Features / One Question Interviews

Matt Cronk (Qui)

SPB: What kind of guitar do you use and how did you come to this choice?   

Cronk: What a fun question! I love guitars and can go on and on about them, ad infinitum. I have several that rotate in and out but if I had to pick one, it would be my ‘99 Gibson …

Burnt Tapes (Pan T-guitar/vocals)

SPB: Do you get nervous before you play a show? 

Pan T: Yeah for sure, even after years of playing shows I still feel differing amounts of anxiety before going on stage. I think it’s something that for most people never really goes away – there will always be a certain amount of nerves …

Maura (Ogikubo Station)

SPB: How did Ogikubo Station come to be? 

Maura: I was visiting my sister in Oakland and hanging out with my friend Danielle Bailey from the band Jabber in San Jose. Danny had posted some photos of us hanging out and Mike called Danny to ask if I'd sing some vocals on a song he …

Good Touch

SPB: What do your parents think of your music? (Related: Are they likely to read this?) 

Adrien: My mom has always been supportive. Like a lot of older folks, she wishes we'd write a "one hit wonder," haha.

She's more likely to read it if I show it to her.

Jason: They appreciate my …

John Peck (American Steel)

SPB: With the band spread out geographically, how did you approach writing the new material? How was it different than songwriting in the past?

Peck: As we started preparing for our recent shows, we added one new song each from Ryan and Rory to our rehearsals. With me living overseas, practicing these songs (and …

Ryan Knowles (Coarse)

SPB: A goal with this band was to be distinct from previous projects. To follow-through on this, did you change your overall approach or mostly just the musical style elements? 

Ryan: We did change our entire approach to this project, in all aspects really. We quite literally forced ourselves into this small room that felt …

Zache (Maniac)

SPB: The title track on the new album is a bit of a departure in sound from the rest of the album. What’s the story behind this song? 

Zache: My Dad died of cancer on October 29, 2013, two days after Lou Reed. Pretty quickly after I had the lyrics, “And we all join the dead dad’s …

Del (Delmar & the Dedications)

SPB: What musician do you think had the greatest influence on Delmar’s sound today?  

Del: I've always been a huge fan of ‘60s girl-group pop bands, and at first, Delmar started as a cover band doing garage punk renditions of b-sides from The Chiffons, The Supremes, Lesley Gore, etc. I eventually realized that …

Larry Livermore

SPB: How do you generally find out about new music?

Livermore: Sometimes from friends, but increasingly, for the most part, nowhere.

Al (Geld – vocals)

SPB: Given that records get distributed on the internet with a global reach, and influences come in with a global reach, do you find it difficult to establish an “Australian” sound, or is it not a factor in your music? 

Al: While we do have some civic pride for Australian music (one of the …

Kevin White (Squarecrow – bass)

SPB: To you, what is the best thing about the San Diego scene right now?

White: It’s hard to identify. It’s just a group of musicians exhausting through a subsidiary fragmented universe of ego and alienation, entitlement and reproach, where diuretics and laxatives are employed to produce on a sidewalk; a San Diego …

Solveig Matthildur (Kælan Mikla)

SPB: How do fine arts, besides music, influence your approach to making music?

Matthildur: Art for me is like taking something from everyday life, a landscape, a situation, a thought, a dream or whatever you want to take, process it and put it out in another form. And I see it like all art and creations …

Mattia (Abstracter)

SPB: In my opinion Abstracter has adopted a more and more bleak sound over time. Do you perceive the development of Abstracter in the same way? What influences this development? 

Mattia: It is undeniable that the sound has gotten bleaker. This was the band's fate all along in some way. We just needed the right people …

Avola

SPB: What stood out to you the most the first time you performed as a solo musician?

Avola: My first solo performance was in 2009. It was a Sunday afternoon. I remember a lot of anxiety. I no longer had a band of hairy folks and too many amps to distract people with. Just me hunching over …

Ruby Boots

SPB: How does a musician’s politics affect your appreciation of them? Does it factor in, or can you separate the two ideas?

Ruby: I feel like using the word 'politics' as opposed to morals and values adds to the great divide that we are currently living in, I want to know where a musician stands on …

Eric Martinez (Dezorah)

SPB: What kind of guitar do you use (and why did you make this choice)? 

Eric: I play a Mexican made Fender Duo Sonic (Surf Green). I chose this guitar because I wanted something tonally versatile that would not leave me completely broke. So far it has given me everything I want in a guitar …

Tony Gonzalez (Barren Womb)

SPB: There was very little time between the first couple of Barren Womb releases. We have had to wait a bit for Old Money/New Lows. What caused the wait?

Tony: There are a couple of reasons for the gap between "Nique Everything" and "Old Money / New Lows". First of all, we were touring …

Redmer (Sun-0-Bathers)

SPB: Sun-0-Bathers sounds very true to one particular scene or sound (and mocks a couple of others just by naming the band as you did). The more truly a band presents itself, the more it makes me wonder: what guilty pleasures are hidden? So: what are your guilty pleasures outside of your general style?

Redmer: Our …

Frank Meriwether (Dark Oz)

SPB: What is the weirdest description you’ve heard of your music? Could you see where the commenter was coming from? 

Frank: I really can't think of any weird descriptions, unfortunately, but the weirdest comparison I got was comparing our music to Genesis. I started listening to music (in a way so as to form …

Sarah Shook & the Disarmers

SPB: Which venue has the best food for touring artists? 

Sarah Shook & the Disarmers: The Grey Eagle in Asheville, NC, those cats make dope tacos and have vegan options.