Recently, Paul  "Paw"Schuler, Channel Awesome's music reviewer, and host of Transmission Awesome, was kind enough to take some time to discuss his work, life, and his thoughts on the music industrywith me.


Some Bloke: So, in one sentence, how would you sum yourself up?

Paw: Bored and preachy with an outlet to the masses.

SB: We were introduced to you with the "Full Circle" videos, but how did those come about?

P: Full Circle was born after my entry into the "Ask That Guy" contest and started wondering how difficult it would be to do a video series of my own, for YouTube or something. I started thinking for the longest time about a topic; I knew I wanted it to be music related. One day, I was listening to a mix CD while taking a shower which an eclectic mix of older and more recent songs, and I started to hear the influence of the past on present songs which in turn made me wonder what I've listened to in the past influenced what I listen to today. So I unearth my old editing software from years ago to start learning it's ins and outs, gathered the courage to put my mug on camera and crossed my fingers. I honestly just planned it to be an small project I could show off to friends and family, but I'm glad it was well received enough to garner attention to gain Best of Blogs on Transmission Awesome and ultimately, site administrator, Mike Michaud.

SB: You've been one of the hosts of Transmission Awesome for a while now. Could you share any behind the scenes info?

P: Sean (hopewithinchaos) I've known for a good while, then I was introduced to Chris (RolloT) and Coldguy when I was invited to the podcast. After then we've spoken pretty regularly up to the point I was invited to be a co-host so we have a rapport going, therefore the jokes fly pretty fast and furious at eachother's expense. It's all in good fun mind you and we do tend to play it up, but we hold no ill will to eachother in any way, so don't take the insults seriously. Except for the fat jokes, we mean all those 100%. Usually after the podcast is over, you can find us all hanging out on Skype playing a few online games, or more recently, recording them for the new series, TA Plays.

SB: Since you're the resident music guru, I'm assuming you've got an MP3 player of some description. So, what are your top five songs on it, and why?

P: Yup, got me a Sony 8 gig.. something or other. I'm saving up for the newest model which is 32 gigs with built in Wi-Fi, which is awesome since I can update album info on the fly. I don't have in in front of me so I'll do my best from memory:

*Champion - Tawoumga
Discovered these guys from a recent trailer for the game "Borderlands" which me and AngryJoe are looking forward to immensely. This track has an awesome groove in the middle of it which I find myself tracking to and looping endlessly.

*The Field - A Paw in my Face
This song has a nice slow, relaxed groove all the way through and kind of reminds me of the Crydamore style of sampling and looping. Plus it has my name in it.

*Zero7 - Mr. McGee
The newest album from Zero7, a real departure from the previous 2 albums. Think about blending the jazzy style of Royksopp with the overblown synth-pop style of La Roux.

*Rodrigo y Gabriela - Logos
This song just builds and builds from a single and simple guitar groove. I love that kind of thing, how one 10 second artifact can be the basis of a 5 minute song. On a side note, this is kind of what the next few March of Istria songs will be, we're planning to take a single song, and make an entire album from it. We're still looking for the perfect song to sample.

*AIM - Just Passin' Through
I love this guy and you'll often hear this song play in the background in Transmission Awesome. A 7 minute song sampling some of the best 70s grooves ever.

SB: You've stated that you are a gamer, so what's your favourite console and your favourite game?

P:  I grew up as a PC gamer in the 90s, so I'll forever be a fan of the adventure game genre of yesteryear. Quest for Glory, Space Quest. The Super Nintendo will always be my favourite though since that was my baby-sitter in elementary/middle school. I still remember the first day I got it in a Price Club, with the money I saved for months and months. Picked it up off the shelves while the other kids, huddled around the demo unit playing Super Mario World stopped and stared at me, jaws agape in quiet admiration and jealousy. Favourite game of all time? I would have to say the original Civilization from 1991. I would daydream in school all the time about how when I got home, how I would alter my method of ga

SB: How long does a video take, on average, to make, from conception to completion?

P: Nowadays, if I really concentrate, about 2-3 weeks. I'm an awful writer and feel much for comfortable spouting off stream of conscious instead of scripting. But that's difficult since I need to get my thoughts in at the right moment since I don't want to obscure the music I'm playing with my ramblings (which I did way too much in the original Full Circle series in retrospect). My time is taken up quite a bit by work and being lazy, but I try to get things out in a timely manner.

SB: The future of the music industry has come under examination in recent years, with the Internet causing huge changes in the way people people listen to music. Do you think the music industry has a future? Also, what do you make of today's mainstream music?

P: I remember a few years ago I would avoid mainstream music like an AIDS-stricken, rabid Doberman. These days I sample it sparingly and cautiously and most always regret it. I'll use as an example Kanye West and Lady GaGa of how far off the track mainstream music is. Awful awful AWFUL bullshit, yet people eat it up and live shows sell out to capacity making these people ungodly amounts of money, getting even more ego-fueled and making even worse crap pandering to the lowest common denominator where the biggest record sales lie. Where are the innovators? We need more progression! That's why I say thank GOD for YouTube and LastFM and the like, giving an instant huge audience to the purest innovators, making music from the heart in their bedrooms and home studios. I also praise Pandora and the Music Genome Project for the ability to type in the names of modern crap music, then being able to unearth some of the underlying gems buried deep in its foundation, being able to hear the music's ROOTS.  The music industry of course has a future, but I foresee the death of the major record label giving birth to independence, giving power to the artist. My thoughts on the music industry are admittedly communist in nature.

SB: Can you give us a hint about what sort of things you have planned for TGTWG in the future?

P: I've been trying to find a good format for a music show, like highlighting new releases, new videos, things like that. I've put together a few pilots and tests, but nothing I feel comfortable sharing yet. We're also having a ton of fun with the TA Plays show and I doubt that we'll run out of games to play any time soon so look for more of those. Ideas for new shows are always welcome in my forum, the Disney special was made purely because of fan reccomendation so keep 'em coming!

SB: And to close us out, do you have an amusing anecdote to share?

P: Not so much an anecdote but a suggestion. I know I've said it over and over, but please people, turn off your radios and switch off MTV. Go to Pandora.com and type in your favourite artist or song, then maybe you can not only being a massive torrent of new artists which lead to more artists well into infinity. Support your independent artists, be it on YouTube, MySpace music, LastFM or whatever. Building a library of non-mainstream music will better buffer you against the death of big business music.  Crap, sorry for being so preachy but I feel strongly about this stuff!

I'd like to give a big thanks to Paw for taking part in this interview, and thanks to you for reading!