't matter? It's all just good music. I want to play it.

[Colleen]

Yeah, I mean, I had been making mixtapes from about the age of 12, 13, and sometimes they were thematic. And I was thinking about a musical arc and how to develop the tape. But on the shows, I kind of just threw stuff together. It was a bit more haphazard as opposed to kind of creating a whole flow. I would do the flow for my mixtapes more.

[Tina]

Okay. And I would love to show people just watching on YouTube as well and describe for people that are listening. So it's kind of a bit like a mood board.

[Colleen]

Yeah.

[Tina]

These are things that you've cut out, right?

[Colleen]

Yeah, these are things I cut out and photocopied. So I had like a love of vintage clothing. Nina Hagen, who I absolutely adored. I think I had my Nina Hagen ticket stub there. I used to watch David Letterman. I mean, there's some kind of TV figures. There's some kind of things that make fun of Ronald Reagan because, of course, this was during the time of Ronald Reagan. Something from the Dead Kennedys down there. I loved the Dead Kennedys. I thought Jello Biafra was just great. Because he was also standing up to... What was her name that they were doing? It was called the Parental Advisory Board or something, where they're trying to censor music. And her name was Gore. Al Gore's wife was heading it off. And Jello Biafra was always kind of talking against them, which was great. He's very, very astute, Jello Biafra from the Dead Kennedys. Very good-looking guy there. Let's see. But yeah, so it was just fun. And I had these posters. I would photocopy them and put them around in my high school.

[Tina]

I love it.

[Colleen]

And yeah, it was really fun because a lot of people... Well, that was a 10-watt radio station. It wasn't a lot of people. But friends of mine would listen to the show to get turned on to music. I was kind of known as the person in the high school who listened to different things. And, hey, come along to this gig with me. Let's just all go. Just buy tickets. You'll like it.

[Tina]

You know, like, let's go.

[Colleen]

Yeah, exactly. So that was really great. And that just, you know, is a fantastic kind of education to be able to do that. There was only 19 high school radio stations in Massachusetts. There I was thinking we all had one.

[Tina]

Right.

[Colleen]

You know, and I'm just so lucky and fortunate to have had that because I could have had a completely different life.

[Tina]

Totally. You know, it's a wonderful thing when you discover what it is that you love at an early age. And you can just target yourself.

[Colleen]

Exactly.

[Tina]

Knowing that you've fallen in love with that part. Yeah. How, you know, you've been doing radio since then. How do you prepare for your shows now in comparison to your first shows?

[Colleen]

Well, I didn't speak a lot on the radio.

[Tina]

OK.

[Colleen]

I was quite shy still about speaking. And I had a little bit of a Boston accent, like W-H-H-B, you know. And I found one of my old cassettes and it's just I hardly even spoke. But there were some great tunes on there. And I really started to improve the way I presented once I got to NYU. I had two great mentors. I had a mentor, Lynn McVeigh. She ran the sound and radio department and she really took me under her wing. And I came from a family that didn't have a lot of money to pay for university. So she ended up getting me, you know, nominating me for broadcasting scholarships. And I would get broadcasting scholarships and things like that. She was a huge influence. And then I had a guy that was kind of like my big brother, Hugh Foley. He had an amazing radio voice. He had already been on commercial radio. In fact, he was putting himself through graduate school by working as an overnight jock on one of the radio stations. And he just taught me a lot of stuff.

And so then I started taking it more seriously. It wasn't just about playing music and just lining it all up. And now I really prepare. I find, and it's not just because I'm a Virgo, but I find the more prep you put into something, the better it comes off. And you're the same way. You host a classic album. Sundays events, I've worked with you before. You do your homework. David used to call it homework too. David Mancuso, he'd like listen to all the records before, you know, the night.

