photo and podcast by Anna Leach
Pianist and one of the lead vocalists of band “Jukebox the Ghost,” Ben Thornewill, visited STA to discuss music and musical careers with choir students.
Thornewill stayed for the period four A Capella Choir class as well as Activity I and II. During the A Capella class, he swapped a song for a song with the choir. Later in the activity periods, Thornewill held a Q&A with all choir students who wished to attend. He also performed three more songs during that time.
Their story:
Beginnings: There has to be a starting point somewhere.
Tight(s) friendship: When you’ve been friends as long as Monsma and Thornewill, it’s easy to to draw up (embarrassing) memories.
Traveling man: 750 shows in five years is an intimidating amount of shows.
Audiences new and old: Old fans, new fans, STA fangirling
Tracks performed live:
Victoria (excerpt):
Schizophrenia:
Don’t Let Me Fall Behind:
Don’t Let Me Fall Behind (LIVE)
Rapid-fire [random STA] questions round:
All questions asked were taken from short interviews with different members of the STA community.
Anna Leach (AL): Food or sleep?
Ben Thornewill (BT): Sleep. Sleep. Absolutely sleep.
AL: Tea or coffee?
BT: Tea. No, sorry, coffee. But it think that this should be instituted in the States: four o’clock tea time, as they do in England. I think it’s a wonderful tradition and is not represented here enough.
AL: If you could mix two animals together to make a hybrid, what animal would you create?
BT: That’s a good question. Probably a chinchilla and a dog. Because it would be friendly and incredibly cuddly and a cat that was nice.
AL: Do you have a name for this creature?
BT: No, no. The readers can figure that one out.
AL: Do you have a favorite Disney princess?
BT: A favorite Disney princess. Oh my god. Um. [laughs] I was going to say “Nala,” but that’s not right. I had a huge crush on the girl from the Goofy movie, which is probably something no one your age knows because it wasn’t even that good of a movie, it’s probably from the early 90s. She was a dog of course, but I remember her being super cute when I was nine. Also, still not a princess but that can still be my answer.
AL: Do you have any guilty pleasure shows or things you like to do that’s just a little weird?
BT: Recently, I’ve loved Skrillex which seems totally guilty pleasure, but I love it. I love electronic dance music, which goes against all my classical background, hoity-toity melodic pop, but I’m totally down with that right now.
AL: What kind of music do you listen to when you have some free time? Is it at all similar to the work you do with Jukebox the Ghost?
BT: I don’t listen to much music period. I listen to maybe five songs a day period. I don’t know I’m strange in that way. But no, I certainly just don’t listen to things that sound like Jukebox the Ghost. I listen to a lot of jazz, a lot of classical, a lot of, like, ’50s standards.
AL: This one’s a tad more serious, but what is your favorite thing about yourself, if you had to give an affirmation on you.
BT: An affirmation on me. Umm. That’s so strange. I don’t know… I am highly emotional. I, like, I love, this sort of of goes though all things but since it’s a music based interview I can talk about that, I am still hugely moved by music. I am still reduced to tears fairly regularly by something I hear or see. and I wouldn’t change that for the world… If I haven’t lost it yet, I can’t imagine losing it later on.
AL: Any last words, as far as this section goes? Do you have a band memory that summarizes what you’re like, what your dynamic is?
BT: I don’t know. That’s hard to do. There’s something in the music that attracts fans, but also represents who we are as people. We’re genuinely happy people, I think, and want to spread joy. And that’s reflected in, I think, our music and our fans, and I’m proud of that.
