DOB: 8/21/72
Occupational titles: Epitonic co-founder, senior music editor; Sputnik7/Palm Pictures/RES music editor/A&R/internet consultant; and Atombombpocketknife/The Poison Arrows/The Tranquil Eyes/Thumbnail member
Favorite books: This probably makes me a big clod, but I don’t ever have the time nor the attention span to pick up a book unless it’s a manual for some software or something. The very little free time I have is spent eating, sleeping, fixing up my house, or hanging out with friends—maybe catching a Simpsons rerun.
Heroes: Anyone who stays out of the relentless American rat race for a bit to think and create. It’s a cycle that’s almost unavoidable and creates social and intellectual tedium. To deviate from the norm and capitalism is difficult and grueling. I really appreciate people’s drive to be a musician or an artist or a writer and then work at some terrible job. It’s the meathead robots that should be doing robot jobs like slinging coffee at Starbucks—instead they are living in plush condos with too much time on their hands.
What makes you laugh: See above question
Worst show experience: I’ve gotten shocked really badly a couple of times in the past year. In D.C. last week I touched my mouth to the mic, the lights in the club dimmed, a huge ‘pow’ and a blue arch of electricity hit my lip and passed through my body, my hand, into my guitar, and out through my amp. My hand went completely numb and it sent my nervous system into this weird shock. We had to stop the show for about twenty minutes until we figured it out it was a shorted mic cable, and I somewhat recovered.
The same thing happened last year in Arkansas and it blew up my amp. We kept playing and I sang with a bloody lip through the evil mic for the whole show in a daze, trying to keep it together. It was probably our worst show ever. I saw a bad review of the show online a couple of months later—that was annoying.
Best place to listen to music: At my desk
Charity worth giving to: Epitonic
Favorite vacation memory: Favorite what memory? I’m unfamiliar with the term ‘vacation.’
Five words that sound great: peace, love, health, scotch, sleep
People
Justin Sinkovich
The co-founder of the best MP3 site on the Internet, Epitonic, and member of bands Atombombpocketknife, Poison Arrows, Tranquil Eyes, and Thumbnail praises hard work and recalls getting electrocuted on stage.
