The crew behind Music for Listeners will celebrate with two concerts.
The first, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 14, at Trinity's Laurie Auditorium, is free and will include San Antonio’s quirky popsters Buttercup along with Austin indie-rockers Voxtrot and Blushing.
A Saturday, Oct. 5, show at Lonesome Rose is focused on alt-country artists and will feature Austin's Cactus Lee, Sentimental Family Band, both of Austin, along with Philadelphia's Native Harrow. That show has a $10 cover.
The radio show, helmed by DJs Orlando Torres and Michael Thomas, is a passion project of the highest order.
The program originated during the fertile ’90s indie-rock scene, when Torres hosted Indie Vision, a San Antonio public access TV program that showcased some of the biggest names in indie music, including Radiohead, My Bloody Valentine, Superchunk, Suede, The Sugarcubes, and more.
While Torres was busy interviewing bands and filming their performances, Thomas worked at KRTU, first as a classical DJ, then spinning jazz.
When the station switched to a free-form format in 1999, the two music enthusiasts joined forces and haven't looked back. Over the past 25 years, they have premiered countless indie-rock singles and become one of the area’s biggest tastemakers for breaking bands, especially English ones. The show’s website, musicforlisteners.com, details that impressive history.
We recently sat down for an interview with both Torres and Thomas to talk about the origins of the show and the upcoming concerts.
Tell me about your program name. It's quite generic and yet... specific.
Michael Thomas: The show was called Community Service for about a month. I hated it. So I tried Music for Headphones. But that's too stoner-y. So I did Music for Listeners, and it felt more like Brian Eno.
Ah, yes, Music for Airports.
MT: Kinda based on that. And Music for Listeners is a vague enough name to tap into that free-form spirit. You never know what you're gonna hear.
San Antonio has such an amazing radio history, but KRTU is one of the last stations standing that gives DJs autonomy.
MT: KRTU is distinct because it's run by volunteers. The station gives us freedom — we play whatever we want.
There’s a certain romance to being on the radio.
MT: Yes. The biggest compliment anyone’s ever given me is that I'm a “quality monger” — always looking for things of quality to share with people. You want to share new music, help out bands. That's what drew me to Orlando. He was doing a TV show in those days called Indie Vision.
Orlando Torres: On public access, Channel 20. Ran for five years. Being on public access, we learned how to do everything, how to set things up, talk with bands, managers. [Legendary shoegaze band] Ride did the video show in the ’90s. We had Radiohead on the show! Inspiral Carpets, Catherine Wheel. So many great bands on there. We had Frank Black busking on the street in Dallas. That was wonderful.
MT: Orlando and I really started talking more at an amazing show, Ride and Lush at the Backroom in April of 1991. I stayed on at KRTU, and in 1999, I got word they were turning the late night into a free form again. That's how KRTU started in 1976. And so Music for Listeners was born. The show grew naturally. The first five years it was just me, [and] Orlando would come in as a guest. Then in 2004, they wanted two people late at night for safety issues ... late at night on the Trinity campus. So I called Orlando and asked him to become a permanent cohost, and that's when it really blew up. Indie Vision and Music for Listeners merged.
OT: We became an audio version of the video show. We'd go to SXSW and interview bands all week.
MT: We befriended a bunch of English labels, went to their parties, interviewed their bands. We recorded Bloc Party's first American set. In 2009, for our 10th anniversary, we decided to have our first SXSW day party. It started with a bang. Our first year, we had Mumford and Sons playing for pizza and beer. Laura Marling played as well with Marcus Mumford on drums. Over the years, we've had Bombay Bicycle Club play there, the Wedding Present, Django Django, Hinds. We've had I think 400 acts at this point, of all genres.
Our biggest influence is John Peel, the legendary BBC DJ. He played every genre of music, he played things before anyone else and he had a good ear – always on the cusp of what was coming next. And now, with the labels in England, we have a reputation for playing things first in the U.S., before anywhere else.
Do you have overlapping tastes?
MT: We both have our own tastes, but there's a ton of overlap. We both follow those early ’90s British bands coming out of Manchester. Orlando loves the Stone Roses. My favorite is the Charlatans. Orlando likes more poppy things, and I like more spacey things. But there's so much overlap, because we just love music.
OT: The show always changes, it's always different. We have six different bands, all different genres. That's what we like. An early highlight was when we hosted Jose Gonzalez at the Limelight.
So it's not just a radio program, it's a vehicle for shows?
OT: We do shows, but mostly at SXSW. They've gotten relatively big now. Bands from [labels including] 4AD, Sub Pop [and artists such as] Kristin Hersh, the Wedding Present, lots more. It’s gotten harder though. Now bands want a fee to play SXSW parties. We had a couple of big bands waive their fee just to play our party.
MT: I take pride in that. And we are a good team. Orlando mostly books the shows, I handle the production. And for the radio shows, I’d say most of it is programmed by Orlando. Because he is obsessed with finding new music.
Tell me about your 25th anniversary shows.
MT: We're doing two shows. For the first, we asked our friends Voxtrot from Austin. Having Voxtrot play our party is important to us. When they came out, they were Orlando's favorite band for years. And the session they did was the only San Antonio thing they did for, like, 20 years. They're performing their first three EPs.
How does it feel to be going for 25 years?
MT: 25 years on, I couldn't have thought it would have lasted this long. It keeps going. We're about to record another set, and [we’re] doing a world premiere this week. We love seeing bands succeed, sell merch. You want to support the acts, the music, the scene.
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