Matt Strmiska Interview

Matt plays drums in A Giant Dog

What's the most interesting/memorable encounter you've had with a complete stranger?

I had a long layover at DFW so I was hanging out at the T.G.I.Fridays bar for a couple beers. The gentleman to my left had clearly already had a martini or two in him and kept interrupting my conversation with the lovely flight attendant to my right. This guy would not stop bugging me, but his conversation was actually way more interesting than the other I was having. After a while, the flight attendant leaves and it's just me and this older dude getting hammered at T.G.I.Fridays, shooting the shit about baseball, music, life... just anything and everything, and having a damn good time. This guy has about 4 or 5 martinis while we're there, just getting straight sloshed. After a while he says he's gotta catch his flight. He picks up both of our tabs and refuses to let me pay. I thank him, ask where he's off to and he says he's going to a liturgical retreat, reaches into his bag and shows me his clerical collar. He's a Catholic priest.

To whom do you owe a huge thank you and why?

My entire musical family, especially my dad who raised me on the drums since I was born. They taught me through their actions the one great thing about music: friends and strangers coming together to have fun, no matter what problems people have outside. Music is an awesome, positive, healing thing.

You have 24 hours...where, with who, doing what?

I'd meet friends in New Orleans and party all night at dives and juke joints. In the morning I'd fly to Baja California, rent a motorcycle, and ride south down the coast until my time is up. Anyone and everyone is welcome.

"I wish that I knew what I know now, when I was younger"...go

I wish I knew that Dr. Pepper was so bad for you. I had at least 3 or 4 a day. I was Fuller from Home Alone except I didn't wet the bed.

Tell us about your best friend.

Honestly, my sister. We used to hate each other's guts when we were younger but as soon as we both moved away to college something kind of flipped. We've been through some shit together and we'll always have each other's backs.

What's your favorite pastime to do with friends and why?

Playing music, for reasons above.

Jared Boulanger & Amarah Ulghani Interview

Amarah and Jared booked and recorded Sweet Spirit's July 2014 residency at The Blackheart.

JARED, 

Tell us about your best friend.
My best friends are those who are here with me now, sharing the same experiences on whatever path we choose to walk down together. I try and treat everyone on an equal level, except for Amarah, who I share a bedroom with.

You have 24 hours...where, with who, doing what?
My last 24 hours of brain activity would include catching up on unfinished songs, giving presents to loved ones, a bowl of fettuccine alfredo & one last listen to ‘Lazer Guided Melodies’.
 " I wish that I knew what I know now, when I was younger"...go
I wish that I didn’t go out in the sun as much as a kid, for I fear a future of melanoma.

Up to now what has been a show or moment on the road that stands out and/or was amazing?
Back in 2009, on the very first ‘Sour Tour’, we had a day off in Athens, GA and decided to ask a music store called Wuxtry Records if we could set up our equipment on their roof overlooking the street and just play for a couple hours. A small crowd gathered and we ended up selling more merch than the night before.

Who's your favorite movie character?
One of my favorite movie characters is Gena Rowlands in ‘A Woman Under the Influence’. Her acting in that film is fully realized, utterly emotional and tragic. My perspective on many things was altered after seeing that film for the first time.

What would you be doing now if you weren't doing this?
I would be in a dark place.

AMARAH,

What's the most interesting encounter you've had with a complete stranger?
When I met Jared!

This sounds like a story! Tell us more... 
One Christmas Eve, I was driving some friends around the bars and my friend, Ana, said Jared was having an after-party at his house. We got there and realized there was no after-party, just an empty Totinos frozen pizza box and some Shiners. Ana was grossly mistaken, but felt no shame.  She immediately passed out on the couch, leaving us randos alone with this confused dude, in an empty house, in his PJ's. He got my number and we hung out a few times, but all we did was go on walks in broad daylight. Then, on New Year's Eve we met at my friends' monster backyard party and we kissed at midnight amidst a sea of peeing, puking people. SCORE!!!  The next day he left for tour, and I didn't see him for a couple of weeks (this was before I was in the band...truth time). But, he sent me postcards every day and it was a very fine courtship.  He's a very good dude.

(*Megan is also my bff)

What would you be doing now if you weren't doing this?
Helping with Eagle Claw tour! Oh my god that snuck up fast, sorry Matt!

Up to now what has been a show or moment on the road that stands out and/or was amazing?
Every show is special <3. But they need to open a Strange Matter like place in ATX stat.

