The Indie Edge Radio Showcase - Host Zoe Lexis

Can you give me a little background on yourself as the host of the Indie Edge Radio Showcase?

This [The Indie Edge Radio Showcase] is actually an endeavor of my friend Michael Stanley down in Los Angeles. I’m actually born and raised into music. I love music, always have, and I’m an independent artist myself. I’m also a worship leader at my church, and I do radio work here right outside of Reno, NV. Michael just came up to me a couple of months ago and said; “Hey I would love for you to jump on board and do this with me.” I love helping other artists get their message out, and I understand their feelings because I have those same desires. You know God just puts this intense message on your heart and you want to be able to get it out to as many people as possible. That’s kind of what drives us.

You just got back from taping the first three episodes. Is that right?

Yes, the first three episodes, and we’ve been excited by the feedback that we’re getting. We figured that we were really going to have to be pushing and chasing artists down and God has just been so good. There has been such a wide variety and that’s what I love about this show. It’s on Christian independent artists and it doesn’t matter what genre of music they do. We’re getting stuff from all across the board and it’s really fun.

Can you drop any names?

We have Sonia V, and what’s cool about her is that she hosts a program called the “Indie Rock Show”. It’s an award winning modern college rock show that’s syndicated. She kind of does the same thing as us, but only a little different. She focuses more on the rock aspect. She’s a fantastic artist and an incredible person, so we’re excited to have her on board. We have an R & B singer, Michael Heart, some of my friends from Reno called Zero Theory, and Ken Tucker. Oh boy, that guy is phenomenal! He is this incredible blues guitarist/singer. He was actually a guitar player for Larry Norman for a couple of years.

Without a program like this I may never know there is an artist out there like Ken Tucker.

On the Christian music side there is not a whole lot of blues.

What are the goals of the Indie Edge Radio Showcase for Michael and yourself?

The goal is to be able to help these artists take their message as far as they want to go, and to provide a platform where they can feel safe from the whole bureaucratic process of trying to get your stuff out there. As an independent artist it’s such a struggle because there are so many artists out there. So we want to give them a platform to speak their voice and get their music out there. Ultimately we would love to be able to help them get signed if that is a goal of theirs, and to just promote the message from their hearts. Just basically to help these guys, that’s the bottom line of why we do this. Both Michael and I understand this and we understand the frustration of trying to get yourself noticed and get your message out there.

You don’t really have a target audience?

No we really don’t. That’s what makes this show so unique. Because there are a lot of radio shows and in the beginning we caught a lot of flak because we were tying to be so diverse. People were saying, “Why don’t you focus on music that’s specific”. I completely disagree with that because this is a showcase where all independents have an opportunity. I love the fact that we are so diverse.

When does the first show air?

April 2nd at 10:00 PM Pacific Time and you can catch it on line at KKLA.com. It not only blankets the 14 million people in So Cal, but it can be accessed by the world. That is really exciting because we have been getting submissions from Canada, Italy, the UK, and from Moscow! It’s having a world wide reach – something we didn’t expect right off the bat.

Are there any last thoughts you would like to share?

We are so blessed and God has been so good to this ministry. The support that we received from the independent music community; I really want to stress that because there is no way we could have done this without their help or support. Even though Michael and I are on the very front of this we have an incredible team that is sacrificing of their time and gifts. God has been so good just bringing the right people in at the right time and we’re grateful for all that help. And for the artists! They are incredible and they just keep coming. We’re excited and the sky is the limit. This is a God-sized project and so there are no barriers.

Link: http://www.theindieedgeshow.com/

Interview by Ken W.