Features / One Question Interviews

Deanna Belos (Sincere Engineer)

SPB: Who is your favorite 1980s artist?

Deanna: My favorite 1980s artist is probably Tears For Fears. I think "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" is one of the greatest songs ever written. I saw them open for Hall and Oates last year. It was pretty incredible.

Danny Sher (Horse Torso)

SPB: Do you think it’s easier or harder for an instrumental band to find an audience today than it was 10 years ago?

Danny: I personally think it is one million times easier for a band to find their target audience in 2018 than it was in 2008. The invention of the smartphone combined …

Justin Bernard Williams (Neosho)

SPB: Who is your favorite 1960s artist?

Justin: Wayne Shorter... and not because of the saxophone. Ask me about jazz, and I'm more of an admirer than a "jazz player." Shorter's importance is rooted in how he had the power to influence Miles Davis (arguably, THE musical mind of the 20th century). As part …

Daniel Feldman (Yo No Say)

SPB: What is the worst stereotype you encounter when people find out you’re in a band?

Daniel: To be honest people are generally pretty supportive and intrigued when they find out I’m in a band. I’d say the worst stereotype through, is that we must be broke because we’re musicians, even though it’s …

Jordan Guerette (Forêt Endormie)

SPB: Who is your favorite 1990s artist?

Jordan: Among the hundreds of artists that I continue to cherish from the 1990s, if I must choose one it would be Jeff Buckley. His sole completed album, Grace, completely changed my life when I was a teenager - I was obsessed with every aspect of …

Karl Eifrig (The Mons)

SPB: What was the first punk show you attended?

Karl: The first punk show I attended was February 28, 1986 at Cabaret Metro (now just Metro) in Chicago. The lineup was Killdozer opening, Dead Milkmen second, and Die Kreuzen headlining. Being a high school freshman in a small town in northwest Indiana, I was …

James Farwell (Bison)

SPB: Can you enjoy a musician’s work if you when you disagree with their politics? Are you able to make the separation?

James: I generally separate the art from the artist, unless the art itself contains some politically or socially offensive content - racist, homophobic, misogynist, xenophobic, etc. If the artist was someone I had …

Kelly (Dreadnought)

SPB: What is the weirdest venue/setting you’ve ever played a show at?

Kelly: The strangest setting is tied for either a fighting ring in the basement of a bar in Kansas or one of my best friend's wedding. I'm not sure the basement was actually used as a fighting ring, but it felt like we were …

Timo Ellis of Netherlands

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

Timo: “You’re like the Sybil of music, with some sort of dissociative identity... I feel like you’re dancing on some sort of “post-sensibility” ledge. Often with regard …

Spotlights

SPB: What’s a record you love that would surprise people?

Spotlights: Gonna go with – Braid’s The Age of Octeen. We love this band and especially this time in their career.  

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.

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Edward Ricart (Monotrope)

SPB: Who is your favorite band to see live (currently active)?

Edward: Portland, Oregon's U Sco are an awesome band. These guys deliver all the muscle, power, and propulsion anyone could ever want, and essentially always have since we first saw them six years ago. Ryan Miller is an amazing, blistering guitarist, and Phil Cleary …

Pistoleros

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

Lawrence Zubia: Tokyo, Japan

Mark Zubia: Paris!

Father Murphy

SPB: In the past you have mentioned that religion is one of your main inspirations. What is your opinion on the influence of religion on the arts? Do you believe that great works of arts, like Michelangelo’s Last Judgement or Dante’s Divine Comedy would never come to be if it was not for the influence of religion, …

Nate Erickson and Jordan Compton (After Hours Radio)

SPB: What was your first CD (or record or tape, as applicable)? 

Nate Erickson: Greg, our bass player, and I both got our first CDs as gifts from our parents so they aren't very representative of our music taste at the time. Most of my music exposure growing up was …

Chris Moore (The Rememberables)

SPB: Playing in more bands can be complicated planning wise. What will happen with your other bands if The Rememberables will really take off? Or the other way around? 

Chris Moore: Haha. The question of the ages! Well fortunately out of the six bands I play in (Coke Bust, Repulsion, D.O.C., Guilt Parade, Sick …

Eddie Roxy (Department S)

SPB: What do you remember of playing your first live show?

Eddie: The first Department S concert was at the MUSIC MACHINE (now KOKO) in Camden. I was playing keyboards in those days. My main memory was having Boy George standing next to me dancing, he was wearing his Romanesque/Britannia costume with a roman …

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 …

Becca Richardson

SPB: What is the most touching or memorable thing a fan has told you about your work?

Becca: A fan sent me a video of her daughter singing along to one of my songs in the car and it was pretty adorable.

Sally Grayson (Black Swift)

SPB: What did participating in The Voice bring you, both personally and artistically?

When the talent scout approached me asking if I would audition for The Voice of Germany, I was very skeptical. I honestly really didn't think that this was something for me. I'm more of a punk rocker and not a …