In the third of our short series taking a look at some of the podcasts that – one way or another – cover elements of Korean Cinema, we catch up with the ‘Podcast On Fire Network’…
Probably the first English-language podcast dedicated to Asian cinema, Podcast On Fire has grown from an untitled one-man recording into a fully blown network of shows covering a wide range of Asian films: from big-budget Hong Kong and Korean blockbusters and the beauty of Studio Ghibli down to the darker, lesser known and seedier corners of Category III film. Founded by Stewart Sutherland – the voice on the mic for that original solo effort – the Podcast On Fire show soon became the work of a threesome as he was joined by Kenneth Brorsson and Mike Banner, forming the Network’s central ‘Magnificent Trio’. Over time various spin-off shows have emerged with different areas of focus, including a podcast dedicated solely to Korean cinema. Each of the shows on the network vary in some way but they usually consist of informal – sometimes very colourful! – chat which occasionally (and interestingly) slides off-topic before returning back to the main subject. Although each of the podcasts on the network can be listened to and enjoyed on their own merit, there’s the growing sense that all of the shows as a group form a bigger picture – a large scale exploration and celebration of Asian cinema. With their flagship Podcast On Fire podcast having recently passed their 100th episode the network has proven to be a highly prolific team, so I asked Stewart Sutherland and Kenneth Brorsson about the origin of the show and it’s subsequent growth…
[Martin Cleary] Can you introduce yourself and talk a little about how you became interested in producing a podcast and how the show originated?
[Stewart Sutherland] I got caught up in the Podcast craze when it kicked off 4-5 years ago and I had managed to find a suitable podcast for all of my current interests at the time. The only gap in the market was Asian Cinema podcasts. I couldn’t find any current podcasts or movie podcasts that focused purely on Asian Cinema.
So I thought, fuck it! I’ll put on a headset and have a blether. The name Podcast On Fire never originated until 4 or 5 episodes in, I was referring to the show as “Untitled Asian Film Podcast #001”, we ran polls on various Asian Cinema websites looking for a suitable name, obviously playing on current titles and seeing which would work best, the clear winner was Podcast on Fire, taking a rip on films such as City on Fire and Prison on Fire.
[Kenneth Brorsson] At the time I was sooooooo in favour of The Podcast Cometh but realizes now it was not the snappiest of titles. I at any rate am a mainly Hong Kong cinema fan in a country (Sweden) that doesn’t provide one such with material. Sure there was TV-screenings of John Woo movies such as Bullet In The Head that blew me away and I had generous parents who bought me several VHS releases from UK label Made In Hong Kong but I got out of the interest for a while until I found out you could buy movies cheaply on Hong Kong DVD. It allowed bulk purchases, it re-ignited my interest and I got on the path of wanting to write about these movies. Hence in 2002 sogoodreviews.com was started and over the years it’s slowly found its identity. From writing about almost everything recent and naughty, I’ve now cut the focus down to a mix of Category III (mostly) sex movies, 70s/80s Hong Kong horror, the forgotten Taiwan New Wave of the 70s/early 80s and ninja cut and paste action from IFD. It’s my mix for sure, an eclectic one but it’s mine and a damn fun one. Almost all movies are also video reviewed at sleazykvideo.com
I don’t think I’d properly heard of podcasts until I saw Stoo advertise on a forum we both frequented that he was trying it out. It sparked ideas in me and it really was the chance to finally talk to likeminded people about very specialized cinema. I had introduced movies to friends way back in the 90s when I got into this stuff but it had not been like that for a number of years. So meeting up with Stoo on episode 2 started the ball rolling. He had a format in mind, it evolved over time, hosts were added and here we are today, we’re an expanding network of Asian cinema talk.
[MC] Can you describe the format of the show?
[Stewart] I really just scalped the idea from a video game podcast, discussing our recently watched movies and then going onto to discuss a certain topic, answer questions or quiz a guest. KISS – Keep it Simple Stoo!
[Kenneth] Simple in our case leads to surprise content. It’s certainly the case now with Podcast On Fire being the anchor show that it should retain the classical structure. So with the addition of shows like Commentary On Fire, What’s Korean Cinema?, This Week In Sleaze etc, they have a specific focus, most of the time research work is behind them so in a way they’re not surprising, but they offer up that break from golden chit-chat to our desire to inform ourselves and listeners about movies and subjects on their particular show on the network. Usually a show focusing on a movie goes over the bio’s of noteable cast and crew, our impressions on them and then into a discussion of the film at hand. Which sounds simple too but is more expansive.
[MC] Being one of the first – if not, the first – podcast to focus on Asian cinema, did you aim for a particular tone or audience for the show and is that something that you consider when recording today?
