Interview with Spud, 10|15|19

Photo: Spud on Facebook.


When we think of "Spuds" we think of potatoes, but in Lehman, Pennsylvania, you'll find something far more different from that. Alonna and Jordyn were fortunate enough to be able to catch up with Progressive Americana band, 'Spud', this past Tuesday, and ask them some questions, and here's what they had to say!


  1. Let’s start off with your names and your role in the band!
-Steve and I play bass. Matt, and I play guitar and sing, and play some harmonica every once in a while. Sam, and I play guitar and mandolin every now and again. Our drummer is C.W Thomas for right now! He’s been drumming for his whole life. We went through a series of drummers, but C.W is our main man.
  1. Who thought of the name Spud?
-It just kind of came. It is and always will be. It’s catchy and easy to say. 
  1. What musicians inspired each one of you?
Sam- The Beatles were my first main thing, but from there it just kind of went to everything else. Right now we’ve been listening to a lot of Americana, and folk. We mostly focus on if the music is well written.
Steve- Wilko, Beatles, Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Joe Dart, but I always try and find some new inspiration. I also like a band called Can, theyre like a German Pink Floyd.
Matt- Pink Floyd, Slade Cleave, Jason Ispo. We all listen to similar artists, but the genres are really all over the place. 
  1. What inspired you guys to get into music in general?
-Steve- For me, it was Eric Clapton, it was kind of like when you’re a kid and you see it and youre like i wanna do that. Then once I got into playing bass, it was John Paul Jones, John Entwistle
-Matt- One of my good friends played guitar, so I got a guitar, took some lessons at Wayne’s World. It wasn’t really until I started playing with Steve that I thought of playing with other people.
-Sam- I’m actually legally blind, so I couldn’t play sports or anything as a kid, so I just kind of gravitated towards music. 
  1. If you could play any other instrument besides what you do, what would it be, and why?
-Steve- Didgeridoo, for sure. Because, I’ve tried, and it’s impressive what they do, like you have to do circular breathing, and I don’t have the lung capacity for that, but I wish I did.
-Matt- I’m like a tossup between keys and saxophone. You know, just put all of your soul into that.
-Sam- I’d like to be profiecient in piano, because its so easy to pick up other instruments as well. 
  1. So how did each of you actually meet?
-Matt- Well, I met Steve through mutual friends, and I was like well, I play music, you play music, and he showed me the song ‘Galaxy’ and I was like, ‘Alright’, so we hung out and jammed more, and wrote a couple more songs. We had another guitar player, and he left after about a year, and the very next day Sam came over and it just kind of went from there.
  1. So how would you describe your genre?
-Matt- We describe it as Progressive Americana. It kind of dabbles a little bit, but it kind of goes one way or the other. So moving forward, writing new songs, I don’t want to put us in a box but when we write new songs, they sound the same, but different, if that makes sense.
  1. If you guys weren’t doing music, what is the other thing you would do?
-Sam- I think I’d like to write a novel or something, I think that’d be cool. 
  1. So do you guys have anything new coming up that you want us to know?

-Matt- Oh yeah, this saturday, October 19th, we are at Karl Hall, with Stringray's Whiskey Hill Project $10 cover, all ages, BYOB. But, the week after that, we doing an acoustic set at Damian’s Lake, in Harvey’s Lake, October 26th, from 8-11. Then the week after that we are doing a set at the Bistro on Hudson in Plains, and then in November, we are at North Slope Brewing. We’re really busy in the studio aside from that, we’re almost, probably around 50% done.


Be sure to check out Spud at a show, and stay tuned for some releases coming in the new year! Keep up with them on Facebook as well!




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