Conner Rush (Auric Echoes)

SPB: Who is the first musician whose technique or style really stood out to you?

Rush: To me, the first musician who really stood out to me as something unique was Thom Yorke. My whole life I had only really had experience with classic rock and sort of thought that was “the music to …

Jason “Lumbergh” Lundgren (Little Lebowski Urban Achievers – bass)

SPB: What is your favorite “deep cut” quote or scene from The Big Lebowski?

Jason: Just one, wow it’s impossible to even choose but I’d say this is my favorite “deep cut” back and forth between Walter and The Dude…

Walter Sobchak: Also, let's not forget …

Antoine (Chalk Hands - guitar/vocals)

SPB: How did you “discover” punk rock?

Antoine: I'm old enough to be one of these people who had a cool friend who burnt a CD with loads of bands on it. I remember it was a girl I had a crush on, which is pretty fitting given the fact that that CD …

Bryan (Powerviolet – synths/drums/programming)

SPB: What is the weirdest description you’ve heard of your music? Could you see where the comparison came from?

Bryan: Of course, we get the usual suspects -- M83, My Bloody Valentine, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are at the top of the list -- but the weirdest and best I’ve heard was “Factory …

Prayer Group

SPB: Where do you make a point to bring visitors when they pass through your hometown?

Prayer Group: We always like to take people from out of town down to the James River when we can. It runs right through downtown Richmond, so it's kind of our trashy city beach, and it's the spot to hang …

John Brhel (Other Dangers - guitar/vocals)

SPB: Have you ever forgotten lyrics (or another part) mid-song? How did you recover?

Brhel: I’ve forgotten lyrics a few times over the years. It’s usually when performing a new song we haven’t played live much yet. Usually I’ll just sing the melody and repeat a line from earlier in the song …

Nathaniel (Spaceships)

SPB: Tell us about your amp pairings and how you chose them.

Nathaniel: I run a stereo rig with a Vox AC15 and a 1960s Gibson Falcon. I encountered a Falcon while helping a friend who runs an amp repair shop. He had me put it together and test it, and I fell in love -- …

Ashton Prescott (Naturalist)

SPB: Pretending we don’t have pandemic issues: basements, bars, or both?

Prescott: Regardless of the venue we are playing, the energy and atmosphere is most important to us. I think I speak for the rest of the band when I say that we just love playing shows. Whether it's a bar, basement or festival as …

Patrick Porter (A Very Special Episode – guitar)

SPB: What was it like putting together your new record during a pandemic?

Porter: Honestly, it was very therapeutic to have something to work on during the first several months of lockdown. We were lucky enough to have most of the drums already tracked, so recording the rest of the …

Clara Engel

SPB: Tell us how you got certain sounds when working on Their Invisible Hands?

Engel:

Check out the record here.

Alex Risburg (10,000 Years – bass/vocals)

SPB: III is a concept album that continues the tale that started on your self-titled debut album -- what books/comics/movies inspired you to tell this tale?

Risburg: The biggest inspiration for our concept is probably the works of H.P. Lovecraft and the original Planet Of The Apes [films]. The story is …

Taylin Wills (Least - bass/vocals)

SPB: What is the furthest you’ve ever driven to play one show?

Wills: We haven’t been traveling much lately because of Covid and only starting to play shows in August 2021, but the furthest we’re about to drive for one show is at the end of February to play in Brunswick, GA (6 …

Shrugdealer

SPB: What is the worst job you’ve ever had?

Shrug Dealer's WORST JOBS:

Sol Doubt (bass) - "Door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman."
Russ Worstell (lead vocals/guitar) - "Beer keg delivery driver."
Josh Smith (drums) - "Drummer of Shrug Dealer. Or carpet cleaner. That one actually kinda sucked.
Rob Lanterman (lead vocals/guitar) - "I run an independent record …

(Heavy Mantle – vocals/guitar)

What type of guitar do you play and how did you choose it?

Billy Thompson: I have a ridiculous amount of guitars and play them all. Out of the 24 I own, I usually play my Rickenbacker 360 and 330 or an old Gibson SG. Sometimes I play my Gibson Les Paul Custom or …

Adam (The Right Here-bass)

SPB: What’s the last record you didn’t care for much on first listen that’s really grown on you since?

Adam: The album that I initially dismissed was Let It Be by The Replacements. After listening to Sorry, ma and Stink I was looking for more hard-hitting, in-your-face punk rock so I fired up Let …

Young, Planetary (Trevor Villagrana)

SPB: What is your favorite 1990s artist/band?

Villagrana: If you knew me growing up, or, hell, if you met me five minutes ago, you’d probably guess my answer to this question is Blink-182.

And, honestly, most of the time, you’d be correct.

However, albeit somewhat surprisingly, the first band that came …

Devan Bleyle (Obsolete Man)

SPB: Who designs your merch? (Any stories about the inspiration of a specific piece or, alternately, how did you get involved with this artist?)

Bleyle: Initially, we've done it all ourselves. By doing it ourselves, I mean we found public domain art and free fonts that we liked and built our designs with those. …

Paul (Tor Johnson Records)

SPB: What’s the most challenging technology change in running a label right now, in 2021-22?

Paul: When I started the label 20 years ago the internet was nothing like it is now. Keeping up with streaming services, social media (I'm still horrible at twitter), websites (I update the store, but my website is kind …

Christian Dryden (The Ritualists – vocals/songwriter)

SPB: Besides the ‘80s and ‘90s references on display, are there any particular contemporary songwriters who inspire you?

Dryden: Yes! We love The Horrors, White Lies, Wand and Temples. They are all excellent, newish bands that really challenge the listener with incredible textures, grooves and soundscapes.  

Tyler Daniel Bean

SPB: After music, what arts interest you?

Bean: I’m inspired by the thought Annie Dillard put into creating a sentence, the quiet way Agnes Martin’s minimalism intentionally rejects the ease of machines, how Mark Rothko’s experimentations with the drying times of paint additives helped change the ways we experience modern art, the way Richard Siken …