A FiVE YEAR MiSSiON:
ROCKWiRED MAGAZiNE CELEBRATES FiVE YEARS OF MUSiC JOURNALiSM AND SETS iTS SiGHTS ON THE OLD SOUTHWEST WHiLE MAiNTAiNiNG iTS NATiONAL AND iNTERNATiONAL REPUTATiON

 On New Years Eve of 2004, internet radio disc jockey BRIAN LUSH was sipping down a jack and coke and playing on the computer before going to a party in the apartment below. For over a year he had been hosting and producing a weekly radio show called 30 MINUTES WITH BRIAN LUSH for a rinky-dink internet radio station called KTSTFM.COM in Anaheim, California and was eager to do something more. “I had been living in Southern California for a little over a year at that point and I was frustrated. I guess I had expected so much more.” says LUSH “I thought it was going to be just like what you see on TV where you get a job as an extra on some big TV show and all kinds of hilarity would ensue. Instead I moved to Orange County (which I hated) and worked a bunch of horrible little temp jobs to fund my need to be on radio or something. Giving up wasn’t an option, but I knew that I had to go in a different direction.”

It had always been LUSH’s intention to do something along the lines of an online music magazine and his access to and know-how with regard to internet radio would prove invaluable. His love of rock music mixed with a need to spread the word with regard to new releases inspired a new name and direction for his show – ROCKWIRED. Within minutes after settling on a name for his new project, LUSH purchased a domain name and put together the first few pages of his website and set out to find artists to showcase. “It was like a lightening bolt had hit. This was what I needed to do in order build a name for whatever it was I was going to put out there. All of this was happening at a time when I think people really needed an alternative to what popular media had to offer.”

On January 15, 2005, the weekly internet radio show ROCKWIRED LIVE debuted. It was a rainy Saturday afternoon which was to be followed by the second inauguration of GEORGE W. BUSH. In the beginning, ROCKWIRED.COM was simply a means of promoting the weekly internet radio show, but eventually LUSH found a practical use for his growing web presence. “It all started with a morning conversation with my roommate at the time. His propensity for spinning yarns was quite maddening and I suddenly found myself thinking of all of the artists who send music to me who I could be taking to and all of a sudden it hit me. Because of a lack of money an the equipment at the radio station being insufficient, I figured that I would interview these bands over the phone, write articles from the interview and post them on ROCKWIRED.COM as a means of further promoting ourselves. Within minutes, I headed over to RADIO SHACK and bought a tape recorder and an adapter. I couldn’t be stopped at this point.”

Before long, something curious started to happen. The name ROCKWIRED became better known for the interviews that it featured on its website than for the weekly thirty minute internet radio show. “I certainly never saw that coming. Growing up, you always hear that ‘you’ve got a great voice, you should do radio!’ and here I was doing a radio show, but now I had this whole other thing happening with ROCKWIRED and it was really exciting. I knew I was really on to something.”

Since it’s introduction as an online magazine in October of 2005, ROCKWIRED has boasted exclusive interviews with the likes of EVERCLEAR, CURTIS STIGERS, BIRD YORK, TONI HALLIDAY (of CURVE), THE WAILERS, DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER, THE BAD PLUS, SIMONE (daughter of  NINA SIMONE), SWEET, JANUS, THE DEAR HUNTER, BABY ANIMALS, PEARL ADAY (MEATLOAF’S daughter), ZO2 (stars of the IFC CHANNEL series ‘Z-ROCK’), MITCH EASTER, TERRI NUNN (of BERLIN), LITA FORD, MARTHA DAVIS (of THE MOTELS) and THE HOOTERS.

Despite the success of ROCKWIRED MAGAZINE and its growing reputation, the radio show ROCKWIRED LIVE was certainly no slouch either. LUSH is especially fond of what would be the radio show’s final year when he recruited co-host SINE DOHERTY. “I don’t think I had ever had more fun doing radio. When I was on my own I got a little stuffy and with SINE, it was just tons of funs. We laughed our way through the whole thing and played a bunch of kick-ass music. That was definitely the happiest time for me. I wanted it to last forever.”

ROCKWIRED’s radio component came to an end on March 28, 2009. The shows end was marked by an especially tearful broadcast. Due to a swiftly collapsing economy, BRIAN LUSH and ROCKWIRED needed a change. “It certainly wasn’t a change that was needed out of boredom. It had more to do with survival. The economic situation of the country really left me lumbered and ROCKWIRED was beginning to suffer. Southern California was no longer the place to be and that was frightening! After years of hearing how it’s the land of opportunity the recession turned it into the opposite. I had to get out!!!”

In April of 2009, ROCKWIRED became ROCKWIRED MEDIA LLC and moved its base of operations to Albuquerque, New Mexico determined to carry on as an online magazine. “Interviewing artists and writing for ROCKWIRED is the most natural thing in the world for me and people are still coming back to us - both readers and artists.

After five years, LUSH sees no point in stopping or even slowing down despite his laid back surroundings and uncertain economic times. One plan is to increase ROCKWIRED’s presence in the state of New Mexico and in the Southwest in general. “There is so much culture in this part of the world and with that comes a lot of great music – music that I think needs to be heard and experienced by the rest of the world.”

Another goal for the coming year is the return of ROCKWIRED’s presence as a force in internet radio on its own terms. “A return to internet radio is entirely feasible but it will be done a lot differently than it was before. ROCKWIRED’s next venture into internet radio will be something that will be entirely controlled by ROCKWIRED and no other entity. That is a prospect that truly excites me.”

In an age where print media is failing and the number of music related outlets is slowly dwindling, LUSH promises to stay the course of mission that has given him, the readers and the recording artists so much. “ROCKWIRED has had it’s share of hard knocks, but no one has really seen what something like ROCKWIRED is truly capable of doing. We are literally and figuratively in the Wild West in terms of possibilities despite any economic shortcomings. The sky is the limit!”