What is Stange Matter for those of us that don't know?
Haha! Strange Matter is this venue in Richmond, VA that is also an arcade.  It has sandwiches named after things in Star Wars and Star Trek. They're way legit sandwiches. But, it's funny because by day families eat there, and at night it's a punk rock venue with this giant stage and legit sound system. It was one of the best shows we ever played, they have a cool scene there.

To whom do you owe a huge thank you and why?
Thanks Megan for taking me to get that restraining order that one time in college!

If you could get in a tour bus with any band dead or alive who, why, and what would it look like?
It would be a mega band of Ted Leo (guitar), Carrie Brownstein (guitar), Aimee Mann (guitar), Shannon Wright (guitar), Georgia Hubley (drums), Joaquin Phoenix, Vincent Gallo, Jim Jarmusch, ohhh wait I don't know where I'm going with this...

What's been your greatest moment of doubt how did you get through it?
One time we drove straight from New York to Austin in one fell swoop it was like 30 hours, I thought for sure it was impossible and that we were gonna die. I was so pissed. But we didn't die, because Chris swerved at the last second.

What did Chris swerve to miss?
A car! We were driving 30 hours straight from CMJ in NYC cause one of our bandmates had to get back to work at ye olde food truck the next morning. It drives a person crazy driving that long, even in shifts. I learned, in college from my vertebrate physiology professor, about this hypnosis thing that can happen while driving.  The white lines on the interstate kinda put you in a trance and you don't notice the stuff going around you.  On the home stretch we came so close to dying. The car in front of us had come to a sudden stop on the interstate from going 70 or whatever it was.  We were in a 15 passenger van full of gear with no time to stop. Then, Chris just, bam, maneuvered around it so expertly. Everyone was screaming, but it was back to normal so fast. We coulda flipped over! We coulda flew into the ditch! I think he pulled it off cause he plays videogames.

Best of Sweet Spirit Blog "2014"

                                                                                        

What will your legacy be when you die?

I buried a shit-ton of Gi-Joes in my neighbor’s back yard.  I hope someone finds them some day.
     
     -Daniel Blanchard


If you could get in tour bus with any band ever, who would it be, why and what would it look like?
If I could ride with someone, it would be that band in the Muppet movie, I think they're called Electric Mayhem.  Just hanging, you know, me and my Muppet friends, moving right along.
    
     -Jon Fichter

If you could sing for one of your heroes, who would it be?
I would like to commission Bette Midler to sing The Wind Beneath my Wings to Louis C.K. And I get to be there, and it's just the three of us in one room.
   
     -Sabrina Ellis

To whom do you owe a huge thank you to and why?
First and foremost are my mom and dad. They bought me drums when I was fuckin 3! They put up with so much crap and always encouraged me, let me have a half stack in my bedroom, didn't kill me when I told them that grades didn't matter when I was 13 because I was gonna play music...

     -Josh Merry

You have 24 hours, where, with who, and what?
This is a very morbid scenario. The idea of dying is difficult to grasp to say the least. I would probably be at home trying to relax and enjoy stuff but end up spending most of the time thinking about the fact that in a few hours I would enter the death realm.

     -Jake Knight

What would you be doing now if you weren’t pursuing music?
Before I moved to Austin, I did Search Engine Optimization in Houston. Its one of those jobs where you sit in a tiny cubicle and contemplate suicide all day. So probably death. Death or Graphic Design I do have a degree in that.

     -Andrew Cashen

Is there one piece of advice or wisdom that was given to you that just stuck, if so what was it?
If you don't like someone, don't say anything.

     -JWC III

If you could get in a tour bus with any band dead or alive who, why, and what would it look like?
Harry Nilsson and John Lennon during the Pussy Cats album period... I'd get to choose which one I could kiss every night and there would be a giant bubble bath on the tour bus that I'd sit in while they sang "Many Rivers to Cross" to me while I get to drink a giant frozen daiquiri out of a fish bowl and then in the morning when we're hungover we could sing "All My Life" while Im cuddled between the two of them and do it all over again!

     -Sara Ostovar

...A couple neighborhood guys spotted us, and after the shock of seeing us wandering the streets wore off, they began to chase us. We got disoriented and a little lost, darting down alleys and hoping there wasn't more trouble around each corner...

     -Rick Pierik

    -photos of Sweet Spirit by Steven Ruud