Riding Shotgun With The Spinto Band
Were you amongst the sold-out Arctic Monkeys crowd last March? If so, you should be well acquainted with the band featured this week. The Spinto Band engaged in some serious thunder-stealing from the hype machine from across the pond, and came back to town last month to headline their own show at the Black Cat. Their concoction of sugary powerpop and straight up rock replete with Beatle-esque head-bobbing was lapped up by all in attendance. I sat down with Jon, Jeff, Joe, and Sam pre-show and got a look into the world of Spinto. What follows are the (abbreviated) results of sleep deprivation. Get your eight hours, folks.
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Touring is: Important. - Jeff & Joe (virtually in unison) Adventurous. - Jon
Our first gig together was: Hilarious. - Jeff The first gig was, like, sort of a charitable amphitheatre night, people set up lawn chairs and listened to bluegrass more or less. Jeff and Joe's dad is in a band that gave us a bunch of equipment and we were just starting off playing songs and stuff and they said we could start the day off so we go to this place called Bellevue State Park and set up on this big stage, and we're all getting nervous (at least I was). We played the songs a few times, but we didn't really understand rehearsing yet, it was that long ago. Set up right in front of us were these biker dudes with a big cooler of beer, all these tattoos and mustaches... - Jon
The funniest part was my parents were right next to 'em, and were friends with them, and we didn't know. - Jeff
I was pretty intimidated by them, but then we got offstage and they gave us some words of encouragement, "hey, good show kids," stuff like that. It was fun. - Jon
It was a good experience. - Sam
Kind, warm-hearted bikers. - Jon
Our favorite venue to play is: I'd say ones that don't have stairs. And has a pool table. And has friendly staff. - Jon
I feel like the Black Cat's got it. - Jeff
New York's fun to play, because lots of people come out but it's always a headache too. I guess that's a city, not the venue. - Jon
Hygiene on a tour is: Sparse. - Jon
Shower, dip in the pond... - Jon
Same thing. - Joe
Our favorite thing about touring is: You meet a lot of nice people, get to know a lot of other bands. - Jon
Play in new places. - Sam
Go to a lot of other places that you'd never normally go to. Des Moines. - Jon
The state of Ohio. - Sam
People wouldn't think that Boise is as cool as it is... - Jon
And the least favorite: On this tour, I'd say lack of sleep. - Jeff
Don't really get to sleep comfortably. Or much. - Sam
I guess all the girls is my least favorite part, really. Girls just wanna talk to you all the time... - Jon
City with the best audiences: I would say...New York? - Jeff
New York is just so concentrated. I think we sold out our first ever show in New York. - Jon
The band member most likely to disappear after a show is:
Let's just say Thomas, because he's not here. - Jon
He's kind of a spacecase... - Sam
The tour bus/van smells like: A mix of beef jerky...rotten bananas... - all
Laundry is: a) washed regularly, b) washed irregularly, c) we go shopping a lot: B. - all
What's the most unusual item on your rider? String cheese! - all
Who controls the music in the touring vehicle? And what are you listening to at the moment? Whoever's driving. - all
On the XM we can usually find Gnarls Barkley playing at any given moment. Gnarls Barkley or Nickelback. But then as far as cds, we got Mystery Jets, Animal Collective we listened to today...pretty much runs the gamut. - Jon
Your new favorite watering hole after being on tour? And/or the best place to get greasy, hangover-curing food? Johnny's Salamis...the man has a vision. - Sam
Most amusing memory from your current or most recent tour? A funny moment happened on this tour at a gas station. With this old man...we were parked at a gas station. There was one car in front of us, and this old man's car behind us. And then there's another car blocked in by the old man behind us. And so, they walked in and asked "who's car is this? Whose car is this? We can't get out." So then the old man comes out and starts cursing us out because he thinks we're in his way and we're preventing him from getting gas, but we couldn't move either way. This old man was just out of control. - Sam
And the best part about was that his curses were just like gurgles, which we now replicate. - Jon (gurgling impressions ensue)
Then he gave us the finger when we finally drove away. I think he was drunk. - Sam
Don't drink and drive kids. - Jon
Are there any bands you've played with that you'd like to tour with again? Or bands that you have yet to tour with that you'd like to? We toured with Mystery Jets in the UK, nobody knows about them. They're like the nicest guys in the world, and they're such a good band. - Jon
Please name the city you wouldn't ever play in again? Or, if not a particular city, which venue makes your skin crawl? Spaceland. - Sam
That was just a poorly put together show. - Jon
In terms of specific venue I'd say Spaceland, in terms of specific cities I'd say Toledo, Ohio. - Sam
The last time we played Toledo was horrible. - Jeff
It was a depressing place to be. - Sam
We don't ever want to play in Russia. We're scared. - Jon
Favorite song, Spinto or otherwise, to play live? Favorite Spinto song, for me, to play live is "Spy vs Spy," just to play... - Jeff
What's the first thing a new visitor to Wilmington should do or see? Well there's the zoo... - Jon
Get out. - Joe
You can't do anything on a Sunday, because the whole town shuts down. - Jon
You could run the city if you go there on a Sunday. - Sam
Best example of use of a Roy mask at a Spinto show? Last time we played in D.C., at the 9:30 Club. That was definitely the best. - Sam
Apart from the obvious cd, what's the merch item of yours you think people should shell out for? I'm kind of surprised people haven't bought more of the 7 inches. - Sam
We came out with this 7 inch, with special, limited-edition Spinto Band 3-D glasses. - Jon
We're all fans of poster art, so I think people should buy our posters. Get rid of that Jim Belushi poster on the wall, the Bruce Lee poster, put up a cool band poster. - Jon
Have you been to the top of the Washington Monument? It's too phallic for me, I'm too intimidated...let's go right now. - Jon
What bands/artists made the biggest impact on you growing up? And which ones made you decide ultimately to be artists yourselves? There's a band called Ween that had a big influence...first band that I got real into that wasn't just conventional. - Jon
What would you like people to be saying about the Spinto Band in 50 years? They're attractive old men. - Jon
When the Spinto Band invented the jetpack, that was awesome. - Sam
Please recite a line of poetry: "And miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep" (Robert Frost) - Sam
And finally, it's BigYawn's round. What's your poison? I guess mine would probably be...a cup of coffee at this point. - Jon
A glass of Mountain Dew. - Joe
A White Russian. - Sam
To fully indulge your Spinto Band fix, mosey over to www.spintoband.com, or www.myspace.com/thespintoband.