[Stewart] I think the tone of the show on my part has fluctuated over the years, when rarely listening to past episodes I seem quite removed, others I sound like a dick and most recently I seemed to have had a shot of adrenaline, screaming jingles etc.
I think our mixture of hosts can make the show relate to anyone to be honest, I’m usually the dumb but lovable rogue, Ken drops the knowledge and the sleaze and Mike Banner is the funny man.
[Kenneth] I think the tone definitely has changed over the years once we got comfortable, once we realized the potential and once we realized we can let a particular night’s banter just take us anywhere. It may sound like we lack structure but it’s not the case. I’ve always said the tone was very formal in the beginning and then that train got derailed and we earned the ‘Explicit’ tag that is on our show. I’m not sure I’ve changed myself other than the fact that the show (and the network) inspires me to write, inspires me to research, to talk and to further a message I am in a position to further. The world may not care about Richard Harrison and the ninjas movies he starred in, but at least for my – and other co-hosts benefit – we’ll be changing that and I guess a change of tone will be (and has been noticed on This Week In Sleaze) as I’m now in my element talking of what is 110% fun all the time.
[MC] Are there any other podcasts that have particularly inspired or influenced you?
[Stewart] Again it’s really listening to various podcasts around the world that keep burning the coals for me to churn on with the show, I constantly find things that I would love to bring up and exploit etc.
[Kenneth] For easy listening pleasure I always turn to Kevin Smith’s Smodcast Network but he’s certainly inspired me to go out there and create, chase whimsy’s as he’s put it, but seeing the community of Asian Cinema podcasts grow since we started inspires and influences for sure. Listening to East Screen West Screen, VCinema, Podcast Without Honor And Humanity talk passionately about what they love – it’s definitely a fuel even though that fuel goes into a subject on our network not at ALL related to where it came from. So I guess enthusiasm, a positive nature and creativity always gets to me.
[MC] While the Podcast On Fire show is largely concerned with Hong Kong cinema, you do also touch on film from other countries. A while ago you began launching additional podcasts to cover these in more detail. Can you talk a little about this how this came about and introduce each of the shows?
[Stewart] Ken brought this back to my attention when recording Podcast on Fire 100. When we are “Off Air” we generally chat like all blokes do and Me and co-host Mike Banner spun off into a tangent on Japanese Cinema, which grew into a Podcast on Fire special, which then broke out of control during Kaiju season and eventually became its own entity. Commentary on Fire was another show that was the occasional ‘one off’ special. I think the whole network really kicked off with Ken and Jared starting up This Week in Sleaze, it was a different focus of film, different structure, running times went onto crazy amounts and it didn’t have me! Because if we have a network of shows and 6/6 of them are just me and Ken talking, it isn’t really a network is it?
[Kenneth] It goes hand in hand with the theme that we let our banter and chemistry take us places. It’s persons of passion and creativity getting together and it can turn into things, like our network. The Japan On Fire shows inspired me as it was a chance to discover cinema I haven’t because time is short and I’m buried deep into other country’s cinema. But if I have it on my work-list to get one screened for a show, to review it, that’s my motivation and the Japan On Fire series really came from an honest place where we felt new to every genre we touched upon. The epic Kaiju special (6 parts) had me rediscover one of my favourite aspects of Japanese cinema and talking to really passionate guests about their love was such a treat. Commentary On Fire was an honest attempt at tackling the form which is reliant on timing and keeping the flow going. As we usually do these in one take, therein lies the challenge and I think we’ve done fairly well mixing up our researched info and fun. This Week In Sleaze just felt natural and doable and with my co-host King Who?, you’ve got two people together in a room having wild discussions about wild, adult Hong Kong cinema but it’s possibly the most structured show as we see it as an opportunity (to exploit if you will) to discover exploitation cinema of the past too.
[MC] Additionally you have the ‘What’s Korean Cinema?’ podcast. Can you talk a little about how this show originated and your thoughts about it?
[Stewart] This came up as a joke one episode with Ken occasionally interrupting deep meaningful conversations on Korean Cinema to spout the simple, very simple enquiry of “What’s Korean Cinema?” – it’s almost akin to Scott Mosier exclaiming that “There’s so many to choose from!”. We rounded up various figures of the Korean Cinema online community, Martin from New Korean Cinema, Rufus from cineAWESOME! & Paul from Hangul Celluloid and just had round table discussions on some of the staples of Korean Cinema.
[Kenneth] Again, silliness that grew into something very worthwhile and also I’m very thankful to get a chance to be on such a show as it has (mostly) involved discovering gems but I can take a backseat and listen to passionate people talk in an inspirational manner about what they cherish and love. Again, the network and our fellow podcasters fuel me more than you can ever imagine so a big thank you!
