Features / One Question Interviews

Karen Haglof

SPB: After much time away from music, you've released 2 records in 3 years. Why the rush of new material after such a delay?

Haglof: Yes, I did spent years away from music, going to school and entering a different career. But once the bug to play hit again, and I climbed the fairly steep learning …

James Manson (Holy White Hounds)

SPB: How do you find out about new bands or music that you enjoy?

Manson: I think that the first bands that made an impact on my life left a bread crumb trail of artists and records that I ended up diving into because of the admiration I had for those first bands. …

Andrew Barnes (Drunk Couples – drums)

SPB: Drunk Couples is a departure in sound from your previous project. Do you find it challenging to separate the different styles or associations that come with changing bands?

Barnes: It all came pretty naturally to totally shift musical gears when CJ and I started Drunk Couples. Not only is this band …

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 …

Eric Fisher and Arlie Carstons (Atoms and Void)

SPB: When collaborating with so many artists, how do you draw the determine when to allow a “guest improv” vs pre-composed music?

Atoms and Void: Our approach to recording is both guided and spontaneous, and our reasons for working with a specific musician (or combination of musicians) are always very …

Chrissy (Thin Lips-vocals/guitar)

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

Chrissy: I definitely am always scared before we play...Sometimes it's worse than others. The boys are pretty relaxed, a little nervous here or there, sometimes pretty nervous but it doesn't show too much. Usually once I start playing I'm fine but right before I get …

Indy (CoinTossRecords)

SPB: What was the first punk show you attended?

Indy: It was a Split Lip show in Indianapolis. I was in middle school, a long time ago.

Sarah Quintero (Spotlights)

SPB:What’s the strangest trend you see in modern music (or in the industry)?

Quintero: The strangest trend I have been noticing today in music is seeing older bands (that I grew up listening to), like Failure, Shiner, and Hum, get back together and be reviewed and/or accepted into the “metal” scene. Growing up these bands …

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 …

Tom (Bossk)

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

Tom: "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd. It's my favorite song of all time.

Mike Bell (Mike Bell & the Movies)

SPB: What was the best show you’ve seen in the past year? 

Bell: May 15th, 2015, Mac McCaughan and the Non Believers, Underground Arts Philadelphia, PA

I had kept myself away from the album ‘cause my plan was to purchase directly from Mac. Now to say Superchunk was a major …

Mike (Two Houses)

SPB: Do you have any vinyl that your own strictly for collector’s purposes but never listen to?

Mike: No one in the band does. Norman Marston, who recorded and mixed our full-length, I Feel So Good I Can't Stand Myself (out this summer on Rad Girlfriend), has a bunch of records he has two copies …

Jef Wright (Nonpareil)

SPB: What venue is your favorite to play (and why)?

Wright: Currently, I'd say that Valley Bar is my favorite venue to play in Phoenix. It could be because I have played so many venues here over the years and Valley Bar has only been open for about a year, but it also is a …

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?

Charlie Wagner (Slow Code)

SPB: How much space is your home is dedicated to music (instruments or records)?

Wagner: While the basement is jam-packed with guitars and amps and odds-and-ends, our physical media game is pretty weak, though 95% of the time there's a record being played through the living room stereo, and the house is almost exclusively …

Scott Wilkinson

SPB: Who's your dream interviewee?

Wilkinson: Well that's a tough question, years ago it would have been George Harrison but due to unforeseen circumstances that can't be arranged (unless you have some pull Loren). I think now it would be Peter Gabriel. My main interest in him would be centered around Genesis and his constant refusal …

Spyros Stasis

SPB: (How) Has work in sound engineering affected your music tastes and/or reviewing?

Spyros Stasis: It has not affected so much my outlook on the quality of the production, so it does not mean that when I cannot listen to the old Darkthrone albums anymore. I still consider that sometimes certain bands or artists do require …

Andy

SPB: How much does the music you listen to shape you as a person - is it difficult to separate yourself from the music, or is it who you are, etc. 

Andy: My taste in music has evolved and expanded greatly over time, and to some extent, I am not as connected personally to music today as …

Aideen

SPB: How did you get started as a music writer? And what was it that drove you to that direction?

Aideen: I don't have the musical talent to be a musician, but I love writing and I love music so pursuing music journalism seemed like a natural progression from there. I started by writing a (very small, …