TikTok creator and Instagram influencer Sewer Spewer considers himself as a local “guide to the punk and metal scene in Tio’tia:ke”. His content began as a weekly radio show on CJLO 1690AM back in 2015 with the goal of giving airtime to lesser-known local and touring acts. We recently had a chance to catch up with him to learn more about his content and future plans as a content creator.
What is your YouTube channel/Twitch stream/podcast/etc called and what is it about?
My radio show and reel channel (on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok) is called Sewer Spewer. It’s a weekly guide to concerts happening in Montreal within the punk, heavy metal and alternative rock subgenres.
When did you start it? What motivated you at the beginning?
Sewer Spewer first started off as a radio show on Concordia University’s community station, CJLO 1690AM. The first broadcast was in November 2015. I had initially wanted to play the music that I liked, which was loud and aggressive punk and extreme metal, but I always managed to include bands from Montreal that I liked. I would often promote their upcoming shows, and then I eventually developed the format where each week, I played songs from bands that would be playing in Montreal, whether they were local or touring. In 2022, I parted ways with CJLO and brought the show to the internet radio station PunkRockRadio.ca. Then in early 2023, I started making videos on TikTok promoting live music events in Montreal by inserting myself into the flyer artwork. I was hoping it would attract more listeners to the radio show, but instead, it brought in a ton of people who loved the video content, so the reels became my focus, with the radio show as a bonus for those who wanted more content.
Who were you inspired by? Any influences?
One of the people who inspired me to start making videos was my friend Brenna, who would review horror movies and would use green screen tool to insert herself into the movie poster. She told me she would get thousands of views, and sometimes would get advanced screeners for movies to review, so it got me thinking about what niche knowledge I could provide the public. I’m also very inspired by the variety of musicians we have in Montreal, and I wanted to be able to help them uplift their art.
How would you describe your audience?
The majority of my audience is young, mostly Gen Z punks who started engaging with the local scene once venues opened up after the pandemic. They’re the people I see at almost every show I go to.
What is your creative process? Do you have people who work with you?
I do all my work alone. I keep an exhaustive list of upcoming shows in Montreal. Whenever I see a new show announcement on social media, I stop whatever I’m doing and add it to the list. When it comes time to building a playlist for the next episode of the radio show, I consult my list to see which noteworthy artists will be playing in Montreal next week. I prioritize bands that I haven’t played before and those who have new music out. Once the playlist is done, I write a script and record my talking segments in my bedroom closet. By the time I get around to doing the video, I’ve already familiarized myself with a good portion of the events for that week.
How do you monetize your content? Do you also have another job?
I recently launched a Patreon account for the hardcore fans of Sewer Spewer who want to support me, though I don’t have many and it’s been hard to make extra content as perks for subscribers because I have a lot going on. I’m currently studying printing as a trade, and what I would eventually like to do is print merchandise for bands as an extension of the promotional services I provide through Sewer Spewer.
What is your favourite piece of content you have created?
This video remains my most popular one to date, with over 11k views. No other video has gotten close to that. Maybe the algorithm boosted me because I mentioned Guns N’ Roses and Metallica in the intro. Although the shows are no longer relevant, I think the intro skit still rings true. Stadium rock concerts are only becoming more expensive because of the greed of LiveNation and Ticketmaster, but by going to a smaller venue with independent artists, rock fans can help grow the local music scene without giving their hard-earned dollars to evil corporations.
@sewerspewer Here are some better ideas of what to do in Montreal instead of giving your life savings to Live Nation #punk #metal #hardcore #poppunk #experimental #noise #drone #avantgarde #goth #electronic #grindcore #deathmetal #posthardcore #folkpunk #polka #thrashmetal #hardcorepunk #doomrock #montreal #underground #canada #radio #livemusic
What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?
The best part of doing my work is being able to discover new music and sharing that with an audience. Another part is being recognized in public by people who regularly watch the videos. They often tell me that what I’m doing is very important for the scene. I’ve got to meet a lot of great people thanks to the reels. My least favourite part of creating content is battling with the social media algorithm. I put a lot of work into my videos and radio episodes, but often when I publish them, it gets very little traction on social media, because I didn’t post at a certain time or the video is too long or because I made it political or for whatever reason the algorithm determines that it shouldn’t reach as many people as it normally does. When I see that the radio show barely cracks more than 10 streams, it makes me wonder why I even bother.
What are your future plans for your channel?
I’ve been trying to develop a podcast where I speak to various people who work behind the scenes to make shows happen, not necessarily people in bands, though musicians tend to wear different hats. The development on that has been slow due to my schedule, but I hope to launch it soon. Depending on how things go in the future, I’ve been thinking about ending the radio show so I can focus on the video content and other projects. But I’ve also been doing a monthly spot-on N10.as and just recently been approached to syndicate the show for an internet radio station in the Netherlands, so we’ll see if that makes any difference.
Where can we follow you?
You can follow me as @sewerspewer on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. I post weekly content there. To hear my radio show, tune in live on Tuesday at 12pm on PunkRockRadio.ca, or stream previous episodes at Mixcloud. And if you want to subscribe to my Patreon here.
PAY IT FORWARD: What is another Canadian content creator that you love?
I want to give a shout out to Phil Vai, who hosts a francophone podcast called Le Clash, all about the Québecois punk scene. He does interviews with bands and other members of the scene. He even interviewed me about my band Gutser a while back. My French isn’t that great, but he was very patient and asked great questions. Like me, he started off at a university radio station, but just recently went independent. He was actually the one who told me about moving my show to PunkRockRadio.ca. Merci, Phil!
