Interviews – Page 5 – Spinning Platters

Spinning Platters Interview: Charlotte Cooper of The Subways

“I think people still are crazy. I think definitely older. I’d say we’ve kept fans from the first record and they’ve grown up with us.”

Over a decade ago, British garage-rockers The Subways burst onto the US music scene with their 2005 hit “Rock & Roll Queen”, and followed it with a set of tours across the States, along with television appearances and an appearance at Lollapalooza. Despite the continued force with which the band kept moving in the years that followed, it took another 10 years before The Subways would come to the US again for another tour, hot on the heels of their self-titled fourth record that was released in 2015. We caught up with singer/bassist Charlotte Cooper to see what’s been happening with the band in the long time that they’ve spent away from this continent.

(Also: don’t miss The Subways’ upcoming show at The Chapel in SF on April 30th!)

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Spinning Platters Interview: Chad Heimann, Noise Pop Talent Booker

The first Noise Pop Festival was in 1993. It was one show for $5 at The Kennel Club, and it was headlined by The Fastbacks — who are amazing, if you don’t already know them. 26 years later, we have a multitude of bands crossing over dozens of genres, and a festival that spans a week! Spinning Platters recently had a chance to speak to their music booker, Chad Heimann, about this year’s fest.

The fest is about halfway over, but there still are plenty of gigs all over town that you’ll be really sad that you missed. The schedule can be found here! Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Chad Heimann, Noise Pop Talent Booker”

Spinning Platters Interview: Amy Miller

Amy Miller is an old friend of Spinning Platters. She’s also the funniest person in Portland, OR, and was on the final season of Last Comic Standing. She was one of the earliest fans of the site and, despite her continued fame, she still managed to squeeze out some time to talk to us.

She’s going to be headlining at Punchline in SF this Wednesday, January 27th. Tickets are available here!

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SF Sketchfest Interview: Ron Funches

Ron Funches has been the king of dry, soft spoken wit since he first popped on the scene in 2011. After spending years on the road, he’s hit the big time. He’s one of the stars of NBC’s hit sitcom Undateable and is also a regular on @midnight as well as the dearly departed The Kroll Show. Spinning Platters had the honor of getting to speak to Funches recently.

Funches is playing Swedish American Hall on Saturday, January 9th (Tickets Here). He’s also doing a special brunch time set at Cobb’s on Sunday, January 10th (Tickets Here). Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Interview: Ron Funches”

Spinning Platter Interview: Henry Selick, Director of Nightmare Before Christmas

Henry Selick is a true innovator. He’s one of the very few people to bring the joys of stop motion animation to the masses, and managing to have great success with the form. Spinning Platters had a rare chance to have a chat with him ahead of the SF Symphony presenting the film with live score later this month.

You can pick up tickets here! Don’t miss this very special event, and, after the jump, here’s our interview! Continue reading “Spinning Platter Interview: Henry Selick, Director of Nightmare Before Christmas“

Spinning Platters Interview: Thao Nguyen of Thao & The Get Down Stay Down

Thao Nguyen is a hometown hero. She’s continuously pushing the boundaries of folk music, and making the acoustic guitar an instrument you can dance to. Her 2013 record We The Common is a beautiful and thought provoking piece of work. She’s headlining the 20th St Block Party this weekend alongside Nick Waterhouse, Dominant Legs and many more. This is a totally free event, so there is no excuse not to come.

Spinning Platters had an opportunity to chat with Thao ahead of this performance. Here’s a bit of what we talked about: Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Thao Nguyen of Thao & The Get Down Stay Down”

Outside Lands 2015: Eight Quick Questions with Jen Kirkman

Jen Kirkman is one of the funniest people out there right now. She’s also incredibly hard working… Her first book, I Can Barely Take Care Of Myself is a work of epic genius, and she seems to be the MVP of Comedy Central’s @midnight. She just premiered a special on Netflix called I’m Going To Die Alone (And I Feel Fine), which you can view the trailer to here.

