Jukebox the Ghost, Band

The D.C. trio Jukebox the Ghost has created poptimistic tunes that will wash your worries away. Their piano rock is anything but jaded, and may even make you smile (gasp). Tonight they put another notch on their NYC bedpost when they play Southpaw with Tally Hall. Check them out, they'll make you young again.

P.S.: Their album will be released onto the streets April 22nd.

Where did your band name originate? A combination of a quote from Captain Beefheart (Jukebox), a quote from Nabokov's novella Pnin (ghost) and Jesse's lifelong desire to have a "the" band (the).

How did you guys come together, and how long have you been Jukebox the Ghost? We went to college together at GWU and became Jukebox The Ghost in the late summer of 2006.

You get compared to Ben Folds Five a lot, do you get sick of the comparison? Was he an influence for you? It isn't a bad comparison by any stretch - my guess is Ben Folds got compared to Elton John a lot when he was getting started. He was an influence to me in that he was really the only piano rocker to look up to as i was growing up. Really though the only way he is an active influence to me now is that i try not to write songs that sound like Ben Folds.

What other bands influence you? Aside fom The Beatles it is a mixed bag...truly there is no sense to it, our tastes are varied from Beethoven to The Smiths to Frank Zappa.

How and when did you learn piano? Classical training starting the summer i turned 7 and then jazz and classical composition in college. Lot of years of practice though i have liked telling people i just figured it out a few years ago and looking at their expressions of shock and disbelief.

Are there any current NYC bands you're listening to a lot right now? Boston, The Boston Pops, The Boston Massacre, The Boston Tea Party, The Boston Market, The Boston Red Socks, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

What's the music scene like in DC? New, bubbling, lotsof great bands comingout of the city right now Georgie James, These United States, Le Loup, Exit Clov, Pash etc.

Which New Yorker do you most admire? Eliot Spitzer

Please share your strangest "only in New York" story. After one of our shows, in the subway in Brooklyn a crazy dude in military cammoflage and a Beret on the other side of the platform ran and punted a rat near to 50 feet across the platform.

What's your current soundtrack?
Tommy: Why? "Alopecia.
Jesse: Built To Spill "there's nothing wrong with love"
Ben: St. Vincent "Marry Me"

Yankees or Mets? Tricky....Mets

SXSW or CMJ? Trickier....SXSW...a friend of ours once said "if SXSW is Christmas then CMJ is flagday.

Best venue to see/play music in NY. Mercury Lounge