American Heritage Interview

The Gauntlet: What is new with you?

Scott: Not much. Today is a lazy day so I am just having a beer. I am having an Alpha King right now.

The Gauntlet: I don’t think I have ever heard of that beer.

Scott: It is a micro from 3 Floyds out of Indiana. They are getting bigger now, but they make some decent stuff here and there. I am a huge beer nerd. There are a bunch of breweries sprouting up here so I like to go check out the brew pubs.

The Gauntlet: The new album just came out.

Scott: Yeah. It was totally ridiculous how long it took us to do it. Part of it was that our drummer Mike lives in Georgia. So he has to fly out to practice or in the Summer we go down there to meet him. This time around we recorded the album in a couple different sessions. We’d write a chunk of songs, go in and record them. Then write another chunk and record those. It took a while. After we got done tracking, we had to do the bass stuff with all the guest musicians and that took a while to coordinate. We are all extremely relieved that it is out now. We finished mixing last March, then there were the label delays. I didn’t think it was ever going to come out.

The Gauntlet: It has got to start to wear on you.

Scott: Yeah, a little bit. When you have something that is done and you are just sitting on it, you just want it to come out and move on.

The Gauntlet: Have you moved on and begun writing for the followup?

Scott: Yeah, we got some stuff started. Things are really slow going as we can’t practice often. We also like to write together in the same room. Me, Mike, and Adam like to write things, but what Mike plays totally changes what Adam and I will play for the rest of the song. It is hard for us to just say here is the rest of the song.

The Gauntlet: Erik joined the band as a bassist after the mixing was done. Was there ever any thought to re-recording the bass parts on the album?

Scott: He didn’t really become our full-time bassist until the record was completely done. I had been playing with him in bands before and felt it was easy enough to get along. He has been working out great.

The Gauntlet: The band has suffered the lineup change curse before.

Scott: Yes and no. The floating band members has been weird. I was the original drummer and Adam was the original bassist. Andre was the guitarist. Me and Andre were in a band before that and Erik was the bass player in that band until we kicked him out. Then I got Adam to move down from Wisconsin to play in that band, then I left to play in a different band with Erik, until I returned as the singer. I played guitar a few times when Andre quit. But then he rejoined and we had two guitarists and Adam on guitar. Then Andre finally quit for the last time and Adam moved to guitar and we went through a ton of bass players. It is a pretty convoluted and incestuous band. It is all just the same dudes doing this or that?

The Gauntlet: It sounds like you just show up at the gig or studio and pickup whatever instrument is there and start playing that.

Scott: Well, I don’t know. We have been doing this for a long time. As far as Adam and I are concerned, neither of us are playing the instrument that is native to us. I am a drummer and he is a bass player. This band was the first I played guitar in. I think he had more schooling in stringed instruments than I did. I just never learned how to play them until the band. I don’t know any other way. I think what helped me out was being a drummer and switching to guitar, it was still rhythmically oriented.

The Gauntlet: Each song features a different guest bassist. Did the band write the parts or did the guest bassists write their own parts?

Scott: We gave them total cart blanche. The reason we wanted so many different bassists was maybe they’d take it somewhere we never thought of. We have different tones on each track and they really opened it up. They were all friends so we totally trust them.

The Gauntlet: So it wasn’t an ad in the Penny Saver that got guest musicians from Mastodon, Black Cobra, or Buried at Sea?

Scott: No, nothing like that. It was all people we have played with or toured with. It was easy to put in their hands and say go with it. They could do pretty much whatever they wanted.

The Gauntlet: After the bass parts came back, did you make any changes to the drums or guitars?

Scott: Nope. All the guitars, vocals and drums were done for the most part at the time we handed everything off to the bass players. Our involvement was very minimal after that. It was fun but a pain in the ass to coordinate. Once everything started coming in, it put me at ease. Ironically, the people that got them to me right away were the busiest ones as they tour nonstop. They were Bill [Kelliher] from Mastodon and Rafa [Martinez] from Black Cobra. I had totally forgotten that Rafa plays bass as he plays drums in Black Cobra. We were hanging out and I was mentioning the song that someone else had flaked on. He told me to send him the track and he just fucking wailed on it. That song is just ridiculous.

The Gauntlet: The band doesn’t seem to tour much. Have you guys made it out to the West Coast? It is often hard for me to really get into a band without seeing them live or meeting them. You guys could just be major assholes or something.

Scott: I had that experience recently. I am not going to say what band it was, but I got an album and it was really cool. I went to see them live and was just thinking “what a bunch of dickhead posers!” I still like the record, but you look at them and think they are just wearing a costume and trying to be something they aren’t too hard.

The Gauntlet: There has been an upsurge in bands like that lately in certain genres.

Scott: I don’t really care as it isn’t my thing. Just last year, I went to see a Municipal Waste show and it was all fifteen year olds in the crowd that looked like they were from 1983. I don’t get it. It is weird to me. I guess that is just bashing culture. As for us touring, it is really hard as Mike has a job where he has a lot of responsibilities. It is really difficult to schedule around that. This is part of the reason that Adam and I are starting another band. We want to tour a lot. That is all we want to do. But the band is not the band without Mike.

The Gauntlet: First time I have heard a band member hold the drummer in such high regards.

Scotts: You know what, everyone always says that but it is totally not true. A drummer can make or break a band for me. If you are a mediocre band with a killer drummer, you can make it. But if you are a mediocre band with a shitty drummer, you fucking suck. Plus, Mike, Adam and I are tight bros from way back. We are like brothers and can piss each other off without consequence.

The Gauntlet: How does Erik fit into that dynamic?

Scott: I have a long history with Erik. I have been playing with him in previous bands since high school. I think we have that. He can piss me off and ultimately we will still be friends. As far as the band dynamic, we are still trying to figure it out when it comes to him. We haven’t written much with him. He came down to Georgia and has started to write with us so it is getting there a little bit. But Mike, Adam and I are so ingrained in our writing that Erik will be on the outside a little bit. We are just stuck in our ways. He is doing a great job, there is just going to be an adjustment period. Plus he jumped into a new genre with us.


Read More News

Tags:  American Heritage  , Scott, interviews

Jason Fisher    March 10, 2011