Don't Give Up the Ghost
College is an ideal time to try out the band thing. It starts with a dorm-room jam session, then legitimate rehearsals and some house-party gigs. But by the time the caps and gowns appear, a quarrel over the band name, the need to get real jobs or the usual irreconcilable differences lead to the inevitable college-band divorce. Not so with the college-pal trio Jukebox the Ghost, whose infectious indie pop is fueled by springy piano sounds and quirky lyrics about girls, God and the apocalypse.
Jesse Kristin (drums), Ben Thornewill (vocals, keyboards and pianos) and Tommy Siegel (guitars and vocals) met as students at George Washington University while pursuing studies in pre-med, music and journalism, respectively. Kristin and Thornewill began playing together as freshman, and Siegel, after mastering self-promotion through flyer advertising of his guitar skills, was called on to fill the void after the groups original guitarist left the country. The group played together until dispersing for the traditional worldview-expanding semesters abroad. When they returned in the summer of 2006 after a nine-month hiatus, the band reformed and decided to make some important changeslike shedding the admittedly crappy band name, Sunday Mail.
We hated Sunday Mail, Siegel says, and we were dying for a new name. To solve the naming issue, the band pulled together some obscure references: Jukebox came from a Captain Beefheart lyric. Ghost came from a Nabokov book. And the the seemed traditionally befitting for a band. Siegel says that the name change marked the start of the band taking itself more seriously, as well as D.C. venues not immediately discarding their requests to play. The Black Cat, one venue popular with indie acts, never even responded to the band until it changed its name. Though Siegel says he doesnt blame them. I wouldnt book a band called the Sunday Mail either.
The band initially toured around the D.C. area in a station wagon, but the vehicle met its demise after an unknown arsonist (Maybe some rival band, Siegel jokes) torched it one night as it sat in a lot by the Kennedy Center. A minivan picked up where the wagon left off, and despite the fact that they didnt have a fan base big enough to warrant recording an album, the group set off to Low Watt Studios in Raleigh, N.C., and completed recording Let Live and Let Ghosts in January 2007. Jukebox the Ghost put out a five-song EP last May, but the full-length album only came out this April. Siegel says that patiently waiting to release the album was no easy feat; this comes as no surprise considering that the band portrays itself on stage as having the energy of a spunky toddler. But now with the wait officially over, the bands ready to gas up the minivan and visit some new audiences, while spreading its sunny sounds and obscure- reference name beyond the D.C. realm.
May 10. Mercury Lounge, 217 E. Houston St. (at Ave. A), 212-260-4700; 8, $10.