It's like doing your homework and being prepped and not taking it for granted. I don't take anything for granted. I'm not owed anything. And so I have these listeners that are tuning in week after week. And one thing they love about the show is finding out about the artists and the records. So I have to do a little bit of research. So I think the radio show is different than a lot of other shows that might be out there because people are just a DJ first and then become a radio host. They tend to still stay a DJ and that's fine. But I think a radio host is different. I think a real broadcaster is communicating with your audience. And you're trying to share knowledge. It's not just like, here's a tune, here's a tune, here's a tune, here's a tune. And also, I like to put music together so that it makes sense. So sometimes some people doing it, you know, where you're juxtaposing songs that don't make any sense together can make something new. And I like that too. But that's just not my style. My style is more about a flow. And especially because it's a morning show, balleric breakfast, starting mellow. Then you're building up, you know, throughout the show. So that's also how I DJ too. I always think about the flow. And yeah, it's all in the prep. I would say it's all in the prep. And then you can relax into it.

[Tina]

Right.

[Colleen]

You know, you're not racing around and freaking out like, oh, what do I need to do? It's like, you just have your head on, you know, and have a good time.

[Tina]

I remember reading somewhere, I'm checking my notes, at NYU film school, you became the first female program director.

[Colleen]

Yeah.

[Tina]

Which is a major thing. You know, I often don't like to bring gender into conversations because I think we want to try and move past that. But I am wondering how being a woman in that environment, if it had any impact, you know, given that you were the first, that's quite something.

[Colleen]

Yeah. I mean, one thing that was interesting growing up in the 1970s, you did hear women's voices on commercial radio. We had some on the AOR stations like WBCN and WCOZ. And so I would hear women's voices, even though they weren't my favorite radio hosts. I had other hosts who were my favorites. Because a lot of times those women were on in the afternoon when I was in school. But you heard voices. So it wasn't like this is something that's completely not accessible to me. You know, it was like, oh, I can do this. You know, so I never even questioned the radio side. I was surprised when I found out I was the first woman program director because WNYU is one of the biggest college radio stations in the country. And the 1980s was the height of college radio and college rock.

So I was kind of surprised when I heard that I was the first one. I was like, really? But an interesting story. I was the program director. I was there all the time. You know, all of us were. We lived there. I would sleep overnight sometimes in the studio. You know, actually, because once I got attacked, you know, sadly, going through Washington Square Park at three in the morning, you know, after editing all night. So I was like, maybe it's I just would start to sleep over and sleep over. People be coming into school. I'd be laying there.

In any case, spent so much time there. And I was there one summer and the phone rang and I answered the phone. And this was 1988, maybe. And it was someone said, you know, we're starting a temporary radio station. I'm calling from the CBC in Japan. We're starting a temporary radio station in late 1989 for the World Design Exposition, and we would like some of your male DJs to audition. Oh, really? So, of course, I rallied up everybody, men, women, anyone to go to the audition anyways. So and I remember going in and it was this really flashy apartment. It was in the same building that Isabella Rossellini lived in. I looked like quite like a ragamuffin. I never had any money. And I walk into this gorgeous apartment with a baby grand piano. And it's a Japanese woman. And I auditioned for and she said, I'm going to make sure you get this.

[Tina]

All turned around.

[Colleen]

So, yeah, there was and she probably had experienced a lot of sexism. And I remember when I went to Japan as well, one of the best broadcasters there was this woman. And she did both television and radio. And she was the main CBC broadcaster. And she was a real feminist. And she wouldn't even let people open the door for her. You know, we had kind of gotten past that in America, right? Yeah, you can open the door for me. That's fine. That's fine. I don't have a problem with that.

But she was she was amazing. And even my bosses or our bosses who are guys, and this is very, you know, this is quite something for people to say this in Japan said, you know, she's smarter than us. She's super talented. So I knew a lot of Japanese women were kind of going through a similar thing and moving to New York because they felt like they had more freedom. So, yeah, got the job. So it was. Yeah, I did experience quite a few firsts in terms of, yeah, you're the first woman that's you're the first woman that's played here in Indonesia. I mean, I don't know if that's true or not. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. But, you know, it doesn't make too much of a difference. It's more sad that I am the first in some ways rather than it being like a big, you know, reward or award.

