Features / One Question Interviews

Clay Reed (Subsonics)

SPB: It seems that the hyphenated genre "garage-punk" keeps popping up more and more. What do you think of the term?

Reed: The term garage-punk...is as meaningless and subjective as all genre labels are. Kierkegaard said: "When you label,me you negate me"...but he was maybe kinda extremist. Maybe when you label me you negate the …

Loren Shumaker-Chupp (Signals Midwest, bass)

SPB: What do your parents think of your music?

Loren Shumaker-Chupp: My parents have always appreciated that I play music and what I get out of it. It was something that they encouraged me to learn when I was younger and supported throughout grade school when I began to draw serious interest into …

Wesley Henderson (Yankee Brutal)

SPB: What's your favorite band you discovered on your most recent tour?

Henderson: That question is not one I can answer outright. In the span of a 3-month US tour, you'd hope to play with a lot of awesome bands. And we absolutely did! I can only break it down to a top 5 …

Johnny Bonnel (Druglords of the Avenues, Swingin’ Utters, Filthy Thieving Bastards)

SPB: Where does your band name for Druglords of the Avenues come from?

Bonnel: I was watching a documentary on a Jewish community in Alphabet City, New York and the narrator mentioned "Druglords of the Avenues" more than a couple times. I thought it sounded like a …

The Devil

SPB: In your debut album you are using a wide variety of vocal samples from famous speeches. Do you believe that a vocal performance can be adequately replaced by such samples? Or, do you believe that there is something else that attracts people within those famous words?

The Devil: Seeing we are technically an instrumental band …

David Adelson (20 Buck Spin)

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

Adelson: Worst job I ever had was one of my first. When I was 16 I was suspended from school for smoking weed on campus. Since I could not go to school for 3 days my Dad said I'd have to make use of …

Evan (Vacation)

SPB: What is your primary tour food?

Evan: Our primary tour food is PIZZA. Like as much as your town has to offer, and if you know where we can get a New Jersey-style slice let us know! Been achin' to try some. Also see this:

...except no riboflavin for us.

Ezra Arrow Kire (Morning Glory)

SPB: What do you think of Record Store Day?

Kire: Record Store Day? It should be an official national holiday! Why? Because every child of the '80s and '90s remembers going down to their local record shop and listening to those big, shiny black, magic pieces of vinyl with those gigantic headphones on, …

Billy West (voice actor, Futurama, Ren & Stimpy, many more)

SPB: You've also played music in your past and you do some singing ("Shut Up and Love Me") in Futurama. How much creative say do you have when your characters create music?

West: Most of the music was always written for us and we sang exactly what …

Mike Watt (Bass, The Stooges, Minutemen, Solo, more)

SPB: How have the Stooges shows gone? Is it difficult to step into a group where the other members have an existing relationship and you’re the new guy?

Watt: I have served 125 months with The Stooges. Of course I owe them my best notes and total focus when helping …

Dovetail

SPB: Who is your favorite 1960s band or artist?

Philip: The Beatles reign supreme in my ‘60s catalog. For records like Rubber Soul, The Beatles, and for obvious reasons. I feel they were the best band, though I'd probably say Gram Parsons is equally my favorite artist from the ‘60s.

Andrew: The Beatles. Their …

Luke McNeill (The Copyrights, Attorney)

SPB: Did you choose your band name partially because of your interest in law?

McNeill: No. It was actually a name we almost called me and Adam's old band, Moloko Plus. That name was a popular one for obvious reasons, and a dumb jazz band from Philadelphia sent us a cease and desist …

Nick Woods (Direct Hit!, Galactic Cannibal)

SPB: What is the best Milwaukee-made beer?

Woods: My favorite Milwaukee-made beer is Fuel Coffee Stout, more for the memory of getting hammered on it at a bar that I won't name on Center Street that used to let underagers play tunes in exchange for liquor. It's this super-bitter, almost chocolatey-tasting stuff …

Joe Cardamone (The Icarus Line)

SPB: What is your drink of choice?

Cardamone: Fizzy water

Yako (Melt Banana)

SPB: What surprised you the most on your first US tour?

Yako: I was surprised that we needed to show ID to enter the clubs. In Japan, we don't need to be over 21 to enter clubs!

Jonny 5 (Flobots)

SPB: When did you opt to make your living as a musician/did you quit a regular day job in doing so?

Jonny 5: Yes! I was working as a paraprofessional at East High School, a job I thoroughly enjoyed. I helped with the A+ Angels Mentoring program, Link Crew, and a Peer Tutoring program, and …

Jeff (Capitalist Kids)

SPB: Who is your favorite capitalist hero?

Jeff: Ha ha. I don't have a capitalist hero. The Capitalist Kids are not huge fans of capitalism, even though every once in a while someone mistakenly “likes” our Facebook page with that belief. I suppose if we want to use this question as a springboard for discussing …

Justin Wettstein (Multiple Truths)

SPB: After music, what other arts are you interested in?

Wettstein: Taking music out of the art spectrum is tough. I feel that music plays a large part in many forms of art, at least in some small capacity...so I must admit, I was a little stumped at first. When forced to think about …

Sarah Neufeld (solo, Arcade Fire)

SPB: What are the biggest challenge you face in getting the sound you want live while playing with amplified instruments?

Neufeld: I've always had a pretty good pick-up situation on my violin, so it hasn't really been an issue. It is fun to experiment with pushing the sound of that instrument in a …

Anthony (Stranger by Starlight)

SPB: What is your favorite 1970s artist?

Anthony: It's incredibly difficult to pick a favourite artist, album or even track from the entirety of the 1970s, so many things spring immediately to mind, all of which deserve to be mentioned: Leonard Cohen, The Stooges, Amon Duul II and Ash Ra Temple, Gang of Four, …