The Scarred ***New Interview***

The Scarred, have jumped out of Anaheim, CA and pogoed accross the U.S. over 20 times. They have 6 releases and many more to come. The have a high energy live show that keeps you wanting more. I got Justin to tell their story...

Introduce yourself…

Hello, I'm Justin from The Scarred, and I'm not an alcoholic.. at least, I don't think so. Hmm.

How did the band start?

The band started with four people in 2003. It was Me on Vocals, my Wife Isha on drums, Monkey on the bass, and another guy on guitar. Like almost every band, we lost a member before things got rolling, so I ended up recording the guitar on our first release, even though the quitter ended up in the photographs. After a few years, Ben 9000 took over on drums, and now we've got Byron Sinn and FresNate Felon slinging guitars, bringing the current lineup to five members.

How did you come up with the name?

It's apt. Three of the original members had actually been suckered into - and quickly escaped - a pretty cult-like situation. No joke. But from seriously fucked up childhoods to severe anti-psychotic medications, every one of us is scarred in one way or another. If anything it's more apt than ever. Just being in the Scarred can scar you for life, in some ways.

Who would you say are your influences?

Between the five of us, we listen to pretty much everything. Ben 9k in particular has a really broad range of influences. We're influenced by a TON of music, but I know what you're getting at, so I'd say we started out (and still are) really influenced by the '77 punk bands, obviously, particularly The Clash, Ramones, Sex Pistols, Damned, Stiff Little Fingers. Currently we've all been listening to a lot of soul music, I listen to a lot of blues, early rocknroll. The five piece lineup is still fresh, so we've been turning each other on to different stuff lately. You can always rely on Byron or Ben to find some new or rare thing to expose you to.

What was the punk scene like in 2003?

It was pretty tight-knit. There was a large LARGE scene in Southern California at that time. We were always more or less outsiders, but I can't say we weren't part of it. It was still really well-connected at that time. You'd see friends everywhere you'd go. Lots of startup labels, tons of bands, a lot of ideas being tossed around. You had a wide variety of styles and tastes then. Punk didn't mean the same thing to any two people in the scene. A LOT of the old UK punk bands were touring the US and hitting Southern California for the first time, or the first time in a long time. It was pretty exciting.

How do you feel it has changed?

As a "scene," in many ways it doesn't exist. There was a distinct cut-off point where all the venues closed or kicked out the punk bands, and "big" punk labels started more or less closing ranks to the scene at large. The real heart of the scene lost momentum, and people moved on to other things. Now most of the bands are either rehashing the same three hardcore riffs and trying to outdo each other as the most "punk" band, or they're trying to move up the ladder in the bar scene and survive. It's kind of dog-eat-dog. A lot of venues are closed, the promoters have moved on. It's pretty dismal. I still see new faces everywhere I go, but for every new face, there's ten faces missing, you know? Still, they say everything goes in cycles, so you never know.

Describe the song writing process…

It's different for everyone. For me, I don't come out with a song unless it means something to me. I either have to have a song I feel is catchy, or it has to have some form of honest expression. I don't care what STYLE of music it is. If it comes naturally, I'll do it. If not, I won't. Unlike a lot of bands, we don't push for a certain sound, or try to write songs to fit a genre. We don't have rules to follow. I generally won't write anything if I have nothing to say.

In '03 you released a self-titled EP, tell us about the EP…

Well, in reality it was more of a 4-song demo. We hit the studio (actually we had a friend who got us into the calvary chapel radio station, we recorded it in there. I farted in chuck smith's chair and ate his pistachios) and banged out 4 songs, and sent out 300 hand-numbered copies to Zines, friends, etc. They were all for free. Kind of a, "Hey, we just moved in to the neighborhood" notice.

After which you released your first album ‘Repression’, tell us the album…

Right after the demo we booked time in a studio up near Pasadena. We went up with 10 songs and knocked them out in two days. Actually, I think it was over four days, but I think it was 4-hours per day. So two days' worth. The only reason we spread it out was because out guitar player flaked out of some of the sessions so I had to go in and record guitar, which I was completely unprepared for. We dropped the album on our own label, and Gnat from Radiation/PunkNVomit records helped us distro it through 'sounds of california' - and then we hit the road for almost a straight year of touring.

You then released a split with Void Control, tell us about the split…

I have no clue how we had ever heard of Void Control. I think they emailed us about doing a split or something like that. A lot of people did that, because we self-released 'repression' on our own label. I don't know for sure. All I know is that we had been working with Gnat and we really wanted to get something out on Vinyl. He was down to do it, and I think I was the one who asked him about putting Void Control on there, as kind of an East Coast and West Coast up-and-comers split. I haven't seen the VC guys since '05 so I don't really know what happened to them.

In 2005, you planned to release a few songs for the Punk Core DVD, tell us about the story…

Dave from PunkCore heard about us because we'd been out on the road ceaselessly. We were encouraged by several people to send in rough versions of our new songs, so we did. They were hoping to diversify. We were never a "street punk" band but we were always in and around that scene, playing shows, and we had a lot of friends in that scene. Dave was always one to recognize hard work and he called us and asked us to sign to the label. They were working on the DVD already. The day after we signed, we had to hurry up and find a spot to record some live video to. It was awkward and we were very awkwardly sober and REALLY uncomfortable. To make matters worse, the master copy of the DVD got scratched at the factory right over our set, so on most copies the video jumps all over the place. We even were accused of 'lip synching' which was weird because our video was all live, and a lot of the other bands had real videos on there. Anyway we didn't like being on the DVD, long and short of it. We were grateful for the exposure but when I look back, I wish we had passed on that. We didn't have any time to prepare or get some real live footage. It was too forced.

