A long time ago, in a galaxy with the only known inhabitants, there was a music sharing application of which I do not remember the name. It was organized in a way that viewed the present individuals at a concert with a DJ on a stage performing for an audience. Every user had an Avatar that they would design themselves, just like the ones you have seen on Snapchat or Instagram and other similar apps. Up to five people could select music to play for the audience if they had been approved to join the stage as one of the music selectors, and anyone could join the station as an audience member.
I joined other people’s stations and hopped up onto the stage as soon as I could and started picking songs. Back then, I was pretty terrible at reading the room (I got a lot of downvotes and angry looks from listeners). Sometimes, you’ve gotta learn the hard way.
Over time I learned a lot more about what makes music “good” and appropriate for specific audiences. I then got a DJ controller and started practicing. Shortly after, I became an MC, played music for several weddings and started calling myself “DJ Shay Buttah.”
You may be wondering what influenced my stage name. You’ve seen it all over this blog and on Instagram, but to tell you the truth, it was created as a nickname by an old coworker of mine. My name is Seamus (pronounced SHAY-mus) and I’ve had many nicknames in the past: Sea-mustard, Sea-moose, Moose, Shaymee / Shaymi, Shaymoo / Shaymu, Shame-Shoo, Sham-Wow, Imhotep (same as the guy from the film Mummy), Famous Seamus, Shay-mah-toe, Shay-mah-lame, Shay, and a few I have forgotten. My favourite was Shay Buttah. An old coworker of mine named Kevin Shields used to get to work early, and whenever he saw me walk into the building, he would say, “Shaaaaaaay BUTTAH.” I loved it so much that I decided to keep it as the name I would use when I turned out to be a professional DJ. Here’s a sticker I’ve created that I will hang up all over the Cincinnati area.
Many years later, I remembered my experience on the app and started talking to one of my friends on Stereo about it. He introduced me to Stationhead shortly after this talk. This happened about a year ago, and I’m so glad it did. The name he uses on several social media programs is @twangyi. We host a radio show every Tuesday night at 7:45 PM EST called:
"Twisted Tuesday."
We change what type of music we play every week, but we generally stick to some kind of electronic music, and eventually featured another friend of ours, @notoriousrmg. One time we did a music battle between Aphex Twin and Oliver. That was pretty fun. I’ve never purposefully listened to Aphex Twin’s productions before, so it was nice to listen to the music recommended to me by @twangyi. Aphex is an intelligent, avant-garde and unique musician. I would suggest you give his albums a listen (all the way through — DO NOT SHUFFLE), although you could just listen to his and Oliver’s most popular tracks below.
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So what is Stationhead? It’s pretty similar to the app I described previously, but it’s a little different. Think of yourself hanging out with a group of friends, chilling in the living room. One of you has control over the phone being used to play the music, and everyone else makes song suggestions throughout the night. Stationhead is the digital version of such a gathering in which one can host their own radio station (most of us call them “radio shows”). Everyone can make song requests, participate in a live chat, use an emoji react, etc. You can also earn money by being a radio show host, too, but only the popular people really do (much like musicians). Artists Nicki Minaj, Alicia Keys, Olivia Rodrigo, Charlie Puth, Cardi B et al sometimes host radio shows on Stationhead.
The one thing I love about this app is that you can discover new music that is recommended to you by another person, not by a software or an algorithm. You can also do this by adding friends on Spotify or by following playlists, but this is another way to do just that, and it all happens live in front of your face.
Below, I have added a link to my Stationhead profile. You can find all of my recorded radio shows there, starting in February, 2023. Enjoy spending the next couple weeks listening! There's a lot of stuff there. Keep in mind: I have repeated some of the playlists I have used (mostly "DJ Shay Buttah's Jams"), but a lot of the radio shows I have hosted have arisen from ideas of the kinds of music I want to promote or play for an audience, no matter how small.
