Jewcy Interviews: Jukebox the Ghost

The day after indie piano pop stars Jukebox The Ghost played The Tonight Show, I sat down with guitarist/co-vocalist Tommy Siegel to talk about the experience, touring and their new album, Everything Under the Sun, out now.

How was playing Letterman last night?

Unreal. You have to be at the studios at 8AM the day of the show. We found out the night before at 11PM, so the drummer and I hopped in our van and drove to Philadelphia, picked up our gear, which was in storage, picked up our piano player and then drove back, getting into the city at 4 am.  We slept for 3 hours, loaded into the lettermen studios, slept in the green room for a little bit, played and then we were on national TV that night. It was a pretty crazy 24 hours, if you’d told me that was what it was gonna be like I would never have believed it.

Did you talk to Dave at all? I hear he doesn’t talk to guests except on camera.

That’s true.  It was pretty much just come on, play and leave. If you watch our segment you see our entire encounter with David Letterman that day.

So you just moved to New York from Philly. Where did you live in Philly?

I lived in Northern Liberty.

That’s a great hood, What fueled the move to Brooklyn?

I loved Philly but I needed a change. I had a rough last year and a half. I unfortunately developed vocal nodules, which are calluses or blisters on your vocal chords, from touring all the time. They were a real pain in the ass for a whole year. It hurt to speak and to sing , so touring wasn’t fun anymore and when I was home I never wanted to go out or hang out with friends.

That’s Rough.

Yeah it was, finally I received surgery for it in Philadelphia from a great doctor and once I recovered, I was ready for a change, so I moved here to New York. This summer marks the first time in 5 years that the band hasn’t been living in the same house or apartment.

So how are you dealing with touring? Is it enjoyable? Is it a grind?

It’s both, absolutely both. The first week or so it’s awesome, you’re like, "We’re on the road, this is the life!" You party it up and have a great time. Then you start hating everybody in the band. Everybody gets into a fight at some point. (laughs). Then about three weeks in, you accept that you’re stuck in a van. Then for the last two weeks of the tour you have a great time again.

This year, you performed on Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur.  Any Guilt?

My parents would like me to be there and I would like to be there as well. You should talk to our Jewish manager Seth (laughs). It’s hard, the world of rock n’ roll does not revolve around the High Holy Days (laughs).