Features / One Question Interviews

Logan Hammon (Small Crush-vocals/guitar)

SPB: How do you choose your album art?

Hammond: I love to design my own album art to reflect the feeling of the album. Making it handmade is my favorite way to do it, so it really feels like my art coming to life. I love when it has a lot of texture and …

Alyssa Moore & Randy Moore (The Moore Family Band – vocals/guitar)

SPB: Was the plan always to go with the name The Moore Family Band, or did you start with something else in mind and move toward the obvious?

Alyssa & Randy: It was pretty organic. We made the record before we had the name, so after going …

Coen (Harsh Realms)

SPB: If you had to introduce someone to good music, which five records would be included in the homework assignment you'd give them?

Coen: Something new, something old?

We've been listening a lot to the new record by fellow Dutch punkrockers Antillectual. Their new album Together has been well worth the 7 year wait …

Chris X (Reptilian Records)

SPB: What’s an often overlooked but essential skillset for running a label in 2023?

Chris X: With the side job I picked up two weeks ago on top of label/mailorder, I'm kinda fried. I thought about it over the last day or so, but I got nothin'. In fact, if someone has a good …

Jaake Margo (Sweet Gloom – vocals/guitar)

SPB: You covered “Jaded” for the Operation Ivy tribute. Why that song (and did you have a second choice)?

Margo: "Jaded" was always my favorite Operation Ivy song, so when the opportunity came to cover it, I jumped on the chance. I grew up a little less than an hour from …

King Yosef

SPB: What is a city or country that you would love to play but never have?

King Yosef: I have not played a show in mainland Australia yet, but would love to. Specifically Melbourne, as I have quite a few friends there, get a lot of love from Australia and have yet to visit the city …

Keaton Rogers (Raised on TV)

SPB: What’s a record you love that would surprise people?

Rogers: That's a cool question. Hmm, a rock record, or any record along those lines, probably wouldn't be a surprise to anyone. I'll go with The Slim Shady LP from Eminem, his first big record. It's such a raw, angsty album, with a …

Jake (Lightweight)

SPB: You just released The Next One’s on You, the third in a series of EPs. What inspired the trilogy concept with these (and what will follow it up)?

Jake: So the answer to this question is really two fold: there’s the creative answer and the practical/promotional answer. 

The creative answer is that, when we …

David Schellenberg (Tunic)

SPB: How has COVID/illness-risk changed how you tour? Do you take any precautions in terms of health, diet, housing, etc?

Schellenberg: The biggest change for us is we now stay in motels/hotels as a way to keep us out of strangers’ houses -- as when you're a punk band on tour you typically stay in …

Christopher Archuleta (Box Elder – guitar/vocals)

SPB: Do you have a favorite lyric/snippet ever? (What and why?)

Archuleta: Probably from the song “Minimums.” off of our EP of the same name. "Finding places to reset again. It all just felt so permanent. Just you and me in the backseat. Finding more in these minimums." 

It means a …

Ben Coleman (Hunting Lions – vocals)

SPB: You’ve played with many musicians in your career. In this band, whose songwriting process or stage mannerisms were the biggest adjustment for you to adapt to?

Coleman: Between the spark of an idea and the realization of 2 or 3 minutes of music, can be moments, months or even years. 

…

Tommy Rehbein (Toilet Rats)

SPB: What inspired the theme behind Toilet Rats and how did it evolve from that first concept?

Rehbein: The world was on lockdown. Solitude. A one-person project beneath the sleepy streets of Minneapolis, MN. Songs that are grimy and to-the-point. How has it evolved? Better production, more focused themes, and refined melodies. When you …

Sam Black (The Tunnel - bass)

"What's That Noise?" is a series about gear. Show us some of your key pieces.

Curran Reynolds (Body Stuff)

Tell us what piece of gear “makes the Body Stuff sound,” in your opinion.

Jeff Byers (Northeast Regional)

SPB: What is your favorite workplace-set TV show?

Byers: While not set in the workplace, I've mostly been watching Survivor of late, which inspired the lyrics to the hit Northeast Regional single "The Archivists." But my wife and I have also been slowly rewatching Mad Men, which is firmly set in the workplace. …

Eric Urbach (States of Nature)

SPB: Which song that you wrote are you most proud of (and why)?

Urbach: States of Nature has been working on a new LP now for quite some time, and I feel most proud about the fact that we were able to put together a fantastic, cohesive body of work that I believe …

Dick Lucas (Subhumans UK)

SPB: How involved were you in the box set project? 

Lucas: Most of my involvement was with going back through my old diaries to see if what I'd written when we were recording the albums made any sort of readable outline of what happened in the studio, and when I “tested” some entries on …

Eric Angelo Bessel (Lore City, solo artist)

SPB: Where do you get your inspiration from?

Bessel: When beginning a new song, my go-to foundational drone is the Mellotron’s cello. There’s something about this 60-70 year old recorded cello that sets me into motion. I work my way through a new song by intuitively responding to the culmination of …

Paul (The COVIDS – guitar)

SPB: This band formed during shutdowns and didn’t get to play live for some time. What is the longest you’ve gone, with COVIDS or any band, between forming and actually playing your first show?

Paul: For all of us it was definitely this band that took the longest to get from rehearsal studio …

Mike (DeeCRACKS)

SPB: What show, outside of Austria, have you been most excited to play (either because of the city, the venue, or the rest of the lineup)?

Mike: Tough question actually. We've done a lot of touring in our 20 years as a band and basically every adventure we were and still are excited for. The first …