Features / One Question Interviews

Austin (Grand Vapids)

SPB: Which of the Athens bands have had the most impact on the music industry as a whole and/or which have inspired you the most?

Austin: There are too many bands from Athens to reference who have had major impacts on the industry without stating the obvious round of usual suspects. I suppose if I …

Hugo Mudie (Powernap)

SPB: What is an oreosmith?

Mudie: When I was a kid I had an uncle who worked for Christie (the company that makes the Oreos). His name was Danny Mudie. When Areosmith released the Pump album, the Oreo brand was going to make Steve Tyler shaped cookies. One cookie in every 100 boxes or so. …

Patrick Alberts (Call of the Void)

SPB: What do you think of (the return of) cassettes?

Alberts: I find the return of cassettes to be awesome. There is nothing I enjoy more than owning a bands demo on cassette, when it’s not available in any other format. One of my favorite releases currently is Spectral Voice's Necrotic Doom …

Skye (Terminal Sound System)

SPB: Your use of effects in Dust Songs reveals a quite out of the box thinking from your part. Can you describe the process of applying effects to your music? Does it happen as you are recording or in the mixing stage? Can you also give us some of your favorite effects? Can be software …

Sean Schultz (What Tyrants)

SPB: What venue is your favorite to play (and why)?

Schultz: Our favorite venue to play would have to be the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis, the smaller venue attached to the iconic First Avenue, The Entry is where the likes of The Replacements, Hüsker Dü, and countless others cut their teeth. It’s a …

No Hands

SPB: Who is the most underrated Canadian band? 

No Hands: Our consensus on the most underrated Canadian bands is:

Current: What Seas, What Shores https://whatseaswhatshores.bandcamp.com/

They do what they do better than any band that I can think of, but continue to fly under the radar.

Out of Commission: Barrier http://barrier.likeweeds.org/trailbreaker/

Great band …

Stephen (Urban Scandal Records)

SPB: How do you typically find the bands you sign to the label?

Stephen: I would say I generally find bands that I want to work with through word of mouth. Friends of friends of friends sort of situations. Not all releases have come about that way, but I've found that a business partnership …

Dr. Strange (Dr. Strange Records)

SPB: How has Record Store Day changed your business?

Dr. Strange: The truth is I didn’t even participate until the third one. I thought to myself “now this sounds like a gimmick” and I wanted nothing to do with it. But so many of my customers asked me to do it I decided …

Erin Page (Kill Hatsumomo)

SPB: Is there a specific poster that got you interested in the medium yourself?

Page: What initially led me to making posters was the DIY cut and paste flier and zine movement of the mid ‘90s music scene of Peoria, Illinois -- where I grew up. After I moved to Chicago, a poster by …

Pharaoh

SPB: To what extent does ritual/tradition/mythology play a part in Pharaoh's music?

Pharaoh: We met and grew up for the most part in Catholic schools together. Every day as kids we prayed with everyone else before class, got dragged to church, sang the songs. Drinking blood and eating flesh between math and study hall. They don't try …

Cameron (Malta)

SPB: As a songwriter, at what point does drawing influence from another subject become too close to mimicking?

Malta: When we write, we take cues from subjects everywhere, real life and every aspect of media and art, but I'll try to talk specifically about how we deal when we feel like we're mimicking songwriters and players …

Ian (Vexx)

SPB: How much does location and history (specifically Olympia, WA) influence you?

Ian: I grew up in Singapore but the majority of my extended family lives in Washington, so I would go to shows in Seattle when I came back to visit. Olympia was always in the ethers, kind of haunting literature and politics in my music …

Port of Sound Records

SPB: How important is it to set yourself apart from other stores on Record Store Day?

PoS: Most importantly, we work months ahead of the actual date, reaching out to all sorts of labels and distributors so that we can get every title in stock. We open up early at 5am, and make sure …

Patrick Kindon (Drug Church)

SPB: What is the best pop song of the past 10 years?

Kindon: I typed up a whole thing about “Crazy In Love” by Beyoncé (feat. Jay-Z), then realized that song came out in 2003, more than 10 years ago. Which brought on a certain clarity about the fact I’m A) old as shit …

Kepi Ghoulie (Groovie Ghoulies, solo)

SPB: What is your favorite Christmas song?

Ghoulie: Anything from A Charlie Brown Christmas, anything from Bob Dylan - Christmas in the Heart, or "You Make It Feel Like Christmas" by Neil Diamond

OR

"The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth" by Bowie/Crosby

Kyle Hall (Kitten Crisis)

SPB: What is the longest (in time) tour you’ve been on? Would you do it again?

Hall: I've been on a few tours that have been over a month but so far, never much more than that. Yes, I would do it again! In a heartbeat. I love being on tour. My band Kitten …

War on Women

SPB: Basements or bars (or both)?

War on Women: That's like asking “day or night,” “loud or quiet,” “happy or sad.”

You can't appreciate one without the other, regardless of preference. But no one has ever chipped their tooth moshing to us in a bar...but a guy did stick his head inside our kick …

Marc Weinstein (Amoeba Records, co-owner)

SPB: What shift in listening format has been the most surprising in your run as a store?

Weinstein: The most surprising shift was back in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s when everybody was convinced they needed to buy their collection over again on this new "improved" format called a "CD..." CDs offered a degree …

Freeman (Benny the Jet Rodriguez - vocals/guitar)

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

Freeman: I do wear ear plugs. For a long time I used to wear construction headphones at practice and on stage. Once I saved up enough I bought custom noise canceling earplugs that helped level out noise for me. I've had …

Dorian Williamson (Northumbria)

SPB: You recorded your first album in a church - what was it about the space that appealed to you and what kind of spaces would you like to utilise in the future? 

Williamson: The main reason we chose to record in a church was because we wanted to track at a very high volume …