Ashley Melzer writes the Gimme Five! column for The Carrboro Citizen’s MILL blog (carrborocitizen.com/mill/tag/gimme-five), in which she asks local bands five probing questions. Below is a selection of favorites from the column to date.
MIMI MCLAUGHLIN OF THE PNEUROTICS
The Citizen: What compelled you to start playing your instrument?
McLaughlin: I started the bass guitar about five years ago, after meeting [husband] Rich, as part of our pre-nuptial agreement. It came down to play bass or be in charge of laundry, so I chose bass.
LAURA KING OF THE MOANERS
TC: What made you pick the band name? Why “Moaners�
King: When we first started playing music together, we had no lyrics, and when we listened back to band practices all we could hear were moans.
ZACH TERRY OF THE WHISKEY SMUGGLERS
TC: What did you dream of being when you were a kid?
How’d that turn out?
Terry: A cowboy, for sure! I’ve never really thought about the reason until just now, but I guess it’s because when I was in second grade I unknowingly was the star of a Tweetsie Railroad commercial that Blowing Rock Elementary was recruited to do.
JOHN HARRISON OF NORTH ELEMENTARY
TC: Describe the way your visual art and your music shape each other.
Harrison: They both come from a similar place. A need to create something that wasn’t there before. If I get tired or bored of myself in one medium, I can change up the tools and ways to output my thoughts and ideas instead of just not creating. Using both mediums gives me a way to still be creating when a musical or visual art lull arrives.
MARK WEEMS AND JULEE GLAUB OF LITTLE WINDOWS
TC: If your band were a gadget, what would it be?
Weeks: My grandfather’s pocket watch. You know … the one he kept because his father had passed it on to him. He just liked the old thing, the way it looked and the way it felt in his pocket, despite the fact that he could have worn a more modern wristwatch.
Glaub: My mom’s music box that I play now for our baby. It plays a song she used to sing to me and now I get to play it for my child, thus carrying on its tradition.
