Features / One Question Interviews

Wells Tipley (86'd Records)

SPB: What is the best reunion concert you ever saw?

Tipley: Punk and hardcore reunions usually feel like cover bands to me. Granted, they're cover bands that happen to have original members playing the instruments, so that's pretty cool. But I think context is a huge part of what makes a band. Even if …

Bryan W. Fleming (Lasting Impression)

SPB: What is the worst stereotype you encounter when others discover you’re in a band?

Fleming: The worst stereotypes I think we encounter as a band is that people think we are some crazy, evil people or even just that we are assholes. Our music is meaningful to us and can be dark …

Jeff Clayton (Antiseen)

SPB: What is your favorite all-time record and why?

Clayton: Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies. It was one of the first three records I ever owned in 1973 (the other two were Three Dog Night & Grand Funk) and after one play I was never the same. It shaped who/what I would become years …

Terence Hannum (Locrian)

SPB: What appeals to you most about collaborative projects as compared with working with your regular band?

Hannum: You know I don't collaborate as much as the other guys. I think it is because it appeals to me less. I really enjoy the work I get to do with Steven and André in Locrian. The …

Julian (Drunken Sailor Records)

SPB: What do you think of bands playing albums in their entirety as a tour concept?

Julian: I'm not really into it, it seems it's the thing to do when everybody is sick of seeing you and you need gigs. When I watch a band I don't even want to know the set list, …

Nato Coles (Nato Coles & the Blue Diamond Band)

SPB: What are your expectations for the Replacements reunion?

Coles: The Replacements were one of the greatest rock'n'roll bands of all-time, no exaggeration, so I'm sure they'll sound good playing those songs, and I hope Slim's doing better. I suppose anything Paul and Tommy decide is "The Replacements" is …

Brian Gorsegner (Night Birds)

SPB: Would you license your music for film, sports, or ads if given the opportunity? Are there exceptions to the rule?

Gorsegner: I would, and we have. Of course there are many exceptions. MTV used our song "Prognosis: Negative" for the intro credits to a new show they were doing with Will Ferrell as …

Steven Hess (Locrian, Pan American, Innode, Haptic)

SPB: What appeals to you most about collaborative projects as compared with working with your regular band?

Hess: The challenge of creating music outside of my comfort zone, as well as the opportunity to work with other musicians and artists that I might not normally get a chance to work with. …

Santos Montano (Old Man Gloom)

SPB: How do you choose your album art?

Montano: There are two things that make Old Man Gloom function: Breakfast and solidarity. There is one caveat to this. Well, two. Our solidarity is compromised when I use the word "caveat," as it makes Nate furious, and the other is album art. There is …

Eli Hansen (Real Numbers/Three Dimensional Records)

SPB: Who is your favorite pre-1960s artist?

Hansen: I'll have to go with Chuck Berry... but it's not easy picking a favorite from the BIG THREE: Chuck, Little & Bo.

Daniel Menche

SPB: Who is your favorite 1980s artist?

Menche: Well, in the entire ‘80s I was age 10-20. So, of course, that was a big chunk of time for a youngster like me. There were so many amazing artists to look up to. Too many to count or recall fully. How about I start with the earliest …

STV SLV (The Hood Internet)

SPB: What is the worst interview question you’ve been asked?

STV SLV: Usually we get annoyed with "How do you choose which tracks to mix together" or almost any question that leads with "What inspired you to..." but that irritation is just a product of being asked the same thing a hundred times. …

Brian Lake (Buildings)

SPB: What is the furthest you’ve ever driven to play one show?

Lake: Well, we sweated in 130 degree heat in Houston then drove 9 and a half hours to Birmingham. Needless to say it was a boring weed induced drive.

Henry Rollins

SPB: Have you found that your background as a musical performer has influenced your ability or technique in other media endeavors, such as acting, hosting, and interviewing subjects?

Rollins: Yes. In my opinion, they are all basically the same thing. They all require honesty, focus, guts and discipline.

Worthwhile Way

SPB: What is the biggest difference you experience between Japanese and American audiences?

Chegeno: I think the biggest difference is the mind of positive or the negative.

Aki: No offense to everybody who is Japanese and American, Japanese audiences [are] rather quiet. American [audiences are] always cheerful.

Justin Foley (The Austerity Program)

SPB: What’s the last record you didn’t care for on first listen that has grown on you since?

Foley: Terrence Dixon's From the Far Future, pt. II. Here's the very little that I know about it: Dixon is a legendary Detroit techno DJ who put out From the Far Future Pt. 1 twelve …

Mikael Kjellman (Martyrdöd)

SPB: If you could release a split with any current band (that you haven’t met), who would it be?

Kjellman: I think it's a tough one to answer, especially says bands that we haven't met. And I had the opportunity to meet with many of my favorite bands already. There are several artists that I …

Chris Besinger (STNNNG, vocals)

SPB: What is the worst interview question you’ve been asked?

Besinger: Not sure what the worst question we've been asked is, pretty much if someone is interviewing us I think it’s ok. Sometimes, we do get questions that are thinly-veiled attempts to get a very specific answer, like recently we were asked something to …

Chris Mason (Dirt Cult Records, Low Culture)

SPB: As somebody who runs his own label, what do you get out of releasing your own records on another label? Is it easier or relieving? What is your preference?

Mason: I started Dirt Cult Records as an outlet to release my own band's music because at the time no one …

Matt Agrella (Look Mexico)
SPB: Who does the majority of the band’s driving?

Agrella: Driving. We try to divvy this up pretty evenly, though some of our biggest arguments will be over petty "No, you still have 15 minutes left," or "You're stopping now?" We've figured out that 3 hour shifts work for us, but a lot of bartering …