I’m planning in season 2 to take the show into directions that suit my tastes a bit more, which will probably involve some Korean Kaiju (Yongary, Pulgasari) but also some of contemporary favourites that might not get a spot on this series of 6 shows (unless that changes, Stoo?).
[MC] So far on ‘What’s Korean Cinema?’ you’ve covered My Sassy Girl, The Chaser, Welcome To Dongmakgol and Friend. How do you decide which films you’re going to cover?
[Stewart] It’s a audience participation – we throw up choices on and for which they would want to listen to more etc. and the choices put out there are made up of films I really just want to yap about.
[Kenneth] But in par it also comes from Stoo’s own choices and desire of what films to cover as they mean so much to him. Most of which I’ve never seen and wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for the show. I am not entirely grateful I had to sit through My Sassy Girl but let’s keep the tone positive here. There’s a reason we sign the show off with a ‘Too fucking long’-statement.
[MC] As well as the podcast itself you also have a blog and a forum, can you tell us a little about that?
[Stewart] The blog easily died 6 months ago, a podcast is hard to maintain as well as a blog with daily posts etc. The forum though I think we can be proud of, we managed to get a great bunch together over there and with our Members Only Section it is a real hook to convince people to sign up and listen to more Podcast on Fire content.
[Kenneth] I don’t see that as a bad thing because like I described above, I narrowed down my focus when it came to writing. We or YOU had to do that too to manage the balance between life and a podcaster. The Members Only section is indeed a great way to extend the Podcast On Fire experience as we nowadays try to post meatier extras there like exclusive movie reviews not heard on the shows, bonus commentary etc. All for free for registered members on the forum.
[MC] Are there any episodes that you can pinpoint as favourites?
[Stewart] I’m a huge fan of Christmas specials and the bunch we recorded were always fun. One year it was me and Ken talking film and me audibly munching on Quality Street throughout, another year Mike Banner hosted a Christmas Quiz between Me, Ken and James Aylmore. Last year I recorded a Christmas special with the dudes over at VCinema Show, talking our favourite films of the year and knocking back Jack Daniels!
[Kenneth] Those certainly always turned out well, I agree. It’s a nice end to the year without it feeling like a random, loose podcast that should never be published. I’m very proud of commentaries such as the one for the Chow Yun-fat genre bender Scared Stiff, me and King Who’s This Week In Sleaze specials on Naked Killer, Sex And Zen, the Kaiju special over at Japan On Fire as it was so much EASY work but to be honest with you, I tend to go back to What’s Korean Cinema? more often than not for reasons I described above. I may be on them but I feel more like a listener in the case of those shows.
[MC] What lies in store for the future of the Podcast On Fire Network?
[Stewart] More Podcasts unfortunately! I’ll let Ken do the roll call for the Future.
[Kenneth] The Podcast On Fire Network is a bit of a beast in the making. As I went through some rewiring of my brain, I made room for creativity, possibilities and that has led to the creation of at least 4 new shows: The Director’s Series will give insight into movies you didn’t think certain directors even had on their resume, IFD On Fire will shed some light into the business machine that was IFD as they pumped out dozens of these ninja movies and the as of yet titled Taiwan movies series (preliminary title Taiwan Black Movies) will focus on the Taiwan cinema of the late 70s/early 80s that is not talked of today. Lots of fantasy, exploitation and creativity to be found there. And the 4th… I’ll let Stoo describe that one below.
We’ve also recently added a few new co-hosts (Tom Kent-Williams and David Harris) to take on the workload required and more may be coming.
[MC] So how do people listen to the show and where can they find you online?
[Stewart] Ken…
[Kenneth] www.podcastonfire.com and you can subscribe to our iTunes feed as well as listen to us on Sticher Radio’s mobile application. Just type in Podcast On Fire Network and you can add each show individually.
[MC] Finally, what’s with the Ekin Cheng obsession?
[Stewart] I’ve been wondering that myself, KEN…
[Stewart] Nah, in all honesty I just like a lot of his movies. I bought a 2nd hand copy of Stormriders which turned out to be a great film, A Man Called Hero was mad fun and I took a chance on Young & Dangerous after it was hailed as “A Better Tomorrow for the 90’s” and I really enjoyed the film and the characters, enough so that I bought a knock off boxset, then rebought the originals and wrote a in-depth article detailing the series, then rewrote the article for Impact Magazine and then rewrote the article AGAIN for Jade Screen Magazine! Yes we are launching the ‘Ekin Cheng podcast: The Ekin Hour’ as well.
[MC] Thanks for taking the time to talk to me and I wish you all the best for the future.
[Stewart] Cheers, Martin!
[Kenneth] Thank you, Martin for the opportunity.
