NYC Rocker Weighs-In on Election

By AMANDA KOCH, Assistant Managing Editor

Jonathan Smith is the bassist from A Place to Bury Strangers, a NYC band. They just completed some dates with NIN, and have also toured with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Their upcoming tour includes dates with Sian Alice Group and The Dandy Warhols. Smith also works as a set builder. He was recently married, and lives in Brooklyn with his wife.

TBP: You’re from Wales, a part of the UK that has experience with women being in charge. How do you think America is handling our first foray into women taking center stage in politics, specifically Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin? Any advice for us?

JS: The woman who had the most impact on Wales (She Who Shall Not Be Named) was more Sarah Palin than Hillary Clinton. In saying that, I don’t think it matters if it’s a man or a woman. Politicians are for the most part the same animal, no matter if they’re men, women, Democrat, Republican or otherwise. I think America is handling it pretty much the same as everyone else, along party lines. Republicans seem to have found something to admire about Sarah Palin. Maybe it’s that she’d shoot, kill and eat a moose. Awesome!

TBP: Sarah Palin. Do you think she is McCain’s pick or the GOP’s pick?

JS: I think the actual politics of being elected is growing further and further from the individual. So I’m guessing it was a group decision. It is encouraging to see the Democrats adopt a similar model to what the Republicans did with George Walker Bush. It’s all about grassroots, finding votes. No matter what you think of GW, his cronies, hanging chads, and everything, you have to concede that his crew ran a more effective campaign than either Al Gore or John Kerry. In saying that, I think both Gore and Kerry ran awful campaigns. Especially Al Gore. He couldn’t even win his own or Bill Clinton’s home states. I think if he’d have just won his own state, Florida wouldn’t have mattered.

TBP: Obama and McCain recently revealed their top ten favorite songs in Blender magazine? Who has better taste in music?

JS: I’m not even going to look at that. I suspect that neither Mr. Obama nor Mr. McCain did either.

TBP: Do you think you could ever bring yourself to care about a politician so much you would create music promoting their campaign, like will.i.am did for Obama?

JS: I admire Barack Obama. I would like him to be the next president, but you know, I’m not Bono. Or even will.i.am, for that matter. But that said, my answer would still probably be “no.”

TBP: The Republicans have been having trouble with musicians getting mad at them for co-opting their songs. What would you do if a politician took one of your songs for campaign use?

JS: If it was taken out of context I would be pissed, and I would do everything I could to stop it. Go Nancy Wilson!

TBP: You’ve toured across the country. What’s the difference between red and blue states? Which ones are more fun?

JS: There’s fun to be had everywhere. There are cool and smart people all over this country and all over the world. I do find it interesting however, that in the last election the lower the average income in each state, the higher the percentage of Bush’s victory. Isn’t that weird? That doesn’t stop them having fun though. You know GW knows how to party!

TBP: Let’s ignore the fact that our laws say you can never be president. If you ran for office, what would your campaign slogan be? What would your campaign song be?

JS: Jesus, I don’t think I could ever get elected. I’d nationalize the health-care industry for a start. And I don’t see what’s so sacred about the Constitution. It’s been amended before. My campaign slogan would be something along the lines of “If you think this country is the best in the world, then who do you think should be paying for it? Paying taxes is fundamental, if you don’t want to pay them yourself, ask yourself why and at least concede that someone should be paying them!” It’s not very slick, I know, but I find this whole “We’re going to lower everyone’s taxes” thing tedious. John McCain actually said that he wanted to lower everyone’s taxes because he wanted everyone to be rich. Isn’t that cute? It’s true, I heard it! So vote for McCain everybody and we’ll all be rich! I can’t wait. I’m going to buy a yacht. And a pony.

Amanda Koch can be reached at amandarosekoch@gmail.com.