2010 was a huge year for melophobe favorite Jukebox the Ghost. Their acclaimed sophomore release Everything Under the Sun earned the trio tours with Barenaked Ladies and Guster and a late night spot on Letterman. While touring, they even had time to release a four-song holiday EP Mistletoe. Melophobe had a chance to catch up with vocalist and guitarist Tommy Siegel to discuss Mistletoe, music cruises, and the boys' love of gum reviews.
Ian Doreian for melophobe: melophobe has fallen for your music. As we say on the site, we love piano pop!
Tommy Siegel: Nice. Thanks for the support.
melophobe: How did you decide to put out your Christmas EP?
Siegel: It was just something that made sense. When we were deciding what tracks to put on the album, everyone agreed that “This Year” didn’t fit, but we liked it. It was written as a faux-Broadway, campy Christmas song with sleigh bells and the like. In the context of a record, it is hard to take seriously. Coupled with "Mistletoe," which has a Solstice title, it works great for a Christmas EP!
melophobe: In terms of your songwriting and songs that didn’t make it onto the album, is there an overall theme that drives the music, or do you come together with individual pieces and see what fits?
Siegel: We do a lot of the arranging together, but as far as the songs’ themes, they come from individuals. For Everything Under the Sun, I was working on this one big song. But as we had done that on the first record, I didn’t want to be a total caricature of myself. People would think that Jukebox always has to have a three-part Apocalypse song. “The Sun (interlude)” and “The Stars” was conceived as an eleven-minute opus, but we split it up on the album, making the songs separate. I think it works that way, too. Ben happened to have a song called “Summer Sun,” which fit in nicely, thematically.
melophobe: Something more on “The Sun (interlude)”--you have talked about the pain in recording the song, that you could only do one or two notes at a time. Are you able to sing it now?
Siegel: Yeah, it feels really good to be able to sing it. My voice is not totally back, but it is way better than it was before the surgery; it’s been a slow healing process. Vocal cords are tender things.
melophobe: Especially when you are touring so much. Is there a place where you all call home right now?
Siegel: Home is a relative thing these days when you have apartments, but haven’t been in them for more than a night or two since September. Right now, Ben lives in Philadelphia. Jessie and I live in Brooklyn together. But over the winter, I think we can spend some actual time in our collective homes.
melophobe: It’s a testament to the strength of the band that, with all the touring miles, you and Jessie could still share space.
Siegel: Actually, all three of us lived together for about five years up until this summer. We do pretty well. It’s lucky that we were friends before things became serious. I sorta worry about those bands that meet on Craigslist; you must end up hating everyone quickly if you don’t have the foundation to get through it.
melophobe: In terms of touring--well I don’t know how to ask it--but the cruise boat shows? The Ships and Dips tour completely caught me by surprise.
Siegel: We just got off a three-week tour with Barenaked Ladies, and during the tour we found out about the cruise and we were thinking of asking them at the end if we could squeeze on the boat. But they jumped the gun and asked us. Now we get a free cruise!
melophobe: The line up is huge--loads of music and even some comedians out at sea with you; are there any bands you are really interested in seeing?
Siegel: I’m excited to reunite with Guster; we did a little tour with them, and they’re really nice dudes. It’s strange, it just so happens that they have two drummers nowadays, and the other drummer who plays part of their set was the drummer in my high school band. We hadn’t seen each other in eight years, so it was totally bizarre pulling up to the venue and seeing him there.
melophobe: Besides Jukebox, is there any writing that you do on the side? I love the gum commentary that the band posts on the site.
Siegel: I majored in journalism at college, so I always thought that I was going to write for a living. So I’m not sure the gumbler is the best example of my writing. As far as side stuff goes, we all have our own music when we’re not doing Jukebox. Jessie, the drummer, also sings in an Avett Brothers way. And Ben has kinda the quieter side of Jukebox solo project. I have a political conspiracy punk band that I play with a fair amount, called The Drunken Sufis. It’s ½ joke ½ serious, political themes prog-punk. I have a blast doing it, and it’s about the absolute opposite from Jukebox the Ghost. It lets me get everything out of my system.
melophobe: As an end-of-the-year question, is there a band or album that caught your attention this year?
Siegel: I really loved the new Miniature Tigers record. They’re a band who opened for us in the spring; the new record has their whole power pop thing, but if you then pumped them full of mushrooms. It’s a little off, in a really good way.
melophobe: Our website is all about having people not fear music, to get them reengaged with concerts. Is there anything that makes you afraid?
Siegel: Yeah, there’s a lot. I mean, that’s a tricky question. There’s a lot to be afraid of these days. There’s a cyclone of fear and panic.
melophobe: Anything that Jukebox fears?
Siegel: The extinction of the human race. That seems like something we’re capable of. And really bad gum.
melophobe: Big League Chew?
Siegel: Well, Big League Chew is actually a good gum. We’ve determined it to be an above average chew. More like, what was that…Strawberry Shortcake gum that was very hideous. Flavored like some chewy horrible shortcake. Terrifying.