Features / One Question Interviews

Mike Terry (Jukebox Romantics – vocals/guitar)

SPB: How nervous were you the first time you played a live show?

Terry: The first show I ever played was a basement show. It was basically inviting people over to our band practice in our drummer‘s basement on a Friday afternoon and too many people found out because we were basically …

Jarboe

SPB: What is the “go to” Jarboe keyboard (make/model) and what makes this one so essential for you?

Jarboe: M-Audio PROKEYS88 

Reliable slave / interface for the Mac recording application I use.

Dane Erback (Jetsam-Flotsam)

SPB: What is your favorite 1980s artist? 

Dane: My wife and I run the label together, but I work with the bands and manage production.

This is an easy question. Oingo Boingo is my favorite ‘80s artist. I was born in the ‘80s and my entire childhood pre-elementary school was in that decade. My …

Brianda (Just Friends)

SPB: Did you intentionally choose a name that’s impossible to Google?

Brianda: Hahahahahahaha I had no part in that *three laughing emojis*

Jon Langford

SPB: Besides music, what other arts interest or inspire you?

Jon: I'm up to my earholes in music, art, politics, poetry & history most of the time and find it rich & fruitful to be part of a conversation where all these elements rut for my attention. A radio play by Dylan Thomas, Newport County outplaying …

Jarboe

SPB: Given your long list of collaborations, which is the one band/artist not around anymore that you would have wanted to collaborate on a release with and why? 

Jarboe: The artist with whom a collaboration both adventurous and outside all comfort zones would have been a role in a film by Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell.

…

Just Friends

SPB: What’s the secret to a successful tour?

Sam, Brandon and Avi: Cut the dead weight. Chillers only. You gotta be down for the cause, 100% without doubt. You have to believe in the people around you and they got believe in you. Have their back. Embody the spirit of the road dawg. 

James Burns (Let's Go to Hell: Scattered Memories of the Butthole Surfers)

SPB: In a book such as this, do you aim to capture the spirit of the band as a whole, or via specific windows in time? 

Burns: The Butthole Surfers existed in a time when there was no internet, and literally no way of …

Jxckxlz

SPB: Which of your songs is hardest to play live?

Nathan (vocals): “Trophic Level,” ‘cause I just scream like a manic dog for 5 minutes plus.

Max (drums): “Solace,” as it’s technical, fast and we play it first quite often. Or “Alpha & Omega,” because I’m usually tired as fuck at that point.

Lachlan (guitar): …

Jess Locke

SPB: Where in your hometown do you always bring visitors?

Locke: I'm from Avoca Beach on the Central Coast of New South Wales, AUS. It's a beautiful area of the world but, there's not a whole lot to do there unless you like nature or Shopping Centres. Luckily, I like the former. When I visit, I try …

Jon McKiel

SPB: Do you get nervous before you play a show?

McKiel: Yes, but it really depends on whether I've played the room before, how much practice the band has had leading up, whether or not the sound check was ok, or the PA even exists! Sometimes we sing through our amps and improvise a whole lot, …

Jake Orrall (JEFF the Brotherhood)

SPB: What do you like to do on a tour off date?

Orrall: Masturbate

Jason Lupeituu (Sound engineer, vibe tech, aspiring cook)

SPB: What is the hardest part about a life on the road? What is the best part?

Lupeituu: The hardest part of being on the road is missing and being away from your family, friends, and most important your significant other, and most often things taken for granted are as …

Ian Vanek (Japanther)

SPB: Is there a regional food you look forward to when you tour?

Vanek: We eat regionally, seasonally and locally as much as possible. Japanther also forage for wild food and eat out of dumpsters. We snack on oranges and avocados off the trees in Cali and make green juice in almost every hotel room. …

Joseph Ross Camuglia

SPB: What is the largest crowd you have played to? Did you approach the set differently?

Camuglia: Well, I played a 3 song set at the 25 the Anniversary of Woodstock at the original site in Bethel, NY in 1994 to an estimated crowd of 70,000 people.       

I don't know the exact number except …

Joe Lally (solo artist, Fugazi)
SPB: What is your favorite Roman (food) dish?

Lally: I don't eat cheese or meat so that rules out me knowing about most dishes Romano. I don't know how they came up with such heavy dishes in a place that is hot most of the year.

I can tell you a favourite Italian …

Jello Biafra
SPB: What do you think of bands playing albums in their entirety as a touring concept? Is it a way to reinvigorate the album format?

Biafra: It's a way for someone as versatile as the Melvins to keep playing their hottest towns several times a year, and never play the same set twice.