Features / One Question Interviews

Aaron H (Scene Point Blank)

SPB: What's a band totally outside of your typical stylistic preferences that's you're an avid fan of?

Aaron: I'd say there are two answers I could give for this. I grew up with a mom obsessed with ‘90s pop/alt-country so a lot of that was playing in the house while I was growing …

Spyros Stasis (Scene Point Blank)

SPB: What was the best show you have seen this past year? 

Stasis: It has to be the gig Neurosis did in Athens back in July (2014). I had seen them twice in the UK, but that last time in Athens really stood out for me. I mean, when you see them at …

Loren (Scene Point Blank)

SPB: Which is the most difficult and which is the most enjoyable part of being an editor for a music webzine?

Loren: The most difficult is simply finding time. As a global site that, in turn, means we get submissions from everywhere and at all hours of the day. The most enjoyable part is …

Andrew (Specialist Subject Records, Bangers)

SPB: Do any of your musician friends have tinnitus?

Andrew: I've actually had tinnitus for nearly 10 years and I can pin point the source of it to a Shai Hulud show in Newport, Wales. For years it was the bane of my life, now I think I've lost my hearing to the …

Dominic DiCecco (Seagulls)

SPB: Have people confused you with Eagulls yet?

DiCecco: I called out sick from work once and it happened to be the day Eagulls played Atlanta, at The Earl. One of my co-workers had mistakenly confused my band with Eagulls and it appeared to him I called out of work to play the show. My …

Sam Russo

SPB: How do you primarily find new music?

Russo: I still find new music the way I always have -- on the road and through friends. When I'm on tour I write down dozens of bands people recommend me and I always listening to the radio in the US. I have a few friends who are …

John (Stop Breathing, vocals)

SPB: What do you think of bands playing an album in its entirety as a tour concept?

John: I am all for it, as long as the albums they play are good ones!! I've only been to a couple shows like this, but I'm envious of all of you in Chicago this weekend watching …

Sims

SPB: If you could get any producer you haven’t worked with to provide beats for a song, who would you pick?

Sims: If I could work with anyone I suppose it'd be Kanye West. I think he's one of the most talented composers in the world. His vision for how songs should build, layer, and decay is …

Itai (Sweatshop Boys)

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

Itai: Touring with another band is a complex matter, which makes this question a bit difficult to answer. Should we choose a band that we really love or people that we know that we'll surely get along with? Our problem is …

Derek (Sneeze)

SPB: What do you parents think of your music?

Derek: Honestly, both of my parents love Sneeze much much more than my older bands, haha. They're finally happy I'm in a band that doesn't just "scream bloody murder." Sometimes they're a little iffy on the lyrics ‘cause now they know I do drugs, drink excessively, smoke, …

Mike McColgan (Street Dogs, FM359)

SPB: How much space in your home is dedicated to music storage (instruments or records)?

McColgan: One entire room in my house is dedicated to all of the vinyl, CDs, instruments, stereo equipment, posters, flyers etc. that I own.

Naoko (Shonen Knife)

SPB: What is your favorite Ramones song?

Naoko: It’s impossible to choose one song. I like all Ramones songs.

Joe Holland (Sex Rays, Violent Shifters)

SPB: Do you wear earplugs when you play? Why/why not?. 

Holland: I almost always wear hearing protection at rehearsals, shooting range style "ear muffs" are the best, in my opinion. In most cases I do wear earplugs when I go to shows as a spectator, especially if the band is not "worth" …

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 …

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, …

Bryan Spinks (Samothrace, vocalist/guitarist)

SPB: How did you get so bloody heavy?

Spinks: I suppose it is a culmination of some different things. Obviously the riffs have to be solid. Tone is a huge factor, too. I, as many guitarists do, have spent the past 20+ years searching for the proper tone from my amps and cabs. It …

Swordplay (Swordplay & Pierre the Motionless)

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

Swordplay: Boiled Peanuts. Probably the best part about going to the South is boiled peanuts. Last time I was in SC, I learned they can even be turned into hummus. It's delicious.

Jared (Sundowners)

SPB: What’s the worst thing that’s happened to you on a tour? Have you ever been stranded or forced to cancel?

Jared: Great question! and really annoying memories to look back on. Hahaha.

Sundowners were on an eight-to-ten hour drive to Salt Lake City maybe three weeks into the tour. We had already been missing …