Features / One Question Interviews

Ali Muhareb

SPB: It seems like there's been renewed interest in psychedelic music in recent years. Have you noticed any differences between the psychedelic scene in the United States and that which you've encountered while touring overseas? 

Muhareb: I find the question you asked me very interesting! It's got me thinkin' all sorts of thoughts. Nostalgic memories of …

Craig Taylor-Broad

SPB: All creative people invest something of themselves into their work, but this seems especially true with regard to your solo work. Do you find it difficult to get into the right mood or mindset to perform these songs either when recording or in a live setting?

CTB: I think in terms of playing my songs …

BJ Moore (Crab Legs)

SPB: What’s the biggest secret about the Fargo scene (unbeknownst to outsiders)?

Moore: So, that question could be answered numerous ways, but since every member of Crab Legs plays in at least one other band, I focused on the music scene here.

What’s the biggest secret about the Fargo scene?

That a …

Jack (toyGuitar)

SPB: What’s the story behind your name?

Jack: There isn't much backstory on this one. I think I stole the idea of the name "toy guitar" from Spike Slawson or Kent Jamieson (NOFX tour manager). I can't remember which of those two had it first. It was either something like Spike was playing in a kids …

Ben Grey (Dear Boy)

SPB: What is your favorite TV theme song?

Grey: I'm afraid you've touched on a bit of a nerve because I love TV theme songs. I will give you three.

* Twin Peaks & Angelo Badalamenti - Too much has been written about this piece of music, so I'm just going to go …

Jonathan Ashwell (Flannel Gurl Records)

SPB: What is your favorite record store? How did you discover it?

Ashwell: Like coffee shops where ever we go, we try to visit any and all independent record stores when visiting a city we have never been before. We try and treat any visit to any record store as something that is …

Kyle Bishop (Grade)

SPB: Who is your favorite 1970s artist?

Bishop: Black Sabbath

Robbie (Humans)

SPB: How does being in a band compare to being a forest fire fighter?

Robbie: Being in a band is somewhat similar to being a fire fighter.

Reason #1: In both jobs you have to carry lots of awkward things in awkward places. Firefighting wins out on this though, as the things are more …

David Combs (The Max Levine Ensemble – guitar, vocals)

SPB: What’s the worst tour experience you’ve had? Have you ever been stranded?

Combs: On our first cross-country tour back in 2004 our friend's van, Black Betty, died in the mountains of Nevada. We got towed to Reno, but the tow truck driver couldn't take us all so some …

Brandon (Cloud Rat)

SPB: Do any of your musician friends have tinnitus?

Brandon: Absolutely! Actually, Rorik himself apparently has a mild on and off case of it. I've mostly heard of folks getting it that way where it's not necessarily permanent but sort of a reoccurring spell that gets really obnoxious. Definitely 'heard' (pun intended!) some gnarly stories …

Elias (Afraid of the Basement)

SPB: Your label and zine seems to take pride in nice-looking product. Talk about the difficulties funding such consistently aesthetically pleasing product at the DIY level. 

Elias: It's funny that you bring that up man. I don't like complaining about it, but funding a zine is a fuckin’ money pit. But I still …

Nicole (Swahili Blond)

SPB: (Hypothetically) If your children were to start a band what would you tell them?

Nicole: "Let your mind go, and your body will follow"

(a quote from LA Story)

MC Lars

SPB: What is the “ET/Atari” of NES games?

Lars: I would say a Boy and His Blob is the ET of Nintendo. It’s well-conceived, but difficult to play if you don’t know the “hacks” to get ahead. The world is very elaborate, but easy to get stuck, just like in the ET game. I remember all …

Jamie van Dyck (Earthside – guitar, composer)

SPB: What is your favorite book about music?"

Dyck: My favorite book about music that I've read is The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross. I actually read this for a university music history class on western "Art" music in the 19th and 20th centuries (basically …

Matt Scifres (Not Half Bad)

SPB: What do you think of cassettes?

Scifres: Cassettes (often called “tapes” by young people, these days) are really cool because they’re kind of eternally rooted in DIY. Pressing records makes exactly zero sense for smaller bands. Yeah, they’re cool, but they’re ridiculously expensive, take forever to press and are a general pain …

Storm Ross

SPB: As a multi-instrumentalist, what is your composition process for a song and/or record?

Ross: While I don't have a set formula per se, I do seem to follow some familiar patterns when writing. Most of my compositions for the past number of years have a drone or repetitive phrase as the bed of the piece, and …

Øyvind (Livstid – guitar)

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

Øyvind: A tour with Livstid and Icon of Evil would be a truly sick affair. They serve their slabs of death in the vein of Bolt Thrower. And if you got a grindcore band as well, Death Toll 80k …

Matt (Moñecho)

SPB: What’s the best movie you’ve seen this year?

Matt: Coherence. No other movie I've seen really communicates an almost paralyzing amount of uncertainty.

Brian Corn (QUOR)

SPB: Is there a regional food you look forward to on every tour?

Corn: The Pacific Northwest always has fantastic salmon. I particularly like the sashimi versions offered throughout the region. I have had amazing cuts of salmon in even the most unlikely of places up there between Portland and Vancouver, BC; everywhere from casino …

Jeff Noller (Skittish)

SPB: How has the increasing digitalization of the music industry changed how you listen to music?

Noller: I feel like I hear a lot less “deep cuts.” I used to be limited to only the CDs I brought with me on a trip, thus propelling me into the depths of an album rarely explored. Which …