Features / One Question Interviews

Quite literally, a one question interview. Also known as 1QIs, we post these first to our social media on a near-daily basis, with the archival piece here. Check 'em out.

Latest One Question Interviews

Michael Yonkers

One Question Interviews • October 3, 2014

Michael Yonkers

SPB: How does it feel to revisit music from so long ago? Are you the type of musician that enjoys playing and listening to a full back catalog or are you the type who tends to release an album and move on to the next project?

Yonkers: It is a very odd feeling, to say the …

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War//Plague

One Question Interviews • September 25, 2014

Andy Lefton (War//Plague)

SPB: Minneapolis seems very engrained in your sound. How much of that is conscious? Is it purposeful, or does is just sort of happen through osmosis? Do you find the TC scene to be fairly supportive and/or conducive? Are their limitations or frustrations that come with being labeled a Minneapolis band?

Lefton: It's completely organic. …

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Big Dick

One Question Interviews • September 25, 2014

Big Dick

SPB: What do your parents think of your band name?

Johnny: My parents believe I haven't left my basement since 1997. I really have them going.
Dave: I tell my parents the band is called Big Richard…they have a very uncertain and vague idea of my hobbies anyway.

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Sweatshop Boys

One Question Interviews • September 25, 2014

Itai (Sweatshop Boys)

SPB: If you had your choice, which band would you love to tour with? 

Itai: Touring with another band is a complex matter, which makes this question a bit difficult to answer. Should we choose a band that we really love or people that we know that we'll surely get along with? Our problem is …

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Lair of the Minotaur

One Question Interviews • September 25, 2014

Steven Rathbone (Lair of the Minotaur)

SPB: Since your lyrical themes are also rooted in Greek mythology, what was it that attracted you on the subject? 

Rathbone: I have always been into mythology, also horror and science fiction. The Greek myths were once passed on through storytelling around the campfire. Now the campfire has been replaced with the …

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Chris Brokaw

One Question Interviews • September 18, 2014

Chris Brokaw (solo, Wreckmeister Harmonies, The New Year, The Empty House Collective, ex-Codeine)

SPB: Rank these listening formats: cd, vinyl, cassette, digital, (other?)

Brokaw: 1) Vinyl. For so many reasons. But I guess the best is that I recently concluded that this is the best piece of art that exists. I consider music to be the most …

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True Widow

One Question Interviews • September 18, 2014

Dan (True Widow)

SPB: Are genre labels important to assign to music? 

Dan: I don't think genre labels are important. I do think they are helpful. When I get asked what kind of music we play I always say rock music. Not very helpful. Then I start saying things like 'it's heavy and slow. But not aggressive heavy. …

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Hope Drone

One Question Interviews • September 18, 2014

Karl Hartwig (Hope Drone)

SPB: What is the feeling of the current Australian black metal climate? It seems that Brisbane is shaping up to be a kind of epicentre for the genre, and it would be interesting to hear thoughts from a band of that area. 

Hartwig: I can’t really comment on the Australian black metal climate, as …

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Vapour Night

One Question Interviews • September 18, 2014

Ali (Vapour Night)

SPB: What’s the last “grower” record you heard that didn’t impress on first listen but has, since, grown on you?

Ali: Burials by AFI. I love AFI but I found this album to be such a horrible disappointment on first listen. I've listened to the album lots of times since and I really like the …

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Radon

One Question Interviews • September 11, 2014

Bill Clower (Radon, drums)

SPB: How did your set at Fest 12 come about? Any surprises in store for #13?

Clower: That's 2 questions.

Tate, the owner of The Lunch Box restaurant, asked us to play.

[For Fest 13,] if we told you, it wouldn't be a surprise (you're really going to have to start thinking …

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Where My Bones Rest Easy

One Question Interviews • September 11, 2014

Anthony Manella (Where My Bones Rest Easy)

SPB: What’s your favorite book?

Manella: I'd have to say the book that has stuck with me and held a lot of weight in helping me process things in life as a young teen/adult would have to be Albert Camus' The Stranger. I first read it when I was 15 …

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Dan Padilla

One Question Interviews • September 11, 2014

J. Wang (Dan Padilla, Shallow Cuts)

SPB: Have you ever forgotten lyrics mid-song? If so, how did you recover?

Wang: Of course I’ve forgotten lyrics. Haven’t you seen how drunk we are when we play? I've not only forgotten lyrics, but forgotten entire songs while the rest of the band just stares at me like I’m an idiot. …

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Franz Nicolay

One Question Interviews • September 11, 2014

Franz Nicolay

SPB: What instrument is the hardest to tunefully amplify in a larger venue?

Nicolay: It doesn't come up very often, but the musical - or "singing" - saw is next to impossible to successfully mic. The sound is soft and high-pitched and has no obvious point of creation, so you just have to point a mic …

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Frank Rosaly

One Question Interviews • September 8, 2014

Frank Rosaly

SPB: What's the worst (or strangest) stereotype you encounter from people when they find out you're a musician?

Rosaly: “It must be so fantastic to be following your dream!”

This response is probably the strangest of them all. I mean, it really bums me out. I understand that some people don’t have a calling to …

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Sneeze

One Question Interviews • September 8, 2014

Derek (Sneeze)

SPB: What do you parents think of your music?

Derek: Honestly, both of my parents love Sneeze much much more than my older bands, haha. They're finally happy I'm in a band that doesn't just "scream bloody murder." Sometimes they're a little iffy on the lyrics ‘cause now they know I do drugs, drink excessively, smoke, …

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The Arrivals

One Question Interviews • September 8, 2014

Isaac Thotz (The Arrivals, Treasure Fleet)

SPB: Have you ever hooked your dangling earrings on anything?

Thotz: I've hooked them on countless things all over the universe that I'm unaware of; I've misplaced at least thirty or forty. I was down to one earring for about six months there a little while back. It was my favorite, so …

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Midnight Masses

One Question Interviews • September 8, 2014

Autry Fulbright II (Midnight Masses, …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead)

SPB: How did you settle on the name Midnight Masses for the project?

Fulbright II: My dad was raised Catholic and my favorite Black Sabbath song is “War Pigs” ("generals gathered in their masses/just like witches at black masses").

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Young Turks

One Question Interviews • August 30, 2014

Jason (Young Turks)

SPB: How big is your record collection?

Jason: I have about 250 records. I started collecting when I was about 16. I hated high school so I started doing independent study so I could play in a punk band with older guys, and get a full time job so I could buy more gear. That …

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Street Dogs

One Question Interviews • August 30, 2014

Mike McColgan (Street Dogs, FM359)

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

McColgan: One entire room in my house is dedicated to all of the vinyl, CDs, instruments, stereo equipment, posters, flyers etc. that I own.

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Æges

One Question Interviews • August 30, 2014

Kemble Walters (Æges)

SPB: What is your day job/how does it affect your schedule as a musician?

Walters: This is a funny question for me being that I am a working musician. I've been on the full-time musician kick since 2003 and it's definitely a struggle. For one, I am my own boss: I make my own schedule, …

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