If you’ve read this site in the last week or two it has been quite apparent that SDM interviewer Jill Donenfeld has been very busy. This time she interviews Evan Winiker of Steel Train.

Jill Donenfeld: So, I have Evan Winiker here from Steel Train.

Evan Winiker: That’s me.

JD: You’re in the midst of a tour right now…

EW: We are just done with it.

JD: What’s been your favorite place to play? Why?

EW: Favorite show is Chicago, but its one of my least favorite places because of the cold weather. My favorite place was probably LA only because we got to hang out with friends and warm weather and good times.

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For More information about Steel Train head over to their Website or MySpace Page.

Steel Train - I Feel Weird (mp3)
Steel Train - Alone on the Sea (mp3)

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Jill interviews Meaghan Smith while her tour bus is broken down somewhere in Ohio. Also, Meaghan has a new ep out. The follow up to her debut album the Cricket’s Orchestra called the Cricket’s Quartet. The Cricket’s Quartet can be purchased here.  Enjoy the interview.

Jill Donenfeld: You’re in the midst of a tour right now… what’s been your favorite place to play? Why?

Meaghan Smith: Well, you know, this whole tour has been fantastic. Every night the crowds have been super great. I mean I am on tour with Eric Hutchinson who is pretty poppy but the crowds have been into what I’m doing too… but as far as specific cities…I loved Chicago. I love New York—we are finishing out our tour there. And we played LA. It was fun. And Minneapolis actually was really fun.

JD: Is this your first tour?

MS: This is actually my second tour. I was out for 6 weeks doing a tour with Ron Sexsmith who is also a Canadian. So I’ve been out for 2 months now.

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For more information check out Meaghan’s website or MySpace Page.

Meaghan Smith – A Little Love (mp3)

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Jill interviews Austin from the band Suckers.

“So we are sort of this band that plays a lot of instruments not in the traditional way and then sing a lot together. “

Jill Donenfeld: So, Suckers! How’d you get that name?

Huh, well we started off and picked the name Feelings at first and I don’t know; somehow feelings turned into Suckers. I think my cousin Quinn came up with it.

JD: So Quinn is your cousin?

Austin: Yeah. Quinn and I are Cousins. We grew up together down the street from each other in this weird little town outside New Haven. We were just collaborating and improvising. Eventually we got to New York and actually the two other guys wound up here around the same time we did.

JD: And when did you guys form?

Austin: I don’t really know. We first started as a three piece playing random shows… we’d get a bunch of friends together to play. We were all kind of doing a one-man band thing simultaneously—we’d all play a little percussion. That’s how we started but then we decided we needed some real muscle and got a drummer. So we lured Brian here. But now he plays keyboard too.

MP3′s:

Suckers - Hiding Behind Waterfalls (mp3)
Suckers – Afterthoughts and TV (mp3)

For more information about Suckers head over to their MySpace page.

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photo by Justine Benith

It’s been awhile since we’ve had an interview here at SDM, but it looks like Jill is back at it. This time she interviewed Turner Stough of The Isles. Enjoy!!

Jill Donenfeld – So you guys are coming out with an album in April, when did you finish recording?

Turner Stough – We recorded in mid-July to mid-August at a really great studio in Williamsburg: Excello. It’s my first record with the Isles since I’ve been in the band. We’re trying to simplify the arrangements more. The previous record felt a little closed in and with short segments. This one was more about long verses, long chorus’. It’s easier to relate to songs like that.

JD – Ah, so now that’s why it’s so punchy. When did you join?

TS – I joined last October. But The Isles have been around since 2005, 2006.

JD – So who are your major influences?

TS – We like the Kinks, The Zombies, Guided By Voices… we also like a lot of Brit-pop. That sound.

JD – When did you start playing bass?

TS – I started playing bass in 7^th grade, age 13. I’ve played in a band since college… and I did jazz ensemble stuff in high school.

The Isles – Eve of the Battle (mp3)
The Isles - Major Arcana (mp3)

If you like what you hear you can purchase their music directly from their MySpace page. Also make sure you check out their website for more information.

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photo via Evan Wallis

Jill Donenfeld chats with HYMNS Members Jason Roberts and Matt Shaw:

Jill Donenfeld: How are you guys!? You played SXSW this year, huh?

Jason Roberts: Yeah! We did 6 shows.

Matt Shaw: It was amazing, yes. All 6.

JD: Cool. Did people seem responsive this year? You guys have such a fun, bounce around the room kinda sound.

JR: Thank you! Yeah… I think last year people didn’t really know us… but… this year there was a really good response… and each show had a bigger and bigger crowd.

JD: So this year you’re catching on.

JR: Definitely, you could just feel it in the air, you know? Like… people were telling their friends.

Read the rest of the interview and grab some MP3’s after the jump…

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Jill Donenfeld interviews Meredith Bragg. Make sure you pick up Meredith Bragg’s latest album, Silver Sonya, here.

JD: So let’s get to it! I had only loosely heard of you and then this sweet acoustic CD lands in my lap and I am blown away!

MB: Oh, sweet! I am told I don’t do enough PR. Sometimes I find it hard to talk about myself.I’m glad you like it.

