Sean: What makes a good donut?
Aaron Graves: A good yeast donut or a cake donut, you can dunk it. The cake or the yeast part isn’t too sweet so that the glaze or whatever you get on top of it can sweeten it. I feel if the actual donut part is sweet and then you put sweet stuff on top of it that’s just too much. I don’t like creme and frosting. I like custard, like a Boston Creme donut or an eclair.

Columbia SC PhotographerSoda Citizen show - Photo by Columbia SC photographer Sean Rayford Aaron Graves

When it comes to fancier donuts — I feel like there is a trend of paying a lot of money for a fancy donut and it will be the same donut with a bunch different flavored frostings on it. Or the same donut with a bunch of different powdered sugars. Like “Lavendar Sugar” and “Spicy Cinnamon Sugar” — and that’s a rip-off.
If you actually have different donuts and the cake is different or the ingredients are different and the glaze is different and it tastes good — then that’s what’s up.  And it’s worth being an expensive donut. But a lot of times you can just go to a cheap donut place and those are the best donuts.

Do you think, that in a previous life you ham have been a cop?
I don’t think so. But I guess anything’s possible. (laughter)
Yes. or sure. I was a really fat cop. I was always on the roof of Krispy Kreme.

What’s the last furry thing that you touched?
A cat last night. Actually, a stuffed animal in Elvie’s room today.

If you could force three bands to change their genres, who would they be and genre would they take on?
Cannibal Corpse into a J-Pop band. Because that would be hilarious. Washed Out as a hip-hop project. He’d make good beats but he’d have to to do the rhyming as well. Godspeed You! Black Emperor as an acoustic folk band. With lyrics.

If I gave you all the sandwich ingredients in the world, what would you build?
I made a really good sandwich the other day. It had a veggie patty, but one of those really good veggie patties with vegetables actually chopped up and in it. Not like a black bean or nondescript patty. Something like that. I like mayonnaise. A good sprouted grain bread. I’d put kimchi on it, which is pretty amazing. I’d throw some spinach or kale — some kind of green like that. Some mustard, but dijon mustard. Let’s put pickles on there — No, just regular cucumbers because it’s already got the kimchi. Tomatoes. And the mustard on the other side of the bread. That’d be a pretty killer sandwich there. I’d cut it in half like a triangle.

What was the best thing before sliced bread?
My first thought was root vegetables.

Did you have field day in elementary school?
I remember it was called “Mayday Playday.” And I remember doing the three-legged race I think.  And the potato sack races. I remember being outside on field and there was a water balloon toss.

South Carolina photographer Sean RayfordPhoto by South Carolina photographer Sean Rayford