Express 5: Jukebox the Ghost on Road Rules

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"AND THAT'S HOW we came to be D.C.'s number-one zydeco wedding band," grinned guitarist Tommy Siegel, who represents 33.3 percent of Foggy Bottom's prodigal sons of song, Jukebox the Ghost.

The band — whose January CD release show for "Let Live and Let Ghosts" sold out the Black Cat's main stage — is back in town for an encore on Saturday at the Rock & Roll Hotel, and Siegel was talking tales from the road. The lit-inspired Beatles-esque combo is wending its way from city to city, at venues of all sizes. This week was Boston, New York and Philadelphia.

Still, "playing in D.C. is the best," said Siegel. "It feels incredible to come back home and see new people coming out to shows, even after we've graduated [from George Washington University]. When we were in school, it sometimes felt like our shows were just 'the thing to do' that night. We're not a relocated college party anymore."

In addition to the packed house at Black Cat, Jukebox the Ghost is becoming a household name at Pianos on the Lower East Side, and on the prominent independent radio station WOXY in Cincinnati. Not that life has become breezier for the trio, which includes the prodigious plinking keyboards of one Ben Thornewill and timekeeper Jesse Kristin.

"Sometimes I wish we weren't in a soccer mom van," averred Kristin, the band's drummer and, it would appear, chauffeur. "Being trapped in the van for long periods of time leads to a lot of semantics-inspired fights. Recently there was a lot of heated discussion of what constitutes a salad."

Aside from the occasional vegetable squabble, the fellows continue to maintain a harmony outside of the recording studio and club. "We live together," added Kristin, "so our biggest band fights tend to be about doing the dishes, which is guess is pretty good, all things considered."

Making music and being on the road has it highs and lows, of course. The best thing about it, said Kristin, would be the "drink [vouchers] that venues gives you." And the worst? "The constant ringing in your ears, the sweating and the tendinitis."

Still, we asked Jukebox the Ghost to Express 5 moments that best illustrate life on tour. Here are their thoughts in their own words:

1. Performing the opening slot before a band of 13- and 14-year olds called Jammin' With Charlie in Trafford, Pennsylvania.

2. Running out of gas on I-95 in New Jersey. Our fuel gauge in the car was broken, so we had to estimate when to get gas. We coasted in neutral for miles after we ran out of gas, through three green lights, before grinding to a halt in a Wawa parking lot. Pretty, uh, exciting.

3. Driving for an hour and a half with Tommy's guitar effects sitting on top of the car.

4. Ben placing a full, piping hot cup of coffee on the dashboard in front of him so that when Jesse accelerated it toppled over and poured scalding hot coffee into his pants, first thing in the morning.

5. Running out of gas on I-95 in New Jersey. Again.

» Click here to read our previous profile on Jukebox the Ghost, now with added information about the recording sessions for "Let Live and Let Ghosts."

» Rock & Roll Hotel, 1353 H St. NE; with Tereu Tereu, Modern Skirts and Bear Hands, Sat., 8:30 p.m., $10; 202-388-ROCK.

Written by Express contributor Christopher Correa
Photos courtesy Jukebox the Ghost