Features / One Question Interviews

Pistoleros

SPB: What is a city or country that you would love to play but never have? 

Lawrence Zubia: Tokyo, Japan

Mark Zubia: Paris!

Mike McGinnis (Plaque Marks-guitar/vocals)

SPB: Has being on a stage regularly changed your social interactions? Are you more/less social because of your stage experience?

Mike: Not in anyway that's very noticeable. I'd say if it has changed my social interactions then it's happened like a callous that slowly builds over time. You would think it would make someone …

SPB: Has the change to more headphone listening of music changed you compose or mix your work?

Higgins: I can't say that the prevalence of headphones per se has changed how I compose or mix, but in general I am always very concerned by the spatial and immersive quality of my recordings, aiming for maximum depth and a sense …

Sean Arenas 

SPB: What song would you want played at your funeral? 

Sean: It took me a bit to decide what song because I don't want something totally depressing playing at my funeral.

So, I figured Tom Waits' "Anywhere I Lay My Head" perfectly combines both the downbeat and the upbeat. Waits' gravelly vocals and vagabond …

Emmett (Pkew Pkew Pkew – bass/vocals)

SPB: Winter touring in Canada: yes or no?

Emmett: Definitely tour in the winter in Canada. Sure you have to take it easy on the roads, but you can just leave all your beers in the van the entire time and they stay cold!

Peter Case

SPB: I just finished reading the book you released in 2006, As Far As You Can Get Without A Passport, loved it and your stories of your youth as you made your way to California. Any chance you will be adding to it or writing a complete autobiography in the future?

Case: Well, yes, I …

Luke Henshaw (Planet B)

SPB: How has the increasing digitalization of music changed how you listen or record?

Henshaw: To me, with the increasing digitalization of music, a lot of what I hear is all sounding the same and I’m having a hard time differentiating who's who. There’s no creativity with the production. Everyone's sharing and using the …

Dave Castillo (Primitive Weapons)

SPB: What is the weirdest description you’ve heard others say of your music/ Do you think it’s accurate or do you see where it came from?

Castillo: The weirdest way we've been described was as a spacey doom band. WTF is that?

Shane Mclachlan (Phobia)

SPB: What is the most thankless job in the music industry?

Mclachlan: Well, as for me being a vocalist, I'm the guy everybody wants to talk shit on, spit on, and blame everything on. Nobody fucks with the bass player: he is always the nice guy. So my job is thankless in the sense of …

Patti Yang

SPB: Do you feel your experiences growing up in Communist Poland have shaped your views on the relationship between politics and art?

Yang: Art has always served as a powerful form of commentary on politics and on society. Back in the communist Poland anything released to the public had to go through strict censorship which made …

Dave Curran (Pigs, Unsane)

SPB: What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long tour?

Curran: I curl up in fetal position and sleep for 5 days. Then I go on tour again...

Zach (Pears)

SPB: Who is the best band happening in New Orleans right now?

Zach: The best band happening in Nola right now is a country band called Yes Ma'am. They busk on Royal Street and are planning on touring in the fall if they can get enough money together to buy a limousine. Yes, this is real …

Hugo Mudie (Powernap)

SPB: What is an oreosmith?

Mudie: When I was a kid I had an uncle who worked for Christie (the company that makes the Oreos). His name was Danny Mudie. When Areosmith released the Pump album, the Oreo brand was going to make Steve Tyler shaped cookies. One cookie in every 100 boxes or so. …

Pharaoh

SPB: To what extent does ritual/tradition/mythology play a part in Pharaoh's music?

Pharaoh: We met and grew up for the most part in Catholic schools together. Every day as kids we prayed with everyone else before class, got dragged to church, sang the songs. Drinking blood and eating flesh between math and study hall. They don't try …

Port of Sound Records

SPB: How important is it to set yourself apart from other stores on Record Store Day?

PoS: Most importantly, we work months ahead of the actual date, reaching out to all sorts of labels and distributors so that we can get every title in stock. We open up early at 5am, and make sure …

Joel Tannenbaum (Plow United, The Rentiers, Ex Friends)

SPB: As a musician, do you find terminology such as “side project” to be relevant to you in any way?

Tannenbaum: In my experience, once a band starts being perceived as a side project, it's pretty much dead. So yeah, I'd say I find the term to be highly relevant!

Daniel Pujol (Pujol)

SPB: If you could re-record one song, what would it be?

Pujol: Honestly, any song of mine I feel has been inadequately captured or presented I will try to rerecord. Or remix. Or record live. There is usually a high level of intent going into a composition, and if that intent is strongly miscommunicated, then …

Pinkish Black

SPB: You had a curious sample from an obscure British comedy on your first record - how did you come across Snuff Box and why did you include it?

Pinkish Black: We in Pinkish Black feel very akin to Matt Barry and Rich Fulcher. I would say their Snuff Box personas are like our spirit animals. …

Tony Marquez (Post Teens)

SPB: What is your favorite all-time record (and why)?

Marquez: I've never been a person who can truthfully name a "favorite" record because I'm constantly finding new (and old) records that blow my mind. But music has always been important to me. While growing up in Miami (in the mid ‘90s) I came across …

Chris (PureGrainAudio.com)

SPB: Who is a band that’s taking seemingly forever to release their next album?

Chris: This is a cheeky response, but I’d have to go with Rage Against The Machine. If there’s any one band who, while technically not currently together, has taken forever to release new music, it has to be RATM. A …