I sat down with a cup of coffee and Jon Kruse to chat about about his upcoming KZUM Benefit “The Labor Day Massacre” and his radio show, The Metal Manifesto .
Pam: I think you change the name every year, don’t you?
Jon: Yeah, I’ll give it a different theme every time. Since it’s on Labor Day, I named it the Labor Day Massacre to give it that metal feel.
Pam: So how many benefits is this?
Jon: Including the one I did with the guys from Duffy’s, Bodegas and the Bourbon, we’ve had five events. With the ones I’ve done myself, four. The first one, we raised $900 total. I figured we could do something bigger, so I reached out to Karen at Gray’s Keg and she helped me. I told her I’ve never done anything like this before. The first time in September 2019, we raised close to $1,200 with the “Metal Inquisition”. In February, right before Covid, we did another benefit, which was “Have a Heart” for Valentine’s Day. We raised close to $1,500. We did one last May, the “Mayhem Manifesto” and raised almost $2,000. Every time it’s been a little bit more, we get the word out a little bit more.
Pam: This year’s benefit is only one day. You’ve had it two days in the past. Is it just because of Labor Day weekend?
Jon: It was initially two days but there was a scheduling conflict. Two day is harder for me because I would do (the benefit) on Friday and Saturday. I’d have to leave by 11 o’clock Friday to do my (KZUM) show. I didn’t like the idea of having bands play and I wouldn’t be there. My thoughts are, if I’m the one putting it together, I should be there the whole time. I’d like to do a two day event, but honestly one day works better; It’s more successful.
This show on Labor Day weekend is the only date that Karen had available. Karen thought we might have a hard time getting bands to commit, but I had all the bands committed and almost all the sponsorship money within a day or two. It seems to be getting a little bit easier as I get a little more rapport with the local bands.
Pam: Tell me about sponsors and donations.
Jon: The idea is the money we bring in from the benefit goes to KZUM. We want to keep the costs minimal. Karen at Gray’s Keg sets up the shirt sales through the bar and restaurant and takes on the cost and fees, which is nice. In a way that and using the bar is her donation.
Pam: So who are the other sponsors?
Jon: Suzy Swede is the T shirt company. I’ve used her the last two times. Suzy actually has knocked down the price as her donation for the benefit.
There’s a a guy my wife worked with. He’s a heavy metal fan and owns Justin’s Neighborhood Meats in Beatrice. He has sponsored every single time.
G&G Smoke Shop has done it every time. Joe is one of the owners. He’s in Peace Love and Strychnine. They’ve played almost every benefit.
We also have Cosmic Eye. He did a sponsorship before and with Covid last year didn’t. But he is this year.
I have my roommate, John, he sponsors every year around $250 to $400. On the back of the benefit shirt it says “Metal John”. That’s him.
I’ve had some places like Recycled Sounds and CD warehouse, I know the owners of both of them, they’re not really in a position to donate money, but they’ll give a gift card or something like that.
I get some donations internationally. One guy from the Czech Republic sent me CD’s to use towards a fundraiser. He also bought a shirt and posted photos of him wearing it on Facebook. I had a listener from Singapore that donated $250 and one in Japan that donates about $100 each time. There’s a guy in Puerto Rico that is putting out a solo album. He’s in a band and has a (benefit) shirt. He is doing a video showing the process of making an album. He is going to wear the Metal Manifesto shirt on the video. I do anything I can to get the word out and get people involved.
Pam: What does the money raised go towards?
Jon: The best way to explain it is like alpha media or commercial broadcast media, they get big sponsorships from, for example, Coca-Cola or Pepsi. They pay to get their commercials on the air. KZUM is a nonprofit. There are some government monies they get, but it’s based upon how much money they can get in donations. We set a goal every year of how much money we need to raise. Throughout the year we do four fundraisers. That money goes back into the community.
