"DON'T GET SACKED." It's 2013 and Shaun Keaveny is imparting career advice to a bunch of fairly unreceptive Leeds Trinity and All Saints students, a presentation screen flickers uncertainly behind him as he writes in wobbly whiteboard pen.
Everyone in the audience is like who the f*** is Shaun Keaveny? And I'm like, who the heck goes to Trinity, of all places? Born on the 14th of June 1972 (same day as my mum but two years younger), Keaveny is one of the most loved radio DJs of our time, a stop short of being a national treasure. And yes, we childless non-40 something fans of good music, we exist. Hello!
Fast forward to September 15th 2021. Five days ago, episode 644 aired on 6Music. Shaun Keaveny gives his last ever show. He announced his leave in June, with a press release giving the impression that after 14 years, he's decided to move on. I mean, who could blame him? 14 years is a long time and the past two have felt like another one and a half decades of chaos. So anyway, it's only after bequeathing his cart wall to the listeners, in the last 5 minutes that he reveals... He actually got the sack. You had one job, Shaun!
Tch, I dunno. Can't follow your own advice these days, can you?
But maybe now he realises this isn't the advice that's wise to follow? We still don't know the story, perhaps we never will, but clearly Shaun had to make a choice between compromising his principles and getting the sack.
The Lineup by Shaun Keaveny is a music interview podcast. Guests are invited to envision their idilic festival lineup. But it doesn't stop there! Shaun dives straight in... Awkward moments, the catering and the squad. Oh, and drugs. It would be a little naive to think a podcast about festivals wouldn't touch on the subject of psychedelics. He throws the book straight out the window.
In this show, titled Ayahuasca, Egos & Emotional Mormons, Keaveny is joined by Dan Reynolds, lead singer of Imagine Dragons. The virtual genie takes us to Imagine Festival, set in Las Vegas, Dan's hometown. He compares Las Vegas to heaven and hell, great start. He has to choose five acts, living or dead to perform there, he tries to make the lineup as contrasting as possible. It's a pleasure to hear Dan go through each act, as he has clearly given the questions some thought and each act has a special significance to him and Imagine Dragons.
It would've been nice to hear more music, but this podcast held my attention and succeeded in my learning more about the background of Imagine Dragons, and getting me out of bed and out of the house on my walk to work. Born Mormon, ex-Eagle Scout, influenced by Hip-Hop and Pop, he grew up with no cable TV and draws attention to the fact many of Las Vegas most successful rock acts have a Mormon background.
His theory on Mormonism and music is that the faith breeds angsty teens who put their emotions to music. And yes, Win Butler of Arcade Fire does have a Mormon background. His brother Will based his latest solo album, Generations, largely on their family history. A story to come back to.
Credit to Shaun for asking the questions, allowing Dan the space to give and reflect on his answers. This is a show which prompts the listener to reflect on their ideal lineup, it comes at a time where some of us are emerging from the cuccoon and entering festival land again, while the rest of us dream on. I will be tuning in again very soon.
Dan Reynolds describes himself as straight edge and not a typical festival goer, but it's his kind of festival. Shaun goes, "I'm an introverted extrovert... Or the other way around, I can't remember which way it is?" with The Beatles, Alanis Morissette and Harry Nilsen in the line up, I'm down! I'm not a fan of Kendrick Lamarr but I'm still listening.
I reckon 8 years later his advice, DON'T GET SACKED might be altered. Shaun's quick to recovery. This is the same man who survived Burley Park after all, where he lived during his time at Trinity. "I hope it's been gentrified somewhat since then... Oh it hasn't?" Very amusing. NO. It hasn't Shaun, I used to live there, back in 2019 when I studied at Leeds Arts University. He's survived the sack. He got his head out of the covers and now he's back creating. Maybe it's no so bad after all. New possibles come to mind:
Don't stay in a toxic environment
Stand up for your beliefs
Don't try to please the crowd?
I'll tell you, all this talk of Mormons and Burley Park is giving me vivid flashbacks to the time I was chatted up twice by a random Mormon dude from Las Vegas on the 56 bus that stopped outside the mosque and took me to my Wednesday YouthStrike meeting. Twice. That was a weird summer. Simpler times. Like Shaun, I have also moved down South to pursue a media career in my twenties.
"We wanna be free and we wanna do what we wanna do!"
After this show, I have faith Shaun will grow into the feeling of this newfound freedom, this being completely his own boss thing. Without SLT breathing down his neck, I think this push has caused an opportunity for him to innovate and be as creative as he likes, without having to worry about staying family friendly on an afternoon primetime slot for the BBC.
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