THE RUMBLE: LOS ANGELES this week is fortunate to have the D.C. based act, JUKEBOX THE GHOST playing this week's party. We had a chance to ask them some questions before the flight West.....
Q: THERE ARE THREE OF YOU IN JUKEBOX THE GHOST, AND YOUR MYSPACE PROFILE SAYS WASHINGTON D.C./PHILADELPHIA - WHO'S FROM WHERE? BRIEFLY DISCUSS HOW YOU MET UP AND FORMED THE BAND
Jesse is from Boston, MA. Ben is from Louisvile, KY. I (Tommy) am
from Richmond, VA. We all went to school in Washington, D.C. (The
George Washington University), which is where the band formed. Ben
and Jesse had played together their freshman year with another
guitarist. When that guitarist left, it happened to be around the
same time that I put up a flier in the school's music department.
They called, we jammed together, and we've been best friends and
bandmates ever since. After graduating college, we moved to
Philadelphia and have been touring almost nonstop.
Q: I'VE BEEN A FAN OF JTG SINCE I FIRST HEARD "HOLD IT IN" AND "GOOD DAY" A FEW YEARS BACK. WHAT'S THE STATUS OF YOUR NEXT BATCH OF MUSIC THAT WE CAN EXPECT?
We have a TON of new music (to be recorded soon), which will hopefully
find its way onto an album of some sort late this year or early 2010.
Q: THANKS TO WIKIPEDIA, I FOUND OUT YOU GOT YOUR NAME FROMA COMBO OF NABOKOV AND BEEFHEART. AS A BEEFHEART FAN, WHICH SONG DID YOU PULL FROM THE CAPTAIN?
I was listening to the album "Bongo Fury," which is an awesome
collaboration between Frank Zappa and Beefheart, and I must have heard
the word jukebox in it somewhere. Although, I just looked at this
webpage with the full album's lyrics (you're not the first one to ask
about that, and I figured I should at least know what song it came
from), and there's no mention of a jukebox.....Hmm....At any rate, I
definitely 'thought' of the word jukebox while listening to that
album. This is a terrifying discovery -- Is our band history a sham??
http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/lyrics/Bongo_Fury.html
Q: YOU HAVE A SHOW IN LOS ANGELES ON FEBRUARY 6TH AT THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM WITH THE BIRD & THE BEE - SOUNDS FANTASTIC, BUT IS THIS TRIP JUST ABOUT THAT SHOW OR IS THERE MORE? RECORDINGS? PROMO?
Really just about that show. We're doing some other random
band-related things out there, but nothing earth-shattering.
Q: WHAT'S THE INDIE SCENE LIKE IN WASHINGTON D.C. CURRENTLY? WHAT BANDS ARE THE BIG DRAW LOCALLY?
To be honest, we've been traveling and living in Philadelphia since
fall of 2007, so we're no longer great authorities on the DC scene.
Bands we love that are currently playing/living in DC include Tereu
Tereu, Exit Clov, Pash, These United States, Medications, Vandaveer,
Le Loup, Laura Burhenn, Travis Morrison Hellfighters and Junior
League.
Q: D.C. HAS ALWAYS HAD A VERY PRONOUNCED MUSIC HERITAGE, WHAT BANDS FROM D.C. WOULD YOU CONSIDER AN INFLUENCE OR AN INSPIRATION?
Jesse and I are huge Dismemberment Plan geeks, which makes our
friendship with Travis Morrison a bit surreal...Emergency & I is an
incredible influence on us, and a constant musical fixture for us on
the road. Lately, I've been on a big Fugazi kick, and I love
Medications and Faraquet (the new anthology that Dischord put out is
great). Oh yeah, and Wale's mixtape from last year is sick.
Q: ON A SIMILAR NOTE, THE QUOTE GOES "TO LOOK TO THE FUTURE WE MUST FIRST LOOK BACK TO THE PAST" - IF I ASKED EACH ONE OF YOU SEPARATELY TO GIVE ME 2 ARTISTS THAT INFLUENCED YOUR APPROACH TO MUSIC, CAN YOU DO THAT?
Oh wow. Tough question. It's hard to isolate influences, especially
since early influences have such a far-reaching impact in ways you
don't even realize. I guess Phish would be the band that really
inspired my guitar playing in middle school/early high school....But
my discovery of Radiohead's OK Computer when I was 14 unlocked the
indie rock world for me and paved the way, directly or indirectly, for
me to listen to most of the music I listen to now.
Q: BECAUSE FUTURE SOUNDS HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT GREAT MUSIC AND TURNING PEOPLE ON TO UP AND COMING BANDS, CAN YOU GIVE A FEW SHOUTS OUT TO BANDS THAT YOU THINK EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT?
Pretty & Nice from Boston. Via Audio and the XYZ Affair from NYC.
These United States and Exit Clov from DC. The Winter Sounds from
Greenville. All bands we've played with that never cease to blow me
away.
Q: 2009 IS HERE, O'BAMA IS TAKING OVER CHOCOLATE CITY, YOUR TOWN, WHAT'S JUKEBOX THE GHOST'S PLANS FOR '09 THAT WE SHOULD ALL BE AWARE
OF? TOURS?
Lots and lots and lots of touring. Definitely some big show
announcements for this spring. Then, in early summer, recording our
next LP!
Download "Hold It In" (mp3 thanks to Music Is Art)
Jukebox The Ghost hits the stage at 11:15pm on Thursday at The Rumble: LA @ 3 Clubs in HollywoodLabels: Jukebox The Ghost, The Rumble
LA's THE VOYEURS opened things up with an inspired set
THE RINGERS absolutely tore the evening apart
More Ringers....
D.C.'s JUKEBOX THE GHOST take us through the witching hour
Members of THE MIDNIGHT SQUIRES spotted at 3 Clubs
FITZ also seen watching The Ringers
LA's THE VOYEURS opened things up with an inspired set
THE RINGERS absolutely tore the evening apart
More Ringers....
D.C.'s JUKEBOX THE GHOST take us through the witching hour
Members of THE MIDNIGHT SQUIRES spotted at 3 Clubs
FITZ also seen watching The Ringers
