All words: Keli Anaya

All photos: Julia Benton

The boys of Jukebox the Ghost were just on Letterman! Yeah, that means the BIG TIME.  We’ve been friends for a long time and I even lived with one of them, so I figured what better way to cover them than with a sweet, sweet interview.  You’re welcome.

Keli: First, um, Letterman! Incredible.  Does anything stand out from that performance?

Jukebox the Ghost: The strangest thing about the whole experience was the unbelievably fast turn-around.  We got the call that we could be playing the show at 11 pm on the night before the show taping.  Jesse and I were in NYC, so we had to drive down to Philly to pick up Ben and all the gear (which was in storage) and made it back to NYC around 4 am to get a few hours of sleep before the 8 am load-in at the Ed Sullivan Theater.  We played around 3 pm (they tape the show in the early afternoon), and were out of the studio around 5 pm.  So the turnaround from finding out about playing to already having played was about 18 hours.  Really, really surreal.  If everyone I know hadn’t seen it on TV, I would question whether it actually happened.

K: This first thing I noticed about that performance was the sound of your music.  It seems a lot different from your previous records.  Will you describe how you think your music has evolved over the years?

JTG: I wouldn’t say it evolved in any kind of singular, deliberate way but it definitely evolved in a few directions at once.   We were really into making Beatlesesque pop for a little while which found its way onto the album in a handful of tracks.  After covering a New Order song, we were inspired to follow the dance-rock thing, which resulted in songs like Schizophrenia, The Stars, and Half Crazy.  I was also listening to a lot of prog-rock and tried to find a way to make that songwriting style fit into our aesthetic, which happened with The Sun/The Sun Interlude/The Stars sequence.

K: I know that Jesse and Tommy moved to Brooklyn and Ben still lives in Philly. Do you think that geographic combination has inspired you as a band in new ways?

JTG: Moving to Philly a few years ago was certainly an influence on our sound — The 60s element of Zombies/Beatles/Kinks-inspired bands weighs heavily on the Philly scene and it allowed us to be unashamed in using some hyper-retro ideas in songs like “Summer Sun” and “Nobody”, among others. As far as NYC goes, we’ve lived here for such a short amount of time that it hasn’t had any real influence. However, DC had a huge influence on us and continues to – The Dismemberment Plan, lyrically and musically, have been a huge inspiration to me.

K: What bands/music are you listening to right now?

JTG: I’ve been on a big 70s prog kick lately (particularly Yes, but a little bit of Genesis, Starcastle, and King Crimson in there too), but my favorite band in the world for awhile has been Deerhoof.  I think they’re incredible.  Jesse has been on a huge Harry Nilssonkick (he even got a Nilsson-themed tattoo).

K: Do any of you have any other projects with other bands or solo gigs going on?

JTG: Jesse’s been making some music with his girlfriend that’s really awesome lo-fi guy/girl duet kind of stuff.  Ben is pretty much always working on solo piano-ballad material.  I just finished my third album with Drunken Sufis, my political punk rock side project.

K: Ok, so now that you’ve made it on Letterman, what do you plan to do in the future?

JTG: Keep touring!  I think we’re going to top 180 shows this year, and next year looks like it’s staying on the same path.

Jukebox The Ghost played at the Black Cat last Saturday along with opening acts Via Audio and Elizabeth & The Catapult.