Local podcast highlights music community

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It’s common knowledge among members of Provo’s art community that the core of the city’s music scene is on University Avenue, between 100 and 200 North. This area, which is home to both Velour Live Music Gallery and Muse Music Cafe, is commonly referred to as “100 Block,” and now, it has its own podcast.

The 100 Block Podcast is the brainchild of Branden Rosenlof, Al Deans and Tom Larsen. Rosenlof has wanted to do a podcast about Provo music for a while now, and when the opportunity presented itself, he enlisted the help of his friends Larsen and Deans.

[media-credit name=”Photos by Gilbert Cisneros” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]
Al Deans, Tom Larsen, and Branden Rosenlof are the brains behind 100 Block Podcast.
“We do the show in Al’s studio, which is called Pulsar Audio Recording,” Rosenlof said.  “We call him our producer. He’ll record for us and mix it down, take care of outtakes and stuff like that.”

Deans, whose engineering experience ranges from working with rock bands to recording the Bible in Spanish for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has been a part of Provo music for years. His current projects include Quasi-Stellar Radio and Uni.

While Deans mans the controls, Larsen, who studies journalism at Utah Valley University and drums for the local band Lake Island, lends his voice as Rosenlof’s co-host. The tandem lead in-depth conversations with some of the most popular musicians in Provo, talking about album releases, upcoming shows and even soliciting in-house performances.

“It’s great to hear the voice of the people behind the music and hear their personality,” Rosenlof said. “Then we blend in their actual music and it makes for a good show.”

For Larsen, the podcast offers music fans a unique and intimate listening experience.

“It’s harder to connect with a band while they are on stage,” he said. “It’s hard to understand what’s behind the music. We want to show the personalities of the people behind the music.”

And so far, the show has done exactly that, warranting positive reviews from many, both in and out of the music scene.

“Within the music scene, the reception has been fantastic,” Rosenlof said. “Even more exciting to me, though, is some of the responses we’re getting from outside of the music scene. For example, I mentioned the podcast to a friend who kind of scoffed and said, ‘Oh, Provo has a music scene?’ He listened to the first few episodes and emailed me and said ‘Wow, this is really good. Could you send me some of these tracks?’ ”

Even with the encouragement from listeners, the podcast currently only airs about twice a month. The trio, however, plan to make the show a weekly, or even daily, program.

“We all have jobs and school and we don’t have time to bring somebody in every week,” Rosenlof said. “But by the end of the year, we have a goal to hopefully make it a daily thing. We want to do a mixtape Monday through Thursday and an interview every Friday.”

As the podcast begins to gain a broader audience, Rosenlof also sees the possibilities of advertising for other local businesses downtown.

“This is about more than the music scene,” he said. “It’s also about local restaurants and other places that will appeal to the younger crowd. The past couple years have been cool with the Rooftop Concert Series and stuff like that. I think Provo will continue to get more exciting and we hope to play a part in that.”

It’s that sense of working for the good of the collective that is at the heart of Deans’ vision for the podcast.

“The biggest thing is community,” he said. “There’s got to be pride in the scene regardless of which genre or who it is. I want to see bands supporting other bands and I think this podcast helps develop those relationships.”

The latest episode of 100 Block Podcast aired this week and featured Apt and Chance Lewis. You can listen to it at 100blockpodcast.com.

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