Features / One Question Interviews

Jeff (Ma Jolie)

SPB: What’s the secret to a successful tour?

Jeff: It all depends on your intentions with touring in general. If it's your career/job/profession, a lot of factors are involved with making a successful tour. Yes, full-time musicians need to make money in order to pay their bills, live in a home/apartment, and maybe even have …

Eric Quach (This Quiet Army)

SPB: How big is your record collection?

Quach: 466 CDs, 109 vinyls, 16 cassettes!

Aaron Whitfield (Great Reversals – vocals)

SPB: If you could experiment in any one genre that's far removed from what you do now, what would it be?

Whitfield: I feel a little ashamed to say it, but other than "singing" in a hardcore band, I don't play any other instruments. I've wanted to dabble in drumming or bass-ing, …

Stefan Nemeth (ex-Radian, Lokia, Innode)

SPB: What is your favorite music-related film or documentary?

Nemeth: I thought quite a bit about it and I am not even sure if I have one.I did not see many music-related films and of these only a few have been permanently stored in my active memory.

However, the one which came …

Tesco Vee (The Meatmen)

SPB: What’s the best love song ever written?

Vee: George Jones - "He Stopped Loving Her Today"

Ben Snakepit (cartoonist)

SPB: Who is your favorite flyer artist?

Snakepit: My favorite flyer artist is Jack Barfield at Neolithic Print. He does flyers for most of the big hardcore shows here in Austin. He has a very distinct, bold style that is unmistakable when you see it (he's responsible for all of the Chaos in Tejas posters) …

Sean Rhorer (6131 Records)

SPB: What’s your favorite cover song to listen to/see performed?

Rhorer: I'm not a huge fan of covers, but it's hard not to love the Quicksand cover of The Smiths song "How Soon Is Now?" The Smiths are my favorite band, but this is actually one of my least favorite songs from their catalogue, …

Kitten Forever

SPB: What do you do to ensure you don't lose your voice onstage?

Kitten: We gargle with male tears.

Mike Moynihan (Hollow Earth-guitar)

SPB: What do you listen to the most in the van?

Moynihan: For the most part, driver listens to whatever they want, which could honestly be anything. We all come from very different musical backgrounds, so our taste is pretty eclectic. What we like to do to make sure everyone wins is to make …

Evan Jacobs (Orange County Scenester – director)

SPB: Who is your favorite band discovered in the process of filming Orange County Scenester?

Jacobs: Since I was making a memoir on a scene of bands that I was, in many ways, intimately involved with, there wasn't that a band that I discovered during the making of the film.
…

Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu)

Stewart: What part of your live show is the hardest on sound engineers?

SPB: Getting the vocals loud enough in the monitors. We have really loud stage volume as I like to be pummeled sonically and we use a drum machine. There are almost always some issues with feedback but we work them out. …

Trevor Reilly (A Wilhelm Scream)

SPB: When you built your studio, what was the primary, driving concept you wanted to make sure you could capture as far as acoustics?

Reilly: The most important thing we tried to do while remodeling the studio was to make sure that the acoustics didn't work against us! We have a room with …

Matt (Rosetta)

SPB: Do you run your own website, facebook, twitter, etc? Do you enjoy that aspect of the industry?

Matt: Yeah, I do all of it (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr posts & question box, website), though occasionally some of the other guys answer questions on our Tumblr or Twitter.

I have a love/hate relationship with social media. …

Erik Ziedses des Plantes (Gazer, bass/vocals)

SPB: How do you find new music?

Erik: My current music discovery system has two tiers that I think does a good job of covering stuff happening more "above ground" and things happening on a more DIY level. 

Tier 1: I have a regular rotation of websites that I've visited …

Jeffrey Novak (Cheap Time, solo)

SPB: What inspired you to start performing solo?

Novak: I have never had much patience with waiting. I got tired of waiting to meet the right people to start a band with, so I got heavy into home recording instead. But it wasn't until I saw the Cheater Slicks play that I finally …

Steve (Hollow Earth, vocals)

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

Steve: I personally think it's great! In 2008 one of my all-time favorite bands, Local H, played 7 nights in a row in their hometown of Chicago to commemorate the release of their then new album. In chronological …

Srini Radhakrishna (Circles, Space Raft)

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

Radhakrishna: Despite having custom earplugs made over a year ago, I've only used them once. They actually haven't even moved from where I put them the day I got them. I forget that I own them and never think to bring them to …

Clint (Organized Crime Records)

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

Clint: I would say that overall about 60% of my place is consumed with music. I have been a long time avid collector.

Funny thing: I am dealing with music storage issues right now. Having a label means …

Al Jourgensen (Ministry)

SPB: Is there a sample you’ve tried to get the rights to use but were denied?

Jourgensen: ALL OF THEM.... Just kidding. Actually the biggest sample pain in the ass was on Houses of the Molé with the use of Carmina Burana on “No W.” It was a nightmare. We'd reached out to the publisher …

Chris Reifert (Autopsy/Violation Wound)

SPB: What’s the best movie you’ve seen this year?

Reifert: The best movie ever made is The Dark Backward. It didn't come out this year, nor did I see it for the first time this year. But mark my words, it's warped, dark, weird and I love the hell out of it! A …