HAWLEY — Co-workers Vito Carella and Bill Lee are both musically inclined, and they have a few gripes with the music industry. When they are not working their day jobs at a satellite communications company, Carella runs a recording studio out of his home and Lee is a singer. The pair has a mutual affinity for genuine musical talent, and together they have laid the groundwork for an internet radio station that will only play the songs of unsigned artists both local and from farther away.

Unsigned Radio is the fruit of their labor, and their website, www.unsignedradio.rocks, although still under construction, has stations ready for your listening pleasure. Carella and Lee have compiled independent artists in several genres including punk rockers Puffy Tongues of Hawley, low-fi pop group Mock Sun of Wilkes-Barre and electronica act The Gary Goblins of Archbald, and they expect to have a fully functional website launched in January.

“Basically what it is, it’s kind of like Pandora, but for unsigned bands only, no major label, no minor label, no anything,” Carella said. “They don’t have to be local as long as they play music.”

Carella said the website will have tabs for different genres of music, which, when clicked, bring up a stream of music in that style.

“I’m going to be putting out a podcast to accompany the site,” Carella said. “We’re going to have a featured artist each month. We’ll get a press kit from them, put their picture up on the site, and I’m going to get them here in my studio, do an interview with them, have them do a live set if they’re willing.”

Carella said the Puffy Tongues will be the first featured act on the website.

“It’s a local band from around here, and they’ve been playing for 15 years … solid punk act,” Carella said. “They’re kind of like local legends around here.”

He described Mock Sun as an experimental band.

“The singer sounds almost like Janis Joplin,” Carella said. “They get funky with it.”

Carella said Unsigned Radio has 10 to 15 bands to be featured on the website, but he and Lee are trying to get as many as possible. Unsigned Radio and Hectic management productions will host the NEPA Musical Mixer VI at 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 2 at the Irish Wolf Pub in Scranton. The evening will include music by Greenfly, DJ McEvil, Adam Bailey and Dulla. Admission is $4.

“It’s just something to get the name out there, for Unsigned Radio, to let people know we exist, so we can start getting more users,” Carella said.

The co-founder of Unsigned Radio talked about the need for such a website.

“The music industry is … awful,” Carella said. “The music isn’t the product anymore. The product is the band. They package them up. They try to produce them for their image, and the music takes a back seat. We want to give an equal opportunity to anyone who makes music to get out there.”

Carella said he and Lee are hoping to give artists some exposure, a spotlight, even for a short while, so their music can reach people.

“There’s millions of bands on social media,” Carella said. “Word of mouth only does so much. If you have a radio station, or at least an internet radio station that people listen to, that they like, they can take something away from that.”

Reach Matt Mattei at 570-991-6651 or mmattei@timesleader.com.

Hawley-based internet radio station to feature independent acts

By Matt Mattei

mmattei@timesleader.com

Unsigned Radio features independent acts like Puffy Tongues, Mock Sun and The Gary Goblins, and will be fully up and running in January.
http://www.theweekender.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_UnsignedRadio2.jpg.optimal.jpgUnsigned Radio features independent acts like Puffy Tongues, Mock Sun and The Gary Goblins, and will be fully up and running in January. Submitted photo