Since co-founding Jukebox the Ghost nearly twenty years ago, Tommy Siegel has earned additional celebrity status as a cartoonist, illustrating panels and posting them to his personal Instagram account. Earlier this month, he announced he’d be adding another dimension to this solo career: a debut album under his given name.
Another Century Wasted will drop August 21, and the second single, “State of Affairs,” blends JTB’s indie-pop sound with some distinctive Talking Heads instrumentation. Despite its pleasant tone, it’s a song he describes as being about “the hellscape of Trump’s America”—stream it below, and keep scrolling for a brief Q&A which Siegel answered, naturally, in cartoon form.
What made you realize now was the time to go solo?
How would you compare writing solo material to working with a band?
What’s the weirdest habit you’ve picked up in quarantine?
