Homoground is a podcast that has been elevating LGBTQ+ musicians through personal stories and songs for almost ten years now. Created back in 2011 by Lynn Casper, the podcast started as a way to promote shows that were happening in their home town of Wilmington, North Carolina.
Growing up in a small town, Casper always had to travel to the closest big city if they wanted to see artists or bands that they liked. When their city eventually started to see venues opening up and bands were coming to town, Casper would go to the shows and started to notice how these bands were playing to empty rooms. People wouldn't go to shows because they didn’t know the bands were performing and consequently bands didn’t really want to come back.
This is when Casper decided to start Homoground as a way to promote different events. They started with local bands and friends and eventually even bands outside of NC started contacting them:
“When I started getting emails from bands and artists that I didn’t know.. That’s when I realized that people were actually listening to the podcast," Casper says.
About a year after starting the podcast, Casper threw an event and had a great turnout. “Seeing people and bands all in the same room, people from out of state.. seeing everyone together, the energy was just amazing. That really helped me realize the potential of what I was doing," Casper proudly stated.
Today, almost 10 years later, Homoground is not only a music podcast but also a safe space for artists to share personal stories and experiences: "I identify as queer and when I was a teenager I didn’t have any access to bands, especially ones that had queer members or women in them. Thanks to the internet I was able to discover bands that I wouldn't have been able to have access to otherwise,” speaking to the lack of inclusivity of LGBTQ+ representation in popular music. “When I was younger when I thought of an LGBT artist I thought about Elton John or Indigo Girls, and while they’re great and have done so much for equality and visibility, I’m more into a different genre of music and I wanted to find more people my age making music that I could relate to. I wanted to create something that I would have loved to have when I was a teenager” they conclude.
Casper: the face behind Homoground
Casper, who just moved to Philadelphia, PA last month from Brooklyn, New York, is a DIY independent Filipinx professional who grew up in North Carolina. They’re not only the face and mind behind Homoground, but they’re also a certified life coach who helps creative minds overcome internal & external blocks that hinder progress on creative projects and life goals. Casper also holds a virtual co-working space for queer creatives three times a week and is the founder of Podcastivist, a podcast incubator that helps independent podcasts grow.
#FunFact: During high school, Casper was on the street team of a music marketing company and was asked to build a fan site for one of the clients. The website was getting thousands of hits and the traffic was insane. Wondering who the client was? Avril Lavigne. Yes, that Avril Lavigne.
To young women and queer people starting out in the music industry
Casper has a special message for young women and queer people trying to make it into the industry:
“Don’t let fear hold you back, even if people are telling you that you’re not gonna make any money doing that or it’s not gonna work out...There’s always gonna be people telling you something negative, but if you know it in your heart that that’s your passion and that’s what you really wanna do, you just need to cancel those voices out.” Casper says. “I listened to those people and I gave up singing,” they add.
“I know it’s scary but you’re gonna feel so much more free if you just don’t listen to the negative and do what you wanna do," Casper concludes. To check out the Homoground podcast and stay updated on what they have going on check out the social links below and see what Casper and their team are up to next.
Subscribe on iTunes
Support Homoground on Patreon
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