interview – Page 2 – Spinning Platters

Spinning Platters Interview: Rae Livingston and David Owen of Outside Lands, Pt 1

Outside Lands generally does quite well with the music lineup. However, I have always thought that the real gold at the festival has been the bookings for the Barbary. This year, we finally found time in their busy schedule to talk to some of the people behind those amazing bookings: Rae Livingston of Another Planet and David Owen of SF Sketchfest. We got to spend a little time with them to discuss the history of the stage, the booking process and their careers, and for a bit, we just got to nerd out about comedy.

Limited 3 Day and single day tickets to Outside Lands are still available! You can also check the full Barbary schedule!

SPINNING PLATTERS: So you’ve got Another Planet and SF Sketchfest, both doing that booking. How does that collaboration work? Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Rae Livingston and David Owen of Outside Lands, Pt 1”

Spinning Platters Interview: Mark Stern from Punk Rock Bowling

Punk Rock Bowling is one of the most exciting and unique music festivals running. This year, which happens to be their twentieth, is also one of their biggest! In addition to headliners NOFX, Rise Against, and At the Drive-In, we’ve got some rare visits to the US from legends including Norway’s Turbonegro and Canada’s DOA, not to mention too many other bands to even begin listing here.

Spinning Platters had a chance to pull founder Mark Stern from his busy schedule to talk about what it’s like to book a festival, which combines punk rock and bowling, and plop it in the middle of the desert at the beginning of summer. Lineup and tickets can still be found here! Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Mark Stern from Punk Rock Bowling”

Interview: Director Cory Finley and Actress Anya Taylor-Joy on Thoroughbreds

Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy play a kind of chess in Thoroughbreds, Cory Finley’s new film.

Cory Finley’s debut feature, Thoroughbreds, has many signs that point to a promising career in film. His dialogue is often whip-smart, crackling along at a fast pace. He has scenes of incredible tension realized in interestingly new yet classic style. He’s got a knack for casting, and clearly has a way with actors, as his small ensemble performs the heck out of the material. There’s so much to like about this movie, yet it left me with so many questions about its history and its themes. Lucky for me, director Cory Finley and star Anya Taylor-Joy were in town to talk about the film, and I was able to sit down with them to discuss this fun and tense film.

SP: When I saw this film, I had no idea it was based on a play, and then I watched it and talked to my friend, and I said, “I think that was based on a play.” I think there were two things that stood out. One is sort of just the conservation of characters. I was really surprised that we met the moms at all. I thought that we were going to get through the whole film without the moms. Were the moms in the play? Continue reading “Interview: Director Cory Finley and Actress Anya Taylor-Joy on Thoroughbreds“

Spinning Platters Interview: Rhea Butcher

Rhea Butler is an amazing, outspoken comic. She released not one, but TWO records last year on Kill Rock Stars: Butcher and her collaborative record with her wife, Cameron Esposito, called Back To Back. Butler has three shows this weekend at SF Sketchfest presented by Audible, and we had the chance to talk to her ahead of those shows. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Rhea Butcher”

Spinning Platters Interview: Patty Schemel of Upset and Hole

Patty Schemel is probably best known as the drummer for legendary rock band Hole. More recently, she’s had a documentary about her life called Hit So Hard released, as well as started a band with Ali Koehler of Vivian Girls called Upset. She’s also written an autobiography, also titled Hit So Hard. The book is in stores on October 31st. (Yes, on Halloween!) Spinning Platters had the honor of getting to speak with Schemel recently about her career, writing a book, and what it’s like to play in a band with musicians from a different generation.

Hit So Hard:A Memoir can be preordered here!

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Patty Schemel of Upset and Hole”

Spinning Platters Interview: Corin Tucker & Peter Buck of Filthy Friends

You have 15 minutes in a room with two of your idols to ask them whatever you want. Here’s how that goes…

Photo taken at The Independent in SF on 8.29.17

R.E.M. changed my life. If it weren’t for them, I probably wouldn’t have found rock ‘n’ roll. At least they were my gateway band, the band that introduced me to punk, folk, power pop, and even hip hop. Sleater-Kinney are a band I found in high school, and they quickly became my favorite band. Little did I expect that cofounder Corin Tucker would form a band with R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck many years later. That band is Filthy Friends, and they recently released a fantastic record. We had the opportunity to chat with them just before they played the Independent. I tried not to geek out too much. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Corin Tucker & Peter Buck of Filthy Friends”

Spinning Platters Interview: Spike Slawson of Me First & The Gimme Gimmes

Me First & The Gimme Gimmes have been the most successful cover band in America for well over 20 years. What started out as a joke has turned into a successful career of rearranging classic pop, soul, and showtunes as pop punk. Spinning Platters had an opportunity to chat with their lead vocalist, Spike Slawson.

Me First & The Gimme Gimmes will be playing Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas May 26th-28th. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Spike Slawson of Me First & The Gimme Gimmes”

SF Sketchfest Interview: Adrian Villegas from Latino Comedy Project

The Latino Comedy Project is a sketch troupe out of Austin, Texas. They do a healthy mix of political and cultural sketch, and are bringing their live show, “Gentrifucked,” to SF Sketchfest this year for four shows this Friday and Saturday night. Tickets are available here, although you might want to act fast, as some performances are already sold out.

We had a chance to talk to one of the troupe’s founders, Adrian Villegas, on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration. We were both a bit feeling a bit raw that day, as you are about to see after the jump!

Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Interview: Adrian Villegas from Latino Comedy Project”

Spinning Platters Interview: Jordan Kurland of Treasure Island Music Festival, Noise Pop, and Zeitgeist Management

Photo by Andrew Paynter

Jordan Kurland has been influential within the Bay Area music scene for over two decades. He helped make Noise Pop a major music festival, and is one of the masterminds behind the Treasure Island Music Festival, currently heading into it’s 10th year. As one of the primary forces behind the mainstream acceptance of Indie Rock, you probably owe about half of your record collection to him. Spinning Platters had the opportunity to talk to this legend about how to book a great festival, the future of Treasure Island Music Festival, and a bit about the new ways bands are getting creative with drumming up revenue.

FYI, Treasure Island Music Festival is October 15th and 16th, and tickets are on sale NOW! Also, Noise Pop 2017 (the 25th year!) Super Fan Badges, went on sale today, and are moving fast. These include admission to 25 shows in the months leading up to next year’s festival, in addition to the entirety of Noise Pop 2017. You can buy this here!

It seems that this is the last year that TIMF is happening on Treasure Island. What is the future of TIMF? Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Jordan Kurland of Treasure Island Music Festival, Noise Pop, and Zeitgeist Management”

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!)

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Charlotte Cooper of The Subways”