This week marks 10 years since Lokal Loudness moved from ink to the web. With an anniversary show coming up on Thursday (8pm @ The Playground), I turned the tables on LL’s mastermind, John “Stoney” Cannon, and asked him some questions for a change.

Stoney – this week you’re celebrating your 10th year online.What’s the biggest difference between LL then and LL now?

SC – Hmmm…biggest difference?  Well we actually have a talented webmaster now!  Seriously!  The website is so much more streamlined and news oriented.  I think that moving to an online format in 1998 has also helped as far as getting the word out to the community.  I think the fact that many of the boundaries seperating different types of music in Augusta being broken down creating a tighter music community has also made a big difference on how Lokal Loudness operates.

Full Disclosure: I’m the webmaster, but I didn’t ask him that question on purpose, and I totally didn’t expect him to say that.

I know that LL was in print before going online in ’98. When did you first start LL and what was that original inception like?

SC – The first “print” issue of Lokal Loudness came out on February 10th, 1992.  That first issue was a culmination of a few years of ideas.  It was huge as far as WE are concerned but the initial impact on lokal music was pretty minimal.

What was your original vision for LL and how has that changed?

SC – The original idea was just to create something to expose a part of the arts community that was, at the time, being virtually ignored by larger Augusta print media.  The idea wasn’t to be THE voice of the music scene but to do our part and hopefully help influence others to do the same.  Nowdays those “other” print guys feature lokal music on a regular basis.  Maybe we’ve helped to influence that maybe not.  Either way it’s cool to be able to pick up a paper and read about cool Augusta artists.

You do a lot of interviews on the site with all sorts of bands and artists connected to Augusta’s music scene. What would you say has been your favorite interview?

SC – WOW!  That’s a tough one because each has been unique.  For those who don’t know, most of our interviews have been done through emails but on the rare occassion I’ve had to sit on the phone and try and keep up while someone’s talking on the other line.  I’ve done a few in person with  a tape recorder and it can be a pain going back through all that tape!  I do remember one year, I believe it was for a print version, I wanted to interview Joe Stevenson when People Who Must were kicking it hard.  Joe refused to do the email thing so I had to bring the tape recorder to Squeaky’s Tip Top and interview Joe and guitarist John Kolbeck.  Going back over that tape was quite the chore!  Chris Hardy did try and spray me down with mustard when I interviewed Nervous Boy!

You also do album reviews when new lokal releases drop. In the past 10 years, what stands out as the best album you’ve reviewed?

SC – Man you’re really trying to get me to think!  There have been so many great releases the past 10 years.  Hmmm?  I don’t know if I can say it was the best but my favorite CD over the past 10 years would probably have to be the SIlver Dash Music CD.  Great songs, superb production, incredible harmonies.  Well…now that I think about it…I listen to former Augusta singer-songwriter Steven Jackson’s second CD at least a few times a week.

This year, you started a new segment on the website called “Reverberations” – essentially an Augusta Music History 101. What was your inspiration for that?

SC – When I got involved with putting together a board for a music museum here in Augusta, which by the way is STILL gonna happen, I started getting interested in the deeper history side of music in Augusta.  What pushed me the rest of the way was seeing an article in Flagpole magazine where they spotlight past bands by interviewing the members, tracing their history all the way up to what the members are doing now.  The hope is to do something like that starting in 2009 and making 101 a seperate thing.  You can actually read the complete Augusta Music 101 in the Verge newspaper every month so hats off to them.

LL went from print to online, had a store for a while, has LoudTV on YouTube… what other venues are in LL’s future?

SC – Well the two most important missions for Lokal Loudness are to expose great music in the CSRA and support community charities through music events.  I cannot express how grateful I am for all the bands who have given of their time and talent to make a difference in the community, not only through Lokal Loudness events, but events such as 12 Bands of Christmas, Rock & Roll Circus, etc.  Coming up it looks like we will be teaming up with Confederation of Noisemakers again, this time for a weekly online talk show.  I’m also working on a 24/7 online programming version of LOUDtv which will feature not just lokal music, but impact sports and high energy music from all over.  The larger empasis will of course be on Augusta music.

What has been your biggest accomplishment with LL in the past 10 years?

SC – Now THAT’S easy!  Still being here and still trying to remain relevant.  I’ve seen other print and online media promoting lokal music come and go and somehow we’re still here.  We’ve been blessed so far.  We almost gave up in 1998 and stumbled across the internet.  Now here we are, thanks to many great folks, 10 years later!  While I’m so proud of how successful the annual awards have become, it’s the voters, musicians, and music lovers in Augusta that have made it what it is.  We just throw it out there, Augusta picks it up and runs with it.

How have you seen the lokal music scene change in these 10 years?

SC – Incredibly consistent growth.  Downtown’s rebirth has played a huge part in that growth.  I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention the unwavering contributions of people like Coco Rubio, Joe Stevenson, and countless others who believe just as stongly as we do.  During our first 10 years covering lokal music bands like People Who Must, Impulse Ride and Snapdragon reached the next level of indie label success and Billionaire, featuring former members of Hundred year Sun, released a pretty big major international album and did some major touring with pretty heavy airplay.  In just the past two years we’ve seen bands from Augusta and bands with people from Augusta do everything from getting signed to indie labels to rocking out on national TV.  The talents always been there.  Some say that the internet makes it easier now but when a million bands are out promoting their music it still takes someone special with the drive to work hard to get to the next level and beyond.

What’s in store for the next 10 years of LL?

SC – Well in 3 1/2 years Lokal Loudness will be celebrating 20 years covering Augusta music.  That’s freaking INSANE!  It seems like just yesterday that we were celebrating 10 years of existence, now we’re celebrating 10 years of being online!  This December we will present our 15th Rocking the Stocking event!  We’ve been planning ahead and we’d like to release a two CD set of Augusta music from 1992-2012 to celebrate 20 years.  It’s really about the music and that’s really what we should celebrate.  I guess sometime in the next 10 years we could be celebrating a quarter century in Augusta.  But that’s still a long way off.  Let’s get through 2008 first!

Thanks, Stoney. As a musician, I truly appreciate Lokal Loudness – the shows, the bringing together of musicians from all different genres, and the comeraderie you help build. I love reading the interviews, the history, and the news from the lokal Augusta music scene. Keep up the good work!

For more about the 10 Years Online Anniversary Party @ The Playground, read Stoney’s post here or check out the lokal music scene calendar at http://lokalloudness.org/calendar/.