The Day His Music Died
A laid-off DJ fires back.
- CHANGING HIS TUNE: Roadsteamer, pre-sacking.
Robby Roadsteamer is a goofball North Shore musician who writes songs with names like "I Put a Baby in You." A couple of years ago, his charisma scored him a regular DJ gig on WBCN. But he wasn't there just to play others' tunes. He started writing music that he thought would fit the station’s tastes, to reach his ultimate goal: getting his music on the air.
It worked once, with a song called "Lost Cat Poster," but that was the most he'd ever get. The station laid him off in May; it reportedly said it wanted a more conventional DJ, which left him with no role there.
Now Roadsteamer has a new album out this month called New England Weathered Friends—and, well, it's not exactly going to score him that airtime he desperately wanted. He is, for the first time in his career, pretty serious. And angry. At 'BCN. "There was nothing held back," he says of the album's handful of songs that lambaste 'BCN as a right-wing, vapid, music-hating corporation. (The station had no comment.) Yet Roadsteamer insists the change is positive. It means that, like all good musicians, he's finally evolving.
It worked once, with a song called "Lost Cat Poster," but that was the most he'd ever get. The station laid him off in May; it reportedly said it wanted a more conventional DJ, which left him with no role there.
Now Roadsteamer has a new album out this month called New England Weathered Friends—and, well, it's not exactly going to score him that airtime he desperately wanted. He is, for the first time in his career, pretty serious. And angry. At 'BCN. "There was nothing held back," he says of the album's handful of songs that lambaste 'BCN as a right-wing, vapid, music-hating corporation. (The station had no comment.) Yet Roadsteamer insists the change is positive. It means that, like all good musicians, he's finally evolving.
Originally published in Boston magazine, September 2008