So, yeah, but it was it was it was a great time being on college radio in New York. And I just you know, we had all the bands coming up, you know, because we were in New York City and, you know, bands that later became big on on AOR radio, on album oriented rock stations, weren't getting any play. The only bands that had really crossed over from college radio at that time were R.E.M., Depeche Mode and U2. And the rest were still we had our own charts. We had our own trade magazine, CMJ. We had our own everything. It was this own entity. And it was huge. And, you know, bands always came through New York City and we were our radio station was in Manhattan. So they'd come down, do interviews and, you know, have Sugar Cubes, Bjork, Nick Cave, all coming through the station. It was incredible.

[Tina]

Wow. Colleen, tell me about your second item.

[Colleen]

OK, my second item is still high school, but I don't actually have the item because I can't find it. But it's a ticket stub from May 16th, 1986, a show at the Orpheum. And it was Suzy and the Banshees. And I went with my friend Patty, who worked at another Strawberries Records and Tapes, and she had very spiky hair that she used egg whites to put up. And she always had this big goth, you know, kind of makeup. And she was more forward than I was. You know, I'm confident, but I'm more quietly confident. Like I don't go up and introduce myself generally. If it's someone famous, I've always kind of walked the other way. I mean, I've met so many famous people in my life because of work. But, you know, I've seen so many people I could have introduced myself like Patti Smith or whoever. And I just haven't.

[Tina]

There's an awkwardness to it because you know you're going up as a fan. You don't want to be too gushy.

[Colleen]

Exactly. Exactly.

[Tina]

It's hard to know how to navigate it.

[Colleen]

Exactly.

[Tina]

It's like, well, what do I have to say that's actually going to interest?

[Colleen]

Exactly.

[Colleen]

So I would have never done this. But my friend Patty just had a lot more confidence in me. She said, I know where they're going to be after the show. So we went to the hotel that she thought they'd be staying at. And there was Budgie and Susie sitting at the bar and they were very kind and signed our ticket stubs. I didn't say anything. Patty did all the talking. I was just like mouth open, jaw drop like, oh, my gosh, I can't believe I'm so close because this is before I had started meeting all these artists and interviewing them. This is like the first the first time.

[Tina]

Right.

[Colleen]

I was this close to, you know, an icon, you know, someone I really looked up to Susie Sue. I mean, I looked up to her so much. You know, I looked up to her. I looked up to Laurie Anderson. I looked up to Patty Smith, Nico. I mean, maybe Nico for musical reasons and not for other reasons. But, you know, there were all these incredible Kate Bush. There were just some real trailblazers. And Susie Sue was one of them. I've always wanted to interview her. It's never going to happen. I'm still trying. And I just got another rejection. So it's fine, though.

[Tina]

I get it. Does she do many interviews?

[Colleen]

No, she doesn't. And you know what? That's fine, too. I kind of get it. It's I wouldn't want to interview someone who's uncomfortable about it. So I just it was such a time. I couldn't believe that I had, you know, I had actually been that close to someone that I just hugely admired and was famous and an incredible musician. So that's why I don't have the ticket stuff somewhere in a box in my loft. But I have the Cities in Dust 12 inch. And that's the first song she sang that night.

[Tina]

Ah, that ties together so nicely. I became a huge fan of Susie Sue and the Banshees in music college. Oh, really? So it was quite a creative kind of course, really. It was like a two year BTEC thing. But every time you were given a band to really research and then I had to do a performance like a live show of just Susie Sue and the Banshees songs that I've been given a set list in.

[Colleen]

Which songs did you choose?

[Tina]

Ah, they were given to me. I did metal. What's it called? Dazzle? No, there's a...

[Colleen]

I love that song, Dazzle.

[Tina]

There's a staircase one and a metal one. Oh, why can't I remember the track?

[Colleen]

Don't worry about it. Let's move along.

[Tina]

I'll put it. Yeah, I'll put it in the podcast. (ed. The songs Tina was referring to were Metal Postcard / Jigsaw Feeling). But yeah, some like epic tunes. And I had never come across them before. But there was something about hearing Susie Sue's voice for the first time and just how purposefully dissonant she is. And, you know, the sliding and her way of singing felt really new to my ears at the time. And I sort of approached her stuff with like, how on earth do I sing this? I'd been having this really kind of more proper vocal coaching education to that point. And then it was a bit like, throw out the rulebook, get a rough idea and then just go for it.

