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 absolutely incredible. And I feel like he gets the best out of the people he's working with.
Runners up: Hudson Mohawke, DJ Shadow, DJ Quick
Sarah (Quattracenta) SPB: Which of your songs is the most difficult to play live? Sarah: “In Dust,” from our new record III. It’s not necessarily difficult in a technical sense, but because it is a very quiet and intimate song, playing it in a noisy club or bar can be … Read more
Joao (Illuminati) SPB: What inspired Illuminati to reform? Joao: The original lineup disbanded in 2004 after I migrated to the United States. We self-released a demo in 2003 that was intended to be a literal "demonstration" of our songs rather than a definitive statement of what we wanted to do … Read more
Did you know it’s been 10 years since Anathema Editions put out its first release? To make the moment, we reached out to founder Terence Hannum to share some label history. In keeping with our “History 101” concept, SPB asked for anecdotes about 4 of the label’s releases and then … Read more
Still a Dirty Mess: The Stormtrooper Oral History Before the Sex Pistols swore on television -- or tried to brush it off as "nothing, a rude word" -- and corporate labels commodified safety pins, there was a bar at The Marquee and a damp basement on King's Road. In 1975, … Read more
From shaping the early guitar drive of The Misfits to heading up The Undead, slinging bass for Times Square, and running Post Mortem Records out of a New Jersey bedroom, Bobby Steele’s footprint on tri-state punk is as real as it gets. He’s dodged precinct venue shutdowns, survived botched UK … Read more
Sims is something of a firebrand on his early work, spitting political vitriol and pointing fingers outward and in on records like Lights Out Paris and Bad Time Zoo. This time around, the Minneapolis rapper is looking even more inward on the new More Than Ever, a record that pushes expectation beyond the hard-hitting beats and spitfire lyricism with echo-y … Read more
Six years is a long time between a freshman and sophomore release. Granted, that length isn’t entirely accurate—Sims has been involved in a number of Doomtree records, from the False Hopes mixtape series to appearances on various crew records. Still, he has been patient as Doomtree has released solo records for nearly everyone else in the collective since 2005’s Lights … Read more
Lights Out Paris was one of my favorite releases of 2005, but as the Doomtree crew only has so much time and money on their hands, they rotate members' releases. Thus, it's taken Sims until 2009 to release a False Hopes (the Doomtree version of a mixtape). On #14, Sims has ten new songs to show his growth as an … Read more
Sarah (Quattracenta) SPB: Which of your songs is the most difficult to play live? Sarah: “In Dust,” from our new record III. It’s not necessarily difficult in a technical sense, but because it is a very quiet and intimate song, playing it in a noisy club or bar can be … Read more
Joao (Illuminati) SPB: What inspired Illuminati to reform? Joao: The original lineup disbanded in 2004 after I migrated to the United States. We self-released a demo in 2003 that was intended to be a literal "demonstration" of our songs rather than a definitive statement of what we wanted to do … Read more
Jenn L. Beckwith (All Good Cretins Go To Heaven: The Enduring Spirit of the Ramones – author) SPB: Do you remember the first time you saw the Ramones live (or, alternately if it’s a better story, the first time you heard them)? Beckwith: My collaborator and researcher Gary Lynn Clevenger … Read more
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