KZUM does a Stransky Park event, but they also help support events like Jazz in June and Lincoln Calling. In addition to (community events) it goes to equipment repairs. Any equipment that needs to be replaced or refurbished, things like the transmitter. There’s only a few people on staff there. Everybody, including myself, programmers, are volunteers. So we don’t get paid for any of the time we put in. It’s just for the love of what we do.
Pam: So what’s your goal for this benefit?
Jon: I would like to do $2,200 – $2,300. I’d like to see us go above what we did last time. I’ll have shirts on sale online and will have additional ones made for the venue. I did last time and they were sold out by four thirty or five o’ clock on Saturday. It didn’t take long to sell them. Once people see them, even the bands, they will pay the full price, $20. It has all the band logos in the back, it’s promoting the bands. In the past, they’ve done well.
Pam: Who created the design this year?
Jon: Julie Huenink created the picture itself; she drew it up and did a really nice job. Troy from Broken Skulls had done the previous two.
A.J. from Hosting Monsters designed the logo for the show. He created it for a previous show I did; an homage to the singer of Entombed who died. Entomed has always been one of my favorite death metal bands. I had a bunch of Swedish bands send me clips reminiscing of he times they met him. A.J. created a logo for that show. It looked like the Entombed logo. I liked it so much, it stuck. So, that’s the one I’ve been using since. A.J. also did the first one, the “Metal Inquisition”. It was a take on the Spanish Inquisition from Monty Python. They were all demonic faces instead of the python guys.
Pam: I guess I’m going to have to go back and look at my shirt.
Jon: If you’re a Monty Python fan and you remember that skit, the Spanish Inquisition, they’re all dressed in the old Catholic garb. He basically took a silhouette of that picture but instead of their faces, he had demon faces.
Pam: How far out do you typically start working the benefit?
Jon: As soon as I find out when the KZUM fundraiser drive is for that timeframe. We started in May during Give to Lincoln week. If I can, I’ll do it the week where I ask for donations. I talk to Karen at Gray’s Keg and make sure I’ve got a date set. I reach out to the bands. I ask for volunteers, programmers at KZUM, to help at the door and pretty much do everything else on my own. I also reach out to the t shirt lady.
Pam: How do you reach out to bands?
Jon: A lot of times through Messenger and Facebook, because I already interact with a lot of them. When I know the dates, I post on Facebook to see if there’s interest. I’ll reach out to the bands that have done it in the past and maybe some bands that couldn’t do it before. In the short amount of time I’ve done the radio show, I’ve really increased not only my knowledge of the local music scene but my connection with a lot of different folks.
I try to reach out to bands I’ve never heard before and always try to get bands from out of town. Last May I got two bands from Dodge City, Kansas. We’ve been friends forever. For this show, I have a band coming from Joplin, Missouri, Gravehuffer. I’ve been friends with Richie from Gravehuffer for quite some time. He printed and mailed the fliers to me for free through his job.
Pam: How did you get involved with the Metal Manifesto?
Jon: Through my job at Sam’s Club. My friend Joe Harris had a show when he was at the University of Nebraska. He did Heresy on KRNU. It was a metal show. Joe had me come out a few times to guest host with him. I was really nervous the first time. I didn’t say much till the end of the show. Then it just felt natural. He was surprised I’d never done it before. So I was interested in doing that.
We were at a business expo (with a booth) next to Alpha Media and I asked them about programs. They said you don’t have to have a degree. Experience in radio is probably key but don’t need a degree. I then stopped by the KZUM booth and asked them. They said you just have to want to do a show and apply for it. She asked me what I wanted to do. I said I wanted to do an extreme metal show.
I applied and got the spot. Initially it was on Thursday nights from midnight to three, which wasn’t very smart of me because I worked on Friday. By one o’clock I was done, sitting in my chair, going ugh! There was the ability for me to move to Friday night, which I thought would be more beneficial.
The show used to be midnight to two. I would always have so much music lined up and I would never get to play it all because I would run out of time. I asked the program director if I could occasionally stay till three a.m. He said, if you’re going to do that, you just have to do it. So, I went home, told my wife, and after a little bit of glaring and dirty looks she said that’s fine. The worst part for me is I live 40 miles away from Lincoln. I get done with my show at three. By the time I get home and get to bed, it’s four o’ clock. I’ve only missed a handful of shows. Unless the roads are really, really icy, I’ll make an effort.
