If Here Be Monsters, the edgy but earnest podcast now in its second season, were a restaurant, it would be that new place with limited seating currently creating a buzz around town. Run by an intense young chef, the ever-changing menu shakes up diners' taste buds with the daring and unexpected.
Like the restaurant, HBM is finding a following, mostly through word of mouth. It's also beginning to earn praise from critics (at least that's what we'd call having an episode chosen for this year's Third Coast Festival's Filmless Festival.)
Sampling Here Be Monsters' meaty fare you might detect the influence of more established shows like Love + Radio. But HBM doesn't deal in shock value. Its stories range from the quirky to the inconsequential, yet almost always satisfy as a complete experience with a beginning, middle and end.
And HBM sticks to its theme -- stories of fear and the unknown -- whether the scary element is the OMG! diagnosis of brain cancer or the mystery of North Korea's bizarre computer operating system. You also don't tend to forget about the show due to long waits between episodes. A new HBM usually pops up in iTunes before you've finished digesting the last one.
Jeff Emtman is the guy serving up the audio and fussing over every creative detail (including composing much of the show's music). Like many who changed course from another creative medium, Jeff is a photographer who discovered he had an eye for radio. He says the show was born out of the drive for self-reflection, though HBM is no ego trip. In fact, it's evolving as a showcase for producers and artists to shape and deliver a compelling story. Always the gracious host, Jeff sets up his featured act and never tries to crowd them out of the spotlight.
If HBM isn't on your playlist yet, here's a sneak preview of an upcoming episode. That's followed by our Q&A with Jeff as he opens up about a show that ought not to be an acquired taste. Not if you appreciate sound rich storytelling.
What motivated you to create HBM?
Jeff: Here Be Monsters as a podcast spawned from a couple places.
I used to blame it on the cold sweats of a couple sleepless nights I had just before I graduated from college. They were the quintessential “what-the-$#%&-am-I-going-to-do-with-my-life???” moments that I think most college grads get.
But now, I blame the inspiration for the show directly on my alma mater. I went to a college called Fairhaven School of Interdisciplinary Studies that was one of the few success stories in the boom of experimental schools in the seventies. They believe in small classes, lots of discussions, lots of reading, no tests…you know, “hippy stuff”. And it really worked for me.
The thing that they really pounded into my head was the study of self-reflection. At the end of each quarter, instead of letter grades, we wrote evaluations of our own work in each class, and our professors would do the same of us. Having my successes and shortcomings honestly laid out in front of me was a new and difficult experience. And it’s one that, as I left academia, led to the creation my self-evaluation of society, which is called Here Be Monsters.
What's your background? Radio? Other media?
Jeff: Sometimes I wish I’d grown up reading comic books. If I did, I’d probably have a better origin story.
Truthfully, my origins are pretty boring. I spent most of my childhood living outside a small town in Eastern Washington State. I ate whole wheat bread and listened to books on tape while I played with legos and Lincoln Logs (before they switched them to plastic). I was bored a lot and the stories those tapes told me was escapism. I went to public school, and public college. I grew up white, straight, middle class, politely religious, etc. I wanted to be a veterinarian and an NBA player, but I was too squeamish around dead things and too uncoordinated.
The thing I was really good at, though, was being absurd. At one point, I realized that some people call that “art.” So that’s the direction I ran in.
I wanted to be a photographer. And mostly, that’s what I put my academic efforts into. If you Google my name, the photos are usually the first things to show up. Despite that, I came to a point where the visual stuff began to seem a bit trite and underwhelming, so I looked for a more visceral medium, something that had more potential for storytelling.
My radio background comes largely from those books on tape, but also from a couple years serving as the News Director of KUGS-fm in Bellingham, Washington. I’ve also worked with Northwest Public Radio, KGNU in Boulder, Colorado and KUOW in Seattle, Washington.
What's your manifesto or focus?
