During CMJ this past October I did an interview with Ben Thornewill of Jukebox the Ghost. Due to circumstances beyond my control I was not able to finish transcribing and posting it until now. I am very sorry for the delay. Here it is (finally) for your viewing pleasure.
News on Shuffle (NoS): interview with Ben of jukebox the Ghost. So, first question for you is about the album: How different was it working on the new one now that you’ve been kind of established and have a fan base?
Ben: The main difference w/ this record is the amount of time we got to spend on it, and how the time was spent. So instead of doing the first record, doing a record in 12 days, which is how we did the first record, we recorded and mixed, which is crazy in the recording world, we got to spend 40 days on it and really take our time. and it wasn’t 40 straight days, it was like we’d go in during the week and have the weekends off
NoS: it wasn’t biblical?
Ben: It wasn’t biblical no. Making a record it feels like a task of biblical proportions.
NoS: It came out good though. it came out very good.
Ben: I am very pleased with it, yeah.
NoS: Do you listen to your music at all?
Ben: I haven’t listened to the record in a long time actually. You listen to it so much when you record it and so many variations of the songs and the mixes that by the time the record’s out you’re plum sick of listening to it.
NoS: Do you have a favorite song off the album?
Ben: I think the interlude came out really well, and I think, I mean all the songs came out fairly well. I really love the build-up in Summer Sun. It’s only about 10 seconds of material but I think it came out incredibly well.
NoS: On both albums, actually, I really like how a lot of the songs kind of connect to each other and one goes right into another.
Ben: We’re all about that sort of thing.
NoS: A lot of bands right now, because you just mentioned how people don’t listen to CDs anymore, and a lot of bands keep that in mind and just make singles, and you’re one of the few bands I know that still makes albums.
Ben: Yep, absolutely.
NoS: I really, really appreciate that. On the song So Let Us Create, it might just be a total coincidence, but I thought I heard a little George Harrison in there.
Ben: It is total coincidence, and I had obviously heard that song but I don’t think I ever really listened to it until after the fact and then found out it was the same chord progression. It happens. And it’s a different statement of it, but the chords are the same, I hope the key’s not the same. I’m not sure there.
NoS: I don’t think it was. It was similar enough that you could hear it, but it wasn’t like “oh that’s the same song”.
Ben: It was not at all on purpose. It was only one of those after the fact, oh it happens to be the same chord progression.
NoS: Moving on to the tour – how was this one?
Ben: Really good. Full, all around the country and people were at every show and it was really encouraging.
NoS: Do you have a best moment? Worst moment?
Ben: Worst moment was Milwaukee. It was a late show on a Tuesday night. It was 21 up, and there were people there but it was just weird. Some shows are just strange. Highlights are two was in New York, in Chicago it was sold out.
NoS: New York was a great show too.
Ben: New York was a great show too, but there was a tornado and there was some stuff in the way. But Chicago was amazing, and San Fran was amazing. really all around. It was a great tour.
NoS: Obviously there’s a lot of traveling with a tour. What were some ways you guys kept entertained on the road?
Ben: On this stretch for the first time we had wireless internet in the van, which was completely life-changing. So we got to keep up with things. It’s crazy, internet in the van.
NoS: So some of the stuff like the Tumblr and all that you did –
Ben: Almost every single Tumblr or Gumblr review we did from the van.
NoS: I noticed a lot of “loves”
Ben: A lot of loves. It’s hard to hate something.
NoS: So you’re done with the main headlining tour now, right? And next is opening for Guster and Barenaked Ladies.
Ben: We do four shows with Guster coming up next week, and then hit the road for three weeks with Barenaked Ladies.
NoS: How exciting is that?
Ben: I can’t wait.
NoS: Any other bands in the future – if you could tour with a band, it would be…?
Ben: It will never happen but I would love to tour with Vampire Weekend.
NoS: Never say never. Because they will hear that and surprise you. And you will find out that they are huge fan of yours and will want to tour with you.
Ben: That would be really nice.
NoS: That would be really nice. I would totally go to that tour. I dig Vampire Weekend.
So after Barenaked Ladies, do you have any other plans? Or are you just taking a break?
Ben: We have about a week off for Thanksgiving and then we’re back on the road for another two weeks doing another headlining run in a bunch of cities we didn’t hit during this previous headlining tour.
NoS: Alright, so all of those people complaining “You didn’t hit my city”…
Ben: We’re coming back, yep.
NoS: Keep an eye out on the website, which came out really good.
Ben: Thank you
NoS: It was under construction for a long time, but it was worth the wait. Speaking of “online” – a lot of promoting with bands now is social networking – Twitter, Facebook, all that stuff. But then you find that it’s hard to keep a separation between the public band stuff and then the personal –
Ben: yeah, the line definitely blurs, especially with Facebook. I haven’t taken myself down yet, and I get friend requests pretty much every day from fans, and it just is what it is. But I keep my friends and my stuff in one place, and the band stuff is somewhere else.
NoS: And then, the people that are friends with you on Facebook – Do you find that a lot of times you’ll get comments on photos or something from people that you haven’t necessarily even met yet? Does that get kind of weird?
Ben: Not photos. I mean, when I do big postings about like, like when we did Letterman I got tons, and half were from close friends and family and half were from strangers. But that’s stuff meant for the public.
NoS: Last question – What’s your favorite music, artist, band, whatever that you like to listen to? And do you think that you are influenced at all by them?
Ben: Influence is such a funny thing. Yes, I do think, I would say – the last artist I really fell for was St Vincent. That’s close to a year and a half ago now that I really fell for this band. And it’s not like I emulate or try to write songs that sound like her, but I use – somewhere in my subconscious is the stuff that she does and knowing how she does it. And I use that sometimes as a reference point. But I think you’d be hard-pressed to dig into a song and find a quote-on-quote influence directly related to St Vincent.
NoS: Thanks a lot.
Ben: You’re welcome