JD: Well, here’s your interview, and we are talking about you babe. I guess when you can get such great shit out musically, maybe it’s hard to get it out via PR as well? Seems redundant… Seems like you already said what you wanted to say… And so speaking of what you wanted to say, or didn’t… I understand this album is totally different than your previous? Why? Why now? What’s up?

MB: Sometimes I feel like it’s a singer-songwriter stigma to talk about yourself too much. Always talking about how personal a song is, or making sure to tell everyone how or why you wrote something. I guess I find it hard… That is probably why my PR isn’t up to snuff. The long story about this album… in 2005 my wife and I left our jobs, put our stuff into storage and traveled for a year. During that time both the first record and the EP were released. Those were both with full bands.

Read the rest of the interview and grab a couple mp3′s after the jump…

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Jill Donenfeld interviews Lindefelt and Fredrik of  SDM band to watch The LK. Look for their new album VS. the Snow out March 4th on The Kora Records.  You can pre-order the album here.

JD: Good morning, Lindefelt!

LK: Hey Jill! How are you?

JD: I was a bit sleepy a minute ago, but a quick dose of LK and I’m doin’ ok now. How about you?

LK: Really good thanks.

JD: Great, let’s get ‘er started.

LK: Yeah, Fred says hi, by the way.

JD: Hi to Fred! I can actually pronounce his name—and to start off on the subject of names: you guys are called the LK, sort of in light of the previous rendition of the band, The Lovekevins. So, who’s Kevin, and why the name change?

LK (Fred): The Max Léon EP [the Lovekevins EP] was actually recorded live. And we even had a pirate radio broadcast doing live stuff. After a few gigs in Sweden and England, the band as such broke up. Lisa got a proper job. Henrik left and concentrated on his noise kraut thing. Both of us took some time off and eventually started out solo.

Continue the interview, check out tour dates, and grab some mp3′s after the jump…

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Have you ever wondered why listening to Yeasayer is great music for men currently going through a mid-life crisis? Is the music Yeasayer makes good for drinking or getting stoned to? Jill got to the bottom of all these questions when she sat down with Yeasayer’s Anand Wilder.

Jill Donenfeld: You guys are totally rocking it. Your first album came out in October and I feel like you guys just appeared on the scene last May and have been at it full force ever since. What were you doing before Yeasayer?

Arnand Wilder: Before May, we were still working on the band. We’ve been together since February of 2005; so almost 3 years coming up in February. And then, I guess we got signed to We Are Free in July of 2006 so we were plugging away for a year and a half before we even got noticed. And then we started working on the album in November and then it came out a year later. So we had a slow process and then everything came out this year so it seemed that we’d arrived from nowhere but we’d been at it for a while before we got any press at all.

JD: I see, and how did you guys meet each other?

AW: Well, Chris and I went to school in Baltimore. We were in a band together in high school and worked on a lot of different video projects.

JD: What was your band called?

AW: Sic Transit… its Latin. So, yeah, we worked together in the band. And then Ira is my cousin. And Luke I knew from Philly. He lived in Philly; I lived in Philly. But, there’ve been various other members who were in the band. There was Brady who went to college with Chris. There’ve been a lot of personnel changes.

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photo dlanderson.com

Jill Donenfeld: Hey Beth! Glad you made it!

Beth Tacular: Hi Jill. How are you?

JD: Doing very well. How about you? Are you working from a computer in your Airstream trailer?

BT: No, I am actually in the car, with Phil, who is driving, from the Airstream to Raleigh, where we are going to work at a coffee shop on a website for a friend. We have this mobile Internet thing through a wireless plan.

Continue the interview, check out tour dates, and grab an mp3 after the jump…

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Jill Donenfeld Interviews Sam Simkoff of Le Loup, That’s French for The Wolf.

Jill Donenfeld: Hi there Sam, how’s it going?

Sam Simkoff: I’m doing alright.

JD: So, I am listening to The Throne of the Third Heaven…. and it’s blowing me away.

SS: Wow, thanks! This your first time hearing it…?

JD: Nah. I bought it in France in December, and I’ve been listening to it non-stop. It’s got me totally puzzled and inquisitive: so many sounds and collaborative effects.

SS: Awesome. Yeah, the idea was to have a million little simple sounds interlocking to make a wider, more complex melody.

JD: I want to ask immediately: How did you guys develop that sound? But, I think I should first ask: what got you and your band started? How long have you been playing together? How’d you find each other… and THEN, how’d you find this distinct sound?

SS: Actually, the answer takes those questions in pretty much the exact opposite order. I wrote and recorded most of the songs well before I even thought of pulling a band together. I’d gotten a computer shortly after graduating college, and was just putting some ideas down as I moved from city to city, trying to figure out what I ought to be doing with my life. I’d make these songs more for personal satisfaction than anything else. Every once in a while, I’d send them over to my good friend, Christian Ervin, who would critique them, or add some digital sounds, or tweak the effects on this or that. Upon moving to Washington, DC, I ended up putting a few of the songs up on myspace on a whim, and then friended a bunch of my favorite bands. That was how I got in touch with Hardly Art- a member of Heliosequence, who’s on Sub Pop. I sent my myspace stuff over to the Sub Pop/Hardly Art A&R guy, Tony Kiewel, who encouraged me to write and send over some more stuff.

Continue the interview and grab some mp3′s after the jump…

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