Features / One Question Interviews

Vezzo (Sophie Lillienne)

SPB: Maybe it says something about my musical preconceptions, but I expected something entirely different when I first listened to Sophie Lillienne. Where did the band name come from - is it just me who was entirely confused by it at first?

Vezzo: Well… a lot of people is confused at first by the name …

Hank Shteamer (STATS – drums)

SPB: What do you remember of playing your first live show (with STATS)?

Shteamer: STATS started life as a band called Stay Fucked. The personnel was me, STATS guitarist Joe Petrucelli, and Tom Kelly (a dear friend, both then and now) on bass. Together, we came up with some of the core ideas …

Chuck Stern (Stern)

SPB: How do you draw the line between taking influence and mimicking?

Stern: I think of this as reverential versus referential. Influences are what shape us. They're crucial, but I've never really wanted to cover anyone else's songs or duplicate a specific style. Mimicry falls flat and is often reduced to what it isn't. …

Slim Cessna (Slim Cessna’s Auto Club)

SPB: You recently played at a brewery in Minneapolis. What are some of the more off the beaten path venues you’ve played and what are some pros and/or cons at such settings?

Cessna: 15 years ago or so we played a curling club in Perth, Ontario. Munly Munly and I were so …

Dave Pirnier (Soul Asylum – vocals)

SPB: Who is your favorite musician you’ve discovered in New Orleans?

Pirnier: Henry Butler first comes to mind. I saw him for the first time at the Funky Butt and he was playing the midnight to 4am slot. Seeing that he is blind, I was able to sorta stick my head in …

Serious Beak

SPB: When did you decide that you want to make music for a living? 

Andrew Mortensen (bass): When I finished high school. But then I discovered to “make a living” from music, you had to play shit covers, in shitty RSLs, out in the middle of nowhere to pissed arseholes. So I got a day job …

Robert Cheeseman (Spirits – bass)

SPB: is the best hardcore song, ever?

Cheeseman: The best hardcore song? Hell if I know! One of my favorite hardcore bands though is Faded Grey. I remember downloading "The New Crusades" off of revhq sometime in late 2000 and it was definitely a gateway moment that led me to discover a lot …

Levi Hanna (SubRosa-bassist)

SPB: What do your parents think of your music?

Hanna: To be completely honest, I have no idea what my parents think of the music that I play outside of the fact that it isn't their style of music. My dad tells me that he occasionally looks my bands up on Youtube when he is …

Emi Knight (Strawberry Runners)

SPB: What was the inspiration to start the band?

Knight: The inspiration to start the band really began with living in Bloomington, Indiana, where most of my friends were in bands whose music would keep me up at night thinking of all the possibilities of my life as an artist and would wake me …

Scott Wilkinson (Scene Point Blank)

SPB: What album changed or had the biggest impact on your life?

WIlkinson: I would have to say Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles. The record came out when I was 12 and dominated my record player (yeah I'm that old). The Eastern influence was there in “Within You Without …

Aaron H (Scene Point Blank)

SPB: What's a band totally outside of your typical stylistic preferences that's you're an avid fan of?

Aaron: I'd say there are two answers I could give for this. I grew up with a mom obsessed with ‘90s pop/alt-country so a lot of that was playing in the house while I was growing …

Spyros Stasis (Scene Point Blank)

SPB: What was the best show you have seen this past year? 

Stasis: It has to be the gig Neurosis did in Athens back in July (2014). I had seen them twice in the UK, but that last time in Athens really stood out for me. I mean, when you see them at …

Loren (Scene Point Blank)

SPB: Which is the most difficult and which is the most enjoyable part of being an editor for a music webzine?

Loren: The most difficult is simply finding time. As a global site that, in turn, means we get submissions from everywhere and at all hours of the day. The most enjoyable part is …

Andrew (Specialist Subject Records, Bangers)

SPB: Do any of your musician friends have tinnitus?

Andrew: I've actually had tinnitus for nearly 10 years and I can pin point the source of it to a Shai Hulud show in Newport, Wales. For years it was the bane of my life, now I think I've lost my hearing to the …

Dominic DiCecco (Seagulls)

SPB: Have people confused you with Eagulls yet?

DiCecco: I called out sick from work once and it happened to be the day Eagulls played Atlanta, at The Earl. One of my co-workers had mistakenly confused my band with Eagulls and it appeared to him I called out of work to play the show. My …

Sam Russo

SPB: How do you primarily find new music?

Russo: I still find new music the way I always have -- on the road and through friends. When I'm on tour I write down dozens of bands people recommend me and I always listening to the radio in the US. I have a few friends who are …

John (Stop Breathing, vocals)

SPB: What do you think of bands playing an album in its entirety as a tour concept?

John: I am all for it, as long as the albums they play are good ones!! I've only been to a couple shows like this, but I'm envious of all of you in Chicago this weekend watching …

Sims

SPB: If you could get any producer you haven’t worked with to provide beats for a song, who would you pick?

Sims: If I could work with anyone I suppose it'd be Kanye West. I think he's one of the most talented composers in the world. His vision for how songs should build, layer, and decay is …

Itai (Sweatshop Boys)

SPB: If you had your choice, which band would you love to tour with? 

Itai: Touring with another band is a complex matter, which makes this question a bit difficult to answer. Should we choose a band that we really love or people that we know that we'll surely get along with? Our problem is …

Derek (Sneeze)

SPB: What do you parents think of your music?

Derek: Honestly, both of my parents love Sneeze much much more than my older bands, haha. They're finally happy I'm in a band that doesn't just "scream bloody murder." Sometimes they're a little iffy on the lyrics ‘cause now they know I do drugs, drink excessively, smoke, …