From The Desk Of The Spinto Band’s Thomas Hughes: Sharawi Bros Chewing Gum

The members of Wilmington, Del.’s Spinto Band have been playing together since the mid-1990s, when they were still in high school. A decade and a half later finds Nick Krill (vocals/guitar), Thomas Hughes (bass/vocals), Jeffrey Hobson (drums), Sam Hughes (keyboards), Joey Hobson (guitar) perfecting pop sounds on the recent full-length, Shy Pursuit, in their newly built recording studio, scoring films, starting a record label and searching for the perfect cup of coffee. They will also be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with Krill.

Thomas Hughes: I can’t say I’m much of a “gum man.” If offered, I will gladly accept a stick, but I can’t remember the last time I actually purchased it. This changed, however, when I came across a box of Sharawi Bros Chewing Gum at the local Indian grocery. Its sparsely decorated box was refreshingly devoid of the “extreme” design elements found in gum packaging today: metallic textures, garish fonts and snowboarders. The Arabic writing and lack of any information only agonized my curiosity. The Sharawi brothers were essentially selling me a box of mystery. And for $2.50, I had to buy it. The box and display now sits on my desk where I can admire it and offer it to guests. And since it contains 200 pieces of gum, it’ll probably sitting there for a long time.

Video after the jump.