[Colleen]

Open up your lungs.

[Tina]

Yeah. And yeah, it was such a cool experience sort of delving into her stuff. I'm still checking the charts in the back of my head.

[Colleen]

It'll come to you at the end or tomorrow.

[Tina]

Yeah, later on. But that's cool. I mean, it sounds like you went to a lot of gigs in your teenage years.

[Colleen]

And they were so varied. I mean, so I would go, OK, so Rush, like the Prague band was massive in my town. Yeah. Everyone knew Rush. In fact, going to a Rush gig was how I got the job at the record shop, because afterwards was me and I went with a bunch of girlfriends were hanging with a bunch of guys that we just met. I started talking to one of them who was particularly cute. And I was like, yeah, I went to see Black Flag and Stevie Ray Vaughan. And I went to he's like, gosh, you know a lot about music. Yeah, I went to the Gap band and like all these different gigs, you know, and he's like, you should come and work.

We need some Christmas help at Strawberries at this record shop. And he was the one that suggested I go and apply because I knew I had been going to all these bands, you know, all these gigs. You know, I was seeing lots of great British bands like Echo and the Bunnymen, the Smiths. I danced on stage next to Johnny Marr. I was at the New Order gig where there was a riot in Boston at the Opera House. I saw Nina Hagen from Germany.

There were lots of kind of indie bands like Husker Du and The Replacements. I would go see them play. I would see go to the all ages hardcore shows at the channel and see, you know, gigs like Black Flag. I would see Stevie Ray Vaughan like a blues show or classic rock show like Billy Squire. I went to the Providence Funk Festival, saw Gap Band, One Way, Bar Case, Grandmaster Mellie Mel. I'd go to a freestyle night, you know. So I just had open ears. And the thing that was so great about where I grew up, again, I was so lucky because Massachusetts is small. We have a lot of different little cities. It has the most colleges and universities out of any other city in the United States. So there's a lot of venues, all different sizes. We had stadiums.

We had midsize. We had small size. You could go to Providence, Rhode Island. You could go to Boston. You could go to Worcester, Massachusetts. And I just was able to go to all these different gigs, you know, Ramones, B-52s, Chuck Berry. You know, it's just it was the cure. I mean, I went to so many gigs. And then when I moved to New York because I was on the radio station, I got free tickets to go to go see.

[Tina]

Lovely pads.

[Colleen]

Exactly. So loads and loads and loads of gigs. And that's the other reason why I chose Susan the Banshees, just so I could talk about the gigs I went to.

[Tina]

I mean, part of me just I'm living vicariously through that. I spent my teenage years on the Isle of Wight. And there's not a lot of you've got a couple of really tiny venues, but that's not an awful lot happening. So

[Colleen]

I do the Isle of Wight Festival.

[Tina]

Yes, that's very true. I mean, yeah. I feel like there's a rotating sort of lineup that maybe every three years. But I have had some really, really good times there. But yeah, I would get the boat to Southampton or Portsmouth and then have one, maybe two songs at best before I had to run for the last boat home.

[Colleen]

Oh my gosh, really?

[Tina]

Yeah. So it was a real commitment to potentially being, you know, getting stuck and getting to 7am. My parents would have killed me. Anyway, moving on. You've got one more item you brought in to represent 1986.

[Colleen]

Yeah, it's an album. And there's a lot of favorite albums that I have, which I'll talk about as well. But I picked Victoria Land by the Cocteau Twins because I was a huge Cocteau Twins fan. And I wouldn't even say this is my favorite album, but it's the one that came out in 1986. And I played it a lot when I moved to New York because, you know, I loved living in New York and it was transformative and I couldn't wait to get there. But, you know, I was still a small town girl. And sometimes I just needed some peace and quiet and calm. And, you know, being 18 is difficult anyways, isn't it? I mean, it's also great, but it's, you know, there's so much transformation happening. There's so much going on. This was an album that just chilled me out. I could play it in my dorm room at the end of a day, turn the lights out, and it would just kind of reset me.

