Features / One Question Interviews

Taylor (Pretend Molly – guitar)

SPB: Every time I see your name I have to get past the mental association with an Irish-style punk band, so I have to ask: What is the story behind the name Pretend Molly?

Taylor: So we had been struggling to come up with a name for a while, never really having one that sunk …

Marc Blaquiere (Phuture Memoriez)

SPB: Walk us through your setup that led to what we hear on Play Cobra?

Blaquiere: 

Marc Blaquiere (Phuture Memoriez)

SPB: Who is your favorite 1980s artist?

Blaquiere: Pop music duo Milli Vanilli. Although short lived and seemingly giving us classic hits like "Girl You Know It's True" and "Blame It on the Rain," only to find out that, not only were these songs lip synched in live performance, but also sung by two completely different …

Jake (Painted Light – guitar)

SPB: What type of guitar do you play (and how did you land on this one)? 

Jake: Fender 1972 Thinline Telecaster! 

I love it because the tone is warm, not too bright -- but the highs come through well, and the pickups are hot enough to really project the tapping parts into tbe next level. …

Bryan (Powerviolet – synths/drums/programming)

SPB: What is the weirdest description you’ve heard of your music? Could you see where the comparison came from?

Bryan: Of course, we get the usual suspects -- M83, My Bloody Valentine, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are at the top of the list -- but the weirdest and best I’ve heard was “Factory Records meets 4AD.” …

Prayer Group

SPB: Where do you make a point to bring visitors when they pass through your hometown?

Prayer Group: We always like to take people from out of town down to the James River when we can. It runs right through downtown Richmond, so it's kind of our trashy city beach, and it's the spot to hang and drink …

Johnny and Abigail Poppke (Peroxide Blonde – guitar/vocals and bass)

SPB: The US went into shutdown shortly after the band formed. How did that hiatus, for lack of a better word, change the band’s direction or concept (or didn’t it)?

Peroxide Blonde: Right before the pandemic, we had put out a demo and were just starting to play shows. It …

Produced By A Girl

SPB: The compilation collects a variety of artists -- how did you narrow it down to the final 5 on the album? 

I presented the opportunity to over 100 female indie artists. Through demo selection, A&R talks, project synergy discussions and a couple months of roundtables, we narrowed it down to about 5 artists that made the …

Igor Starshinov (Ploho)

SPB: What make/model of synth did you primarily use on the new record? How did you choose this model?

Starshinov: We used Moog minimoog model d, Nord lead 2x, Quasimidi the Raven, Roland Vp550, Casio VL 1, Roland sh 101 and Roland juno 60. We chose these synthesizers because they are the best for these songs. The Moog d mini, Casio VL …

Sean Arenas (Pinned in Place – guitar)

SPB: What guitar do you play (and how did you choose it)?

Arenas: I've only ever owned one electric guitar: my purple Fender Standard Telecaster, a Mexican model. I purchased it when I was nineteen from a sixteen-year-old kid in Temple City, Calif. His mom forced him to sell it because he was flunking …

Theo (Powerplant)

SPB: Do you have a preferred color of vinyl pressing?

Theo: No! But see through ones let you see the lottery ticket you've been looking for the past two weeks beneath it. They should advance vinyl tech, I want to roll records into tubes and have them sticking out into my rear jean pocket, look like my grandad -- …

Adam (Pilkington)

SPB: In the past the vocals were a shared duty. This approach is almost completely abandoned. What changed?

Adam: We were lucky to have a few different really talented songwriters in the band. Becca had started writing more as we prepped for our LP and was beginning to come up with some of the tracks that would end up …

Skippy (Pirates Press – owner)

SPB: When pressing a record, what element is the most important to making sure the record gets the best quality sound? (Is there a specific step in the process that is key to the audio component?)

Skippy: If you’re pressing with Pirates, the recording, mixing and (especially) mastering you do to deliver us a quality …

Shanti Wintergate (Play Date)

SPB: What is the biggest different in how you approach writing a song for children as compared to writing a song for adults?

Wintergate: I would have to say the actual approach and process is pretty much the same. We set out to make authentic, thoughtful music for kids and families. So as much as we …

David Stickney (Pound – drums)

SPB: Walk our readers through your kit and offer insight as to how you arrived at your sizes (shells and cymbals)? 

Stickney: The best way to think of my kit is actually as 2 separate kits. The main kit is a typical, traditional kit: just kick, snare and two toms. My shells are made of …

Ryan Schutte (Pound – baritone guitar)

SPB: What led you to the baritone guitar as your instrument of choice? 

Schutte: I do a fair amount of hybrid picking which is more difficult on larger gauge strings. The baritone 9 string allows me to use lighter gauge strings, which is easier on my fingers. The thinner strings also help clean things …

Shannon (Pandemix)

SPB: Who is your favorite lyricist?

Shannon: Vi Subversa of Poison Girls. The way that she weaves the personal into the political until they are indistinguishable from each other is somehow subtle and biting all at once. Her lyrics were usually playful without ever making you question her seriousness. I think a lot of the imagery she uses …

Daniele (Priests – drums)

SPB: Which of your songs is the hardest to master in a live setting? 

Daniele: I would say for me “Suck” was. I have always loved disco drums and disco music in general. I always dreamed of making dance music, but it always seems out of my grasp. I never felt like I had the musical …

Paddy Hanna

SPB: What’s the best pop song of the last 10 years?

Paddy: Get Lucky, Daft Punk

Pop music suffers from three significant issues: overproduction, disposable talent and relying too much on current trends. “Get Lucky” managed to defy all three of these issues by being beautifully produced, wonderfully accompanied by Nile Rogers and never straying from Daft Punk’s …

Sean Elliott (Professor and the Madman-co-vocalist)

SPB: When did you first "discover" punk rock?

Sean: I first heard the term 'punk rock' in elementary school. All the kids in my class had to take part in a "Secret Santa" gift trade. I was assigned to trade gifts with a kid who everybody described as punk rock. I bought him a …