Or, if you prefer to view people without a screen, she’s performing a stand up set at Outside Lands on Friday, as well as participating in Friday’s Uptown Showdown and Saturday’s ASSSCAT. (Click here for her Outside Lands schedule) If you aren’t coming out to the park, you can catch her on the road, as well. Those dates can be found here.

Spinning Platters had the pleasure of chatting with her recently. Continue reading “Outside Lands 2015: Eight Quick Questions with Jen Kirkman”

Spinning Platters Interview: Félix de Givry and Sven Hansen-Løve, ‘EDEN’

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During SFIFF58 a few months ago, I was able to catch Mia Hansen-Løve’s new musical drama, Eden. Despite not knowing much about French touch and the electronic music movement of the 90s in Paris, I lost myself in the euphoric and tragic journey of the film’s central DJ character. Eden is a movie that will etch its aura into your mind, and its 4 hr. soundtrack plays like a history of house music. I was fortunate enough to arrange an interview with writer Sven Hansen-Løve, on whose life the story is loosely based, and Félix de Givry, who plays Paul, the central character of the film. At The Social Study, I sat down with the two French gentlemen to discuss Eden:

Félix, how much did you know about French touch and the electronic music movement before signing onto this project?

Félix: I think I knew a little bit more than normal people know in France. Even more than Americans. But still I was not expert, especially of garage underground scene. I knew about French touch. ‘French touch’ the expression represents so much success that almost everybody knows about the people involved. The most interesting thing for me was to really dig into the scene and the beginning of the scene and the fact that there was so few people, say 200 or 300 people. It was kind of a black hole. It wasn’t documented by the big media at the time and there was not internet yet. Thanks to Sven, I learned a lot about it.

Sven: Yes, the fact that we had the chance to see each other many times. With my sister, too (the film’s director, Mia). It was a good thing for Félix because he could get direct documentation, in a way <<laughs>>.

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Interview with the Handsome Family’s Rennie Sparks

Husband-and-wife duo, Brett and Rennie Sparks, the core of goth Americana outfit the Handsome Family, have been releasing albums for the past twenty years. Their unique, eccentric tales of ghosts and folklore deftly weave through dark, highly unpredictable ballads. This fierce dedication to constantly challenging the listener has earned them a slow-and-steady cult following. However, they didn’t receive mainstream recognition until the track “Far From Any Road,” from their 2003 release Singing Bones, was commissioned as the main theme song for HBO’s hit crime drama, True Detective.

The Handsome Family has been touring extensively in support of their latest release, Wilderness, these past few months, and while I missed the opportunity to meet them in person, at San Francisco’s The Chapel, Rennie was nice enough to answer a few of my questions virtually.

Here are her thoughts on modern music distribution, why crowdfunding is wrong, and where she and her husband want to settle next.

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SFIFF58 Interview: ‘Vincent’ director/writer/actor Thomas Salvador

For me, one of the many highlights of SFIFF58 was seeing Vincent, the new French “superhero” film from dir. Thomas Salvador. Having previously made only a handful of short films, Mr. Salvador took the plunge into feature films with this new wonderfully understated audience charmer, which he directed, wrote, and stars in. I sat down with the funny, polite, and reserved filmmaker to discuss Vincent, which has one more screening this Thursday, 5/7 at 6:15 (info here):

The trailer for Vincent says ‘the first film of French superhero”. Are superheroes just not as popular in France?

Not really <<laughing>>. The superhero movies have a lot of success everywhere. But as there are many, people are a little bit bored. It’s a real US kind of movies. Like westerns. You can’t imagine a superhero outside of United States. It’s a marketing way to present the film. If we think deeply, it’s not a real superhero movie but it was the marketing way to bring people into the theater. <<laughing>>

Well it’s you now. You’re the first! You’re the first European superhero!

I’m not sure that, maybe there have been other people in French films with something special, special gifts. Maybe I’m the first. I didn’t do this movie for that. I did it because I feel it.

How did you decide on water as the source of power?

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