Tainted Reality

Infobox Radio Show
show_name = Tainted Reality


imagesize =
caption =
format = J-Rock, Goth
runtime = 3 hours (approximately)
creator = Roger Shackelford
writer = Roger Shackelford
executive_producer = Roger Shackelford
starring = Roger Shackelford
ex-members = Charles Buckner, Craig Keristia
country = flagicon|United States United States
first_aired = Septermber 2005
last_aired = Present
num_episodes =
website = http://taintedreality.net
home_station = WIXQ
podcast =

Tainted Reality is a Japanese and goth rock music show that airs currently on "The Tainted Reality Internet Radio Network". It was founded by Roger Shackelford, former host of Bad Transitions with a goal of "promoting J-Rock and Goth to the masses" and being completely fan oriented. The show, starting in May 2006, expanded into a very successful tour organization company, similar to JHouse Rock.

Overview

Tainted Reality started as a show that played an equal amount of Jrock and Goth music, but around February 2006, switched over to an almost entirely J-Rock format. They are known for being devoted to their large, world-wide fan base – made possible via internet simulcast – by honoring musical requests, holding contest, giving away prizes to listeners, promoting people to call the DJ, and having an AOL Instant Messenger Screen Name so fans can chat with the DJs during the show.

In October 2006, the fan response became so overwhelming, the show switched over to an almost entirely request based format. Tainted Reality is also known for in depth interviews and has conducted interviews with high profile Japanese artists such as MUCC, YOSHIKI, and Dir en grey, as well as many others.

In May 2006, Tainted Reality opened the doors of its tour organization division, dedicated to brining J-Rock bands to the United States. They announced their first US tour with J-Rock band BLOOD soon after. The tour was held in August 2006 and was sold out. Currently, Tainted Reality manages the US operations of J-Rock bands BLOOD, Suicide Ali, The Candy Spooky Theater, Versailles, and GPKism.

In May 2007, Tainted Reality left college radio and in June that same year, started their own internet radio station. The station is broadcasted from the organization's website, and airs a variety of J-Rock formated shows, with "Tainted Reality" proper airing on Thursday nights. "Tainted Reality" has since spawned two spin-off shows. "Tainted Reality Talkshow", a talk show that covers a variety of topics, and "TR: Incognito", a show dedicated to underground J-Rock, and J-Rock unknown by the American fan base.

how history

The idea of Tainted Reality started on the show Bad Transition, a heavy metal and formally Jrock show (the show no longer plays Jrock following Roger’s departure) which broadcast on college radio 91.7 WIXQ FM, There are two versions of the reason for Roger’s departure. Tainted Reality’s official Myspace ( http://www.myspace.com/taintedrealityradio )simply states that Roger discussed forming his own show with the other members of Bad Transitions, suggesting a mutual decision for him to go solo. However, the Bad Transitions Myspace claims that Bad Transitions co-creator, Andrew Wieler, had grown disgusted with the rising popularity of J-Rock, and constantly attacked the genre and its fans on the air forcing Roger off of the show. Which ever version you believe, Roger left Bad Transitions at the end of its first season and formed Tainted Reality, taking a vast majority of Bad Transitions' fan base with him.

Tainted Reality first aired in September 2005 with co-host Charles Buckner, and occasional guest host Craig Keristia (who also replaced Roger on Bad Transitions). The show had a strong following from the beginning, and word about the show spread quickly throughout the Jrock community.

Their first interview came in October 2005 with then unknown Visual Kei band Suicide Ali. This was the first demonstration of Tainted Reality’s influence as the interview helped propel the band into stardom. In the following months, they would conduct several more interviews including author Josephone Yun, Coaltar of the Deepers, seek and Aya of Psycho le Cemu and D’espairsRay.

A few months into the show, co-host Charles Buckner started appearing on the show less and less. Eventually he stopped showing up completely. No explanation was ever given, and Roger announced in February 2006 that the show would be looking for a new co-host. Charles has yet to be replaced, but is still credited as staff for the show as "Big Help Behind the Scenes". A few months later, Craig also stopped appearing on the show. Almost immediately following an incident where the Tainted Reality Myspace was hacked, Craig was removed from the staff listing. It is assumed that he was somehow involved in the hacking, but no official announcement was ever made regarding either Craig, or the hacking.

