Features / One Question Interviews

Paper Tiger (Doomtree)

SPB: How does Doomtree travel? Do you all pile into a van or bus?

Paper Tiger: We have a van named Mountain. If the tour party and merch/gear are too big for the one van we will rent a minivan to roll along as well. In order to tour on a bus you need lots …

Chris McCaughan (Lawrence Arms, Sundowner)

SPB: I take it by the multiple baseball references in your songs that you're a fan. What are your thoughts on the recent doping scandal?

McCaughan: Hold up! There's cheating and steroids in baseball?!! C'mon. Are we really so surprised by all this?

It's certainly unfortunate, as I think a lot of …

Will Butler (To Live a Lie Records)

SPB: What’s your favorite music-related film or documentary?

Butler: Most of the time I respond to a question and ramble off all the potential ones until I arrive at a conclusion. To save you me actually mentioning ten movies before I get to the one I've chosen I'll just go ahead …

Michael Phillips (Escapist Records, former Scene Point Blank editor and writer of 500+ reviews)

SPB: Basements, bars, or both?

Phillips: Bar shows verses basement shows has been a long running debate in the DIY community. And while I have yet to ever skip a show because of location - heck, I have even been to a show at …

David Daniell

SPB: Who is your favorite band to see live?

Daniell: I don't have one, I have two: The Necks, and Swans. In the last few years I've seen Swans three times and The Necks at least 8 or 9 times. Swans = sheer physical intensity. The Necks = deep psychedelic headspace stuff. I guess a body/mind …

Jon Mueller (Death Blues, Volcano Choir)

SPB: How do you choose your album art?

Mueller: Each record is unique, but the aim is always to have the art say something about the work that the music cannot, to have it be another voice in communicating the idea. Sometimes this involves collaborating with others on imagery based on a …

Shellshag

SPB: What are the origins of the Y-microphone?

Shellshag: Our custom, Flying V mic stand was invented by Shell.

We started facing each other at practice since we used a stand-up drum kit and there were just two of us, but we were already used to the standard performance positions of facing the crowd so, at …

Daryl Gussin (Spokenest)

SPB: How did you come up with the idea to form Spokenest with money received from wedding gifts?

Gussin: Well, that’s not exactly what happened. We got engaged pretty close to around when we started writing and practicing the songs that ended up on We M?ve. Then we got married. Then we recorded the …

Jim Blaha (The Blind Shake)

SPB: What is my day job and how does it affect my schedule as a musician?

Blaha: Well, right now I work at a coffee shop on East Lake St. in Minneapolis. It's gold to me because the owner lets me tour whenever I need to. The shifts vary enough that I can …

Phil (The Taxpayers)

SPB: What is the band’s most common junk food while on tour?

Phil: From scratch....(heavy sigh)...workin' on it...um...would eat a snake...let's see....mostly snakes...I don't know man, I'm just off this flight, my creative juices...I think mostly we eat creative juice...

Pim (Some Will Never Know, Said And Done)

SPB: What was the first live show you attended?

Pim: First live show in general? Might be a local (nu-metallish) band at my school. Once a year there were these sporting events combined with people from the school being creative on stage. I played there with my bands …

Lunaire

SPB: Earlier this year you posted a picture of your drum kit in a basketball hall - is that the strangest place you've ever recorded, and if not, where was that?

Lunaire: We have recorded in a lot of places. We've recorded on top of a dormant volcano in a national park, by a river, in a …

Mario Parra (More Than Sound Collective)

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

Parra: I've always considered my taste in music to be diverse, in a limited sense; I never stray too far from pop punk, hardcore, ska punk, emo, and the like, basically because nothing else speaks to me in the same way. Aside …

Kris Megyery (Brokedowns)

SPB: How has parenthood changed playing in a band for you?

Megyery: This question was sent on June 6th which happened to be the day my 2nd son was born....Did you plan that? Are you a warlock?

Parenthood hasn't changed playing in a band too bad for us because we're not a full-time band …

Hideo (Birthday Suits)

SPB: What do you like to do on an off date during a tour?

Hideo: It's depend on where. If it's in a bigger city, I'd like to eat something good and walk around. If it's in a smaller city, I just stay in a hotel and enjoy free internet. And if they have a …

Darius (Swingin’ Utters)

SPB: What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long tour?

Darius: I go to the Taqueria Vallarta on the west side of Santa Cruz!

Chris Brock (Early Graves)

SPB: What is the secret to a successful tour?

Brock: There is no secret to a successful tour. Defining what a successful tour is means a lot of different things to a lot of different people and you have to hope that you have surrounded yourself with a team of people that are on …

J Bennet (Ides of Gemini)

SPB: What is the fewest people you have ever played to? Have you returned to that city or venue?

Bennet: We played to about 10 people in Hannover, Germany, on my birthday last year. We have not been back.

Adam DeGross (photographer, Pay Attention)

SPB: What is the hardest part about taking photos in a rock club or basement?

DeGross: The hardest part about taking photos in a standard rock club depends. If it's a really big band, the hardest thing to do is to just get permission to do photos. For example, I did photos …

Bob (Mayfly Records)

SPB: What are your feelings about Spotify and the ongoing royalties debate?

Bob: For me, Spotify is a powerful tool. I have limited distribution and my promo is nowhere near as far reaching as I'd like (this of course is no knock on anybody, but it is reality). This is another place where people can …