So the Cocteau Twins and Elizabeth Fraser's voice, I mean, just always did something. I've been playing their records for a long time. I would say actually Bluebell Knoll is probably my favorite Cocteau Twins album just because I got to interview them for that one. So that was great. But, you know, it was really, really great record. And there was a lot of great records. And one was Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds kicking against the Pricks. He was just kind of getting into his Johnny Cash kind of phase. And that inspired me to go out and research Johnny Cash. Raising Hell, Run DMC, of course. They also had Aerosmith, Boston rock band, on that album. And gosh, there were so many great albums.

Another one which came out when I moved to New York was the Beastie Boys, Licensed to ill. And I know they kind of get this frat boy image, but they were actually a lot smarter. And the rhymes are really good. And the thing that was interesting is when I went to NYU, my first year, I lived in the dorms Weinstein. And that is where Rick Rubin set up Def Jam in that dorm. Yeah. And also Spike Lee went to film school. So Spike Lee's movie comes out. She's got to have it. We're all into it. And then, you know, anything that came out of Def Jam and Slayer, Rain and Blood also came out. I used to listen to that all the time, too. Rubin produced it. But Licensed to ill was a really fun album. My group of people, we all got into it. And we all knew the songs. And there was a bar we used to go to in Brooklyn that used to serve us called the Alibi. So we would always sing No Sleep to Brooklyn, you know. And I ended up being in the video.

[Tina]

So how did this happen? You mentioned it before we started recording. I'm like, oh, my God, we have to talk about it.

[Colleen]

I know. I mean, I'm only in a crowd shot and it's fleeting. But basically, they wanted, you know, they wanted people for a crowd shot for the video for No Sleep to Brooklyn. And we went to the World Club, which was on Second Street between First and Second Avenues. It was an old club. I'm pretty sure that's where it was. No longer exists. And we were just there all night just so they could get some shots. And I was with a friend of mine who was kind of like a skate punk from Long Island who had a mohawk.

So he kind of figures, you can see him really well in the crowd shot. I'm kind of the one wearing the John Lennon glasses, like banging my head in front of him. But he's really tall. I think the camera liked him. So whenever you see him, I'm near. You can pause. You'll see me.

[Tina]

In the shadow of the mohawk.

[Colleen]

It was really fun. Yeah, it was just really fun, you know, but we never got to meet the band. I was like, really? We got hung out all night in this cold, cold, dingy venue and didn't even get to see them play.

[Tina]

But there's still time.

[Colleen]

Yeah. You know, so it was like, really, it was just fun. And I kind of forgot that I'd been in the video. And then I remembered a few years ago, I was like, I found it. So, yeah, there were a lot of great albums that year. And, you know, both hip hop and rock and indie. And Victoria Land by the Cocteau Twins was really the one that chilled me out. And I remember just playing quite a bit by myself, you know, in the dorm room.

[Tina]

Gorgeous selection. And I relate to that experience with Cocteau Twins personally as well. Colleen, thank you for being part of my year in sound. What does the rest of 2024 have in store for you? Oh, my gosh. What is the rest of this week?

[Colleen]

I have a new record, a new remix that came out today. Brian Jarman, Brian E. Jarman Pinto. Did I send that to you? Moving forward. Yeah, it's a gorgeous remix. I'm working in the studio with Joe Goddard from Hot Chip on a new project. Original stuff, and that's been going really well. It's me, him, Alexis Taylor. Alexis from Hot Chip, Lou Hayter, and Al Doyle. And, yeah, a few members from Hot Chip and some other people. And we're just having a really good time working on a project.

So we're in the studio this week. Lots of gigs, festivals, and doing a bunch of Classic Album Sundays events, and some at the new KEF Music Lounge as well.

[Tina]

Awesome. Great. When can we find out the program?

[Colleen]

Well, I'm just working on it now, but it will launch in September.

[Tina]

OK, nice. All right, Colleen. Thank you so much.

[Colleen]

Thank you.