[1] Louisvillian, Ben Thornewill and the Jukebox the Ghost [3] will be performing at Headliner’s Music Hall [4] on Wednesday, February 13th. Growing more fans every day, Jukebox the Ghost is becoming a big deal. They actually hit 40,000 Facebook fans on February 2nd and have gained at least 200 since then. You may have seen them at Lollapalooza, on David Letterman, or opening for Ben Folds. Now is your chance to see them here in Louisville. Opening for them will be Matt Pond [5] and The Lighthouse & The Whaler [6]. Tickets are $12 in advance or $14 at the door. The show starts at 8 pm with doors opening at 7 pm. Louisville.com [7] is also running a ticket giveaway [8] for your chance to win free tickets to the show. This is an 18 and over show.
Ben Thornewill talks about his upcoming show, touring, and local music and radio.
Blanton: So you will be at Headliners February 13th. Where all have you guys played in Louisville now?
Thornewill: We played Headliners when we did a WFPK holiday show, I guess a year and a half ago. We played at the Vernon Club. We’ve played at the Waterfront for Forecastle, for Waterfront Wednesdays. Those are the larger places. We’ve played a number of places in Louisville. There are also other smaller places.
Blanton: I was at Waterfront Wednesday and it was a really great show. You guys rocked. Is this your first headlining tour?
Thornewill: Oh, oh no we’ve done numerable headlining tours before this. It’s our first headlining tour at Headliners if that counts for something. We’ve been doing 150 shows a year for about 5 years now and that’s alternating headlining and supporting shows. So yeah, yeah were not strangers to a headlining tour.
Blanton: How is it traveling and sharing the stage with Matt Pond and Lighthouse and the Whaler?
Thornewill: In truth, I don’t know yet. We haven’t begun. The tour starts in a week. I had some, you know, Matt Pond records back when I was in college and Lighthouse and the Whaler is a much newer band. So I’m excited to join both of them. We picked those specifically for the tour to play together for a complete package. I think the concert as a whole is going to be fantastic. We’ve had really good luck in the past, you know. Usually if you get that band that’s like what you like it works out well.
Blanton: I noticed this is a WFPK Presents Performance [9]. They’ve given you guys a lot of love from headlining a Waterfront Wednesday concert, which was great by the way, to generous airplay. Have you heard yourself on WFPK yet?
Thornewill: Yeah, actually I came home. I think it was at Thanksgiving. I got in the car, turned it on, and then our song was playing. Somebody was playing it. I think at first I thought it was the cd player in the car and then it was very much on the radio. It’s a rare occurrence for me.
Photo: courtesy of Jukebox the Ghost Facebook page by Keith Hession
Blanton: Recently an article posted on January 25th on InsiderLouisville by Michael Tierney caused some commotion by saying WFPK does not support local music enough with its focus mostly on nationally recognized acts. Do you feel WFPK helped you guys reach where you are now?
Thornewill: Absolutely, WFPK is one of the stations, especially on the last record, that really latched on and really helped support it. I have nothing bad to say about WFPK. I think any station like that, nationally, you know whatever it is, struggles to balance out local acts with national touring acts. I love WFPK.
Blanton: Especially with WFPK being a non-profit, they do have to give the public what they want, and many times national acts are what the public wants to hear. So I agree balancing local and national acts is tricky.
Thornewill: Yep
Blanton: What influence or role do you think WFPK has on helping local musicians break thru in the music industry?
Thornewill: You know it’s hard to give them a role. I think it’s the local bands, the whole concept of locality, in rock bands right now is funny because it’s so easy to get your music everywhere. You know, you build a fan base. You start… I don’t know. You find your audience and then you make the radio station. We had radio stations latch on to us really early on. But we were never really local. When we were starting out we were in DC and had radio play in DC for years and years and years. It all depends. If I were a young band, you try to get on WFPK, but you don’t put all your eggs in that basket.
Blanton: Do you have any advice for local bands out there trying to make it in the music industry?
Thornewill: We’ve have just been playing sooo many shows over the past years. And that’s always been our road to success. So at 150 shows a year we’re close to I think 650 shows with the band in the past 6 years. The more they play in front of people the more fans they have, and it’s slow growth but steady. Once they’re in, once they’re roped in, they’re in it for the long haul. It feels really good.
Blanton: Thank you so much for your insights. Obviously Jukebox the Ghost is a talented and highly successful band. I wish you well on future endeavors and look forward to hearing you guys at Headliners.
Thornewill: Thanks! So are you a Louisvillian? Are you from Louisville?
Blanton: Well… I’m from right across the river, so close enough haha.
Thornewill: Okay, that counts. I won’t hold that against you.
Blanton: That’s nice of you. Well I won’t hold you up any longer, thanks again for your time and can’t wait to see you guys at Headliners.
Thornewill: We’ll see you there. Cheers, bye.
Photo: courtesy of Jukebox the Ghost Facebook page by Keith Hession