ENTERTAINMENT
Q&A
with Jonas Stein from Turbo Fruits //KELSEY CIPOLLA
From left to right: Kingsley Brock, Jonas Stein, Dave McCowen and Matt Hearn make up Turbo Fruits the southern rock band playing with Deer Tickeet at the Granada on Tuesday, May 5.
Turbo Fruits is climbing up the food chain. The Nashville-based quartet released two albums between 2007 and 2009 before taking some time away from the studio after feeling neglected by their record label at the time, Fat Possum, and facing changes to the line up. Now lead singer Jonas Stein and the crew are back on track, releasing a new album in September and playing their blend of playful, infectious Southern rock while on tour with fellow rockers Deer Tick. Both bands will play at the Granada on Tuesday, May 15.
Stein talked to Jayplay during a 12-hour drive from his home in Nashville to the next tour stop in Dallas.
HOW DID YOU FIRST GET INTO MUSIC?
When I was 13, I got exposed to punk rock and roll. I started playing in a rock band at a really young age, and I never stopped. When I was 17, I was playing in an older band that I started called "Be Your Own Pet." We got lucky and it just basically became an overnight success. Music is really all I know. That and motorcycles, so I kind of have to continue with this career.
WHAT CAN PEOPLE EXPECT FROM BUTTER, THE NEW ALBUM?
We did it with Jim Eno from Spoon in his studio, Public Hi-Fi in Austin, Tex. It was great working with him. It's been a little dismal lately. Now that we've got all our shit sorted out, we can start pumping them out. And I'm really happy with the team we have behind us now. We actually almost have our next record finished. That just kind of shows how busy we've been staying.
Any rewards that we get, I feel like we have 110 percent earned versus my last project. It was given to us so quickly it was hard to appreciate. It wasn't quite as emotionally satisfying an experience as this band is.
HOW HAS TOURING BEEN?
It's pretty exhausting. You kind of get into the mentality of like you're going to war for a few weeks. You're just like "Gotta get in the zone. Can't think about home for a few weeks." You just try to stay tough and go with the flow. There are fun times and bad times and weird times. Fighting, making up, getting along. Pretty much anything humans have within their emotions comes out on tour.
YOU'VE PLAYED IN LAWRENCE BEFORE. WHAT ARE YOUR MEMORIES OF THOSE SHOWS?
We played the Replay both times. We made some friends there. Lawrence is like a place that I look forward to going. I feel like we always get in trouble in Lawrence. The good kind of trouble. I don't know what it is, probably taking a few too many shots and waking up with some stories.
WHY SHOULD PEOPLE COME CHECK OUT THE SHOW?
I think there are a lot of bands out there that try to act a certain way or keep their cool or act like something that they're not. One thing about Turbo Fruits though is that we're a fun bunch of dudes. We express our personalities while we're on stage. I think people feel like they know us personally by looking and listening to us on stage. We get into arguments on stage. We're down to get down and go up to random people afterward. We'll make you have fun, and we'll get rowdy.
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