Features / One Question Interviews

Willy (The Wesleys)

SPB: What is the best show you’ve seen so far this year?: 

Willy: Got to see a lot of cool shows this year so far, but I think my favorite one was seeing Shadow Show from Detroit playing with Tilden at NYC TVEYES.

It was such a rad show: those bands are in total control of what …

The Anti-Queens

SPB: What song would you like played at your funeral? 

Valerie Knox: “Evil Side” by The Dirty Nil is deeply meaningful to me, marking a pivotal time of change in my life, and a connection with someone who has become very important to me. Its unconventional beauty resonates with my own experiences, making it a perfect choice for …

Jessica Amelia (The Obvious Tells)

SPB: What song has been the hardest to work into your live set list?

Jessica: In any project I play in, there’s always one song written in a stupid tuning that turns into an annoyance to play live. With The Obvious Tells, it’s the B standard “Gaslight Me.”  

Lizzie Killian (Teens in Trouble - vocals/guitar/songwriter)

SPB: You’re in North Carolina, but work closely with Asian Man Records in the CA Bay Area, right? How did you get so involved with the label, given the distance between you?

Killian: I'm actually from San Francisco and lived in California most of my life until I moved to Raleigh in 2019. …

The Abruptors

SPB: Who is your favorite band/artist you discovered on your last tour?

Mike & Toni: I think we're going with The Filthy Radicals: high-energy ska punk. A real treat to watch and hang out with!

Tristan Welch (Requiem/Sutras)

SPB: You often primarily play a very ambient style – How do you typically begin the songwriting process for a composition?

Welch: What's funny with me is that my ambient style is really just a punk or hardcore song. It's just over the years of not having full bands available or people who like the same sort …

Taxi Girls

SPB: Have you ever forgotten lyrics mid-song? How did/do you recover?
Thanks for asking us! We have two singers and this actually happens to us -- especially with new songs! 

Jamie Radu: I usually just sing the line or verse over twice…or three times!

Vera Bozickovic: I definitely have blanked more than once and didn't let it get …

Stephen Lawrie (The Telescopes)

SPB: How important is it to constantly push boundaries and reinvent while being true to yourself and your fan base?

Lawrie: I think it's crucial to be true to yourself musically, it all shows in the music. Listeners can hear if an artist isn't being true to themselves. If pushing boundaries and reinvention are what comes …

The Atom Age

SPB: What do you listen to in the van/who decides?

The Atom Age: We have a standing rule of absolute silence in the van. This allows each of us to do as we please, listen to tunes on headphones, sleep, ponder, or weep. Having no music in the van is pure freedom for all. 

Erica (The Holy Circle – synth/vocals)

SPB: What elements of your current keyboard, to you, are essential to “The Holy Circle” sound? (And what is the make/model you play?)

Erica: I play a Micro Korg and Moog Little Phatty through a Holy Grail reverb, Death-by-Audio MicroDream, and a Electro-Harmonix 720 to make loops.

I think the combination of the icy Korg …

Alyssa Moore & Randy Moore (The Moore Family Band – vocals/guitar)

SPB: Was the plan always to go with the name The Moore Family Band, or did you start with something else in mind and move toward the obvious?

Alyssa & Randy: It was pretty organic. We made the record before we had the name, so after going back and forth …

David Schellenberg (Tunic)

SPB: How has COVID/illness-risk changed how you tour? Do you take any precautions in terms of health, diet, housing, etc?

Schellenberg: The biggest change for us is we now stay in motels/hotels as a way to keep us out of strangers’ houses -- as when you're a punk band on tour you typically stay in punk houses …

Tommy Rehbein (Toilet Rats)

SPB: What inspired the theme behind Toilet Rats and how did it evolve from that first concept?

Rehbein: The world was on lockdown. Solitude. A one-person project beneath the sleepy streets of Minneapolis, MN. Songs that are grimy and to-the-point. How has it evolved? Better production, more focused themes, and refined melodies. When you spend a …

Sam Black (The Tunnel - bass)

"What's That Noise?" is a series about gear. Show us some of your key pieces.

Paul (The COVIDS – guitar)

SPB: This band formed during shutdowns and didn’t get to play live for some time. What is the longest you’ve gone, with COVIDS or any band, between forming and actually playing your first show?

Paul: For all of us it was definitely this band that took the longest to get from rehearsal studio to the …

Jason St. Angelo (Tired Radio – bass/backing vocals)

SPB: What type of detail or opinion do you like to see in reading music coverage?

St. Angelo: This is incredibly self-centered, but I love when reviewers or journalists can hone in on the subtleties of a bassline and pick it apart from the mix to analyze its role. I think it's …

Kieran (The Restarts)

SPB: What was the first punk show you ever went to?

Kieran: Growing up in a small Canadian town, Squamish BC, I only just started to discover punk on day trips into Vancouver city going to import record shops and second hand clothing boutiques that catered to the punk aesthetic. I had heard of a Vancouver artist …

Mitch Vinokur (Two-Man Giant Squid)

SPB: What is the most MacGyver-esque workaround you’ve made to connect different bits of equipment?

Vinokur: To record our first album I actually did the mattress thing in my bedroom "studio." Basically. I took whatever mattresses and blankets I had and made a big square fort and put a mic and amp in the center. …

T.J. McFaull (The Bar Stool Preachers)

SPB: Noting that Terry Hall recently passed away, what is your favorite song by The Specials and what does it mean to you?

McFaull:

“Do Nothing”

Even a band as genre specific as The Specials could slow it down and write a balladic banger like this was life-changing. The lyrics, like so many Specials …

Rev (The Drowns)

SPB: Noting that Terry Hall recently passed away, what is your favorite song by The Specials and what does it mean to you?

Rev: My first band ever was a ska band when I was in high school over 20 years ago now. I learned how to play “A Message To You Rudy” and “Nite Klub” on …