Pam: That’s pretty impressive that you do all that for free. That’s dedication. You must be really love it.
Jon: My collection. I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of my collection.
Pam: Oh, yeah. So that is all your collection?
Jon: Yup, that’s my basement. Not many people see it other than on Facebook. If I’m not going to do anything with it, it really becomes useless. It’s something I enjoy. I’ve loved music my whole life. I’ve been collecting for a long time. I tried my hand at playing instruments, and I’m OK. At one (benefit) I got up and played. But this is my calling; to support the local music scene. In addition to supporting local, I also support bands from all over the world.
Commercial radio, not by any choice of their own, can’t really play whatever they want. They have to play what’s on Billboard. They have to play what’s popular. Their hands are tired. The only setback for my show is the profanity. If there is profanity in the song, I go in and edit it so I can play it. I would guess 90 percent of the stuff that I play on my show they wouldn’t play on The Blaze.
I had a band from Denmark reach out to me and had me do an audio spot for their newest video. There is a guy in a truck listening to the radio, my voiceover is the guy on the radio. It’s me, “Metal Maniac from KZUM”. There’s a couple different bands that listen to my show every week from the UK and Denmark.
I reached out and did a show “Metal From Asia”. I tried to find a bunch of unsigned bands. I was able to do a three hour show where I played all sorts of different bands. I like the idea of being able to support the local bands. I also liked the idea of being able to bring to light some that people haven’t necessarily heard of.
Pam: I think those are my questions. Is there anything else you want to add about the show?
Jon: If you mention it can be streamed later for two weeks. Also, If there are local bands interested in doing it in the future, all it comes down to reaching out to me on Facebook and sending me an MP3. I don’t judge. I don’t do a review. I don’t get on the air and say, well, that stunk. I play it. There’s always something good in every band. There’s always something good about the songs they play.
Pam: I think everybody has their own flavor. It might not be your flavor, but it might be somebody else’s.
Jon: I try to market (the song) beforehand, letting people know that it’s going on, like Dear Frieda‘s. The last song they just showcased, they played it on The Blaze. I reached out to them and said this is what’s going to play. I posted it. They posted it. The whole idea, my whole goal, is to get more people to listen to the show.
I don’t know who listens on the radio because I don’t have a way to to track that. I can’t see who’s streaming the show. It’s kind of hit or miss on what I really see. I had a guy ask about my KZUM mask at work one day. He asked what show are you promoting? I said, I do a show on Friday night, Metal Manifesto. He said, You’re kidding, right? He said, I listen to your show every Friday night. I get out of my car, go in the garage, you know, because nobody wants to hear it in the house. I listen to your show every week. He called me during the show that Friday night. I couldn’t remember his name, but I shouted out that I met a listener at work. I see people with metal shirts, I tell them about the show. Biggest thing is getting more listeners.
Since I’m doing the volunteer thing, I feel it gives me perspective on how the local bands feel. They put a lot of time and effort into marketing, practicing, putting together the music they do, go out and sometimes play for five people.
To me that’s a lot more disconcerting. That would be harder for me to deal with. I go into the studio, put on my headphones for three hours, crank it up and veg out. It’s my room. This is my station.
The guy, Jared, that does Sunday School on The River listens to my show every week. He always says, hey, dude, I’m listening. So that’s really cool. His format and is very similar to mine. I don’t know that he always goes as deep as as I do, but sometimes he does. He’s hit me up for versions I’ve edited so he can play it too.
Pam: Thank you Jon. I appreciate your time.
Jon: Thank you too.
Labor Day Massacre will be at Gray’s Keg September 4th. Event starts at noon. T-shirts will be available.
Follow Jon Kruse on Facebook for all updates and news on The Metal Manifesto.
Hope to see you there!
Music: Live. Local. Lincoln. 