May 2006 was a big month for the show. First, it was announced that the show had struck up a partnership with Jrock promotion company JHouse Rock. A week later, they announced a partnership with XM Satellite Radio show Iron Otaku. However, the big news arrived later that month with the announcement that they would be opening a tour organization division. The tour organization division was bringing over BLOOD (Japan) in August 2006 for a showcase tour, similar to Dir en grey’s March US Tour. This was a bench mark for the show as the tour sold out – making Tainted Reality a household name for Jrock fans.

In August 2006, Tainted Reality made their first ever LIVE appearance at Otakon 2006 with partner Iron Otaku. There, they interviewed Nana Kitade, Mucc, and Jrock legend YOSHIKI. Their interview with MUCC was later released on MUCC’s DVD, "Horizont". Tainted Reality also DJ’ed LIVE to thousands of Otakon 2006 attendees in which they debuted Suicide Ali’s first ever single “THIS NEW ORDER” to the US, and held Otakon’s first ever Jrock Rave.

Tainted Reality’s second season began in September 2006, where they aired their 3 Otakon interviews, an interview with BLOOD (Japan) where they announced another US tour in March 2007, and an interview with Dir en grey.

After a short break for the holidays, Tainted Reality began airing on the 18th of January 2007. At this time they kicked of the New Year with an interview with the popular Jrock band, The Candy Spooky Theater. After the interview, Roger announced that The Candy Spooky Theater had agreed to become associated with Tainted Reality Tour Organization Division. A successful tour followed in May of that year.

In February 2007, Tainted Reality held an interview with world wide infamous Jrock band Dir en grey. Also in February, Roger successfully DJ’ed Katsucon 13. BLOOD's second tour with Tainted Reality proved to be their most successful US tour to date, earning the band much recognition with the American J-Rock fan base. At the end of the season, all rumors of ill-blood between Roger and his former Bad Transitions co-host, Andrew, were put to rest when he was invited on the show for a hilarious, half our long "Who Would Win in a Fight" debate between The Hulk, Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man in anticipation for Spider-Man 3. Roger and another co-host chose Batman, while Andrew and another co-host chose Spider-Man.

After the end of their 2006-2007 season, Roger ignited several rumors once again when he showed up talking to fans in the line of Jrock Revolution Festival I several days before the event, leading many to speculate that Tainted Reality was there to interview the artists. The rumors were confirmed when the day of Jrock Revolution; a sound bite of Miyavi doing a "station ID" appeared on the Tainted Reality Myspace. ( http://www.myspace.com/taintedrealityradio ) Hours later, the official website (http://www.taintedreality.net ) was updated announcing not only an interview with Miyavi, but interviews with several other unnamed artists, and the creation of a new online J-Rock radio station. () 22:49, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Other Projects

ailor Moon

In September 2006, Tainted Reality announced that they were penning a screenplay for a film adaptation of Sailor Moon, and would release the first draft online. No news has been posted about the project since, unfortunately. 2 rumors have surfaced about the project's inactivity. One is that it is on indefinite hiatus due to Tainted Reality's massive expansion in recent months. The other is that they has already begun shopping around the first draft to potential buyers, and are under preassure to keep the rest of the screenplay under wraps.

Film and Promotional Video Production

After Tainted Reality was first announced in May 2005, they announced their first project, which was the production of a Promotional Video (PV), or Music Video for BLOOD. However, the project never saw the light of day as BLOOD's guitarist, Kiwamu, fell ill the day of the shoot.

Tainted Reality did later go on to produce a documentary of Otakon 2006, which has yet to be released, but a trailer has been released on YouTube [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR_Kg6FSnG4 here] . They also released a video version of their interview with Yoshiki.

Tainted Reality also produced and directed the DVD on BLOOD's "Les Fleurs Du Mal" album entitled "Darkest Labyrinth Vol. 1".

References

* [http://www.taintedreality.net Official website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/taintedrealityradio Official MySpace page]
* [http://jrockeventsusa.com/articles/tr07_interview.html Website JrockEvents USA Interview]