Anyway, Punk Core had us back in the studio for what was released in 2006 as No Solution.

How you feel your second album ‘No Solution’ differed from your previous work?

No Solution had a good range of stuff on it. There are songs though, that I wish weren't on it. In some ways I think it's a product of the times. When the songs were written we had just come out of that 2004 election and it's aftermath, the country was REALLY polarizing. People were getting really sick of the war. I saw people going hard-right and hard-left in politics, and they were just missing the point that that IS the problem, not the solution. Everyone was dividing up on party lines, as if that was the way to have community. So the record might have some political or social overtones our other ones don't, but it wasn't intentional, it bled in from the world around us while we were in the studio. I mean literally halfway through the recording I took a break to fly out to Kansas and drive back with a friend, and halfway home Hurricane Katrina hit. It was a really intense time.

You guy them ran into some issues with the ‘Panic’ EP, tell us about the EP…

We were supposed to put out another full length in 2007 on Punk Core, but by then the collapse of the scene and industry had already begun, and PunkCore really didn't have the funds. They did their best to stay open, but -through no fault of theirs- they ended up having to cancel any plans for any more releases. We were left with a few songs recorded for the next record, so we went in and finished them and threw them online in a limited number, I think we only allowed 100 downloads and then shut it down. We kind of got caught in the crossfire with the Punk Core situation, sort of waiting to see if the Label was going to keep going, because we had a contract where we couldn't release anything with anyone else until they officially decided they weren't going to release anything. I think it was November '07 when they shut down the record, and mid-2008 by the time it was more or less obvious to them that for many, many, reasons they weren't going to be continuing as a label. We can always hope it comes back, but really that whole street punk scene just collapsed. A lot of the bands on the label broke up. Anyway, we were kind of stuck in the middle without an outlet for the record.

In 2009, you released ‘At Half Mast’, tell us about the album…

At Half Mast was about 70% of the album that would have come out on PunkCore in 2007, and 30% newer material. It kind of reflects a weird time in the punk scene, when this huge tight-knit national scene was suddenly drying up and leaving behind only little pockets here and there. To be honest, for the first time I didn't know if there would even BE a Scarred anymore. Isha and I had just had a baby, Monkey had moved (temporarily, it turns out) to Washington. Ben 9k had been on and off the drums for us since 2007, but Isha came in to do At Half Mast sort of as the last thing we did with the old lineup. It was kind of a way of finally getting those songs out, putting the past behind us, and clearing the decks.

Tell us about the lineup…

Who are some of the bands you have done shows with?

We've done shows with so many bands I couldn't even begin to make a list, even if I could remember half. Some of the most fun bands to play with though, are the LOCAL bands in the scenes. We've played shows with people like The Adicts and we've played shows with two people in underwear using toy guitars as instruments and singing about monster trucks. So we've kind of run the gamut.

Do you prefer to do shows at large venues or small clubs?

Anywhere. Well, I take that back, anywhere but farms. Too many bad experiences.

Where have you toured?

All over the US. Nowhere else yet. We had plans for China, but we couldn't agree with the label there on flights, and we were too broke to make up the difference in who was going to pay what. It was a big miscommunication, so that had to be put off indefinitely. We're working on getting out to Europe, at least for a few shows, soon. Problem is we have five guys and I think out of the five of us, only two have "regular" jobs, so we don't have money. The band loses money. It doesn't make money. People of earth, pay attention: Bands do not make money. You need to help out and buy the music and the shirts, because I guarantee you that if the band isn't on a major, or a big indie label, they aren't making money like you think they are.

Is there a favorite band you like to do shows with?

Not really. But for me personally, my favorite tour had to be the clampdown tour with KTP in the early days, and of course I always love playing with our Hollywood homeboys in Prima Donna. Not that there aren't plenty of bands out there we like and are friends with, but for the most part all the other bands we played with on a regular basis over the years have gone the way of the Dodo. Things are really kind of starting over now. We're kind of the last survivors a whole group of bands that are gone now.

Is there a favorite place you like to do shows at?

In So Cal? We used to love playing at Showcase and Chain Reaction. Showcase closed down, and Chain Reaction got new management who won't book us for some reason, even though we used to pack that club out. The Allen Theatre and the Knitting Factory are gone now too. MY favorite place to play in the entire US was the old Skrappys in Tucson. They have a new one now, but I haven't played there yet.

What do you see is the future of the Scarred?

I have no Crystal ball, but I see us going on one way or another. Genre is bullshit. Music, above all else, is ART. It should be treated as art, performed as art, and sold as art. If Music just happens to be an artform, like painting, that becomes more niched, then we'll just have to roll with the punches. I've seen a lot over the years, and speaking for myself, I don't see any reason to ever stop expressing myself in any way I want. We are hard at work now on a new record. It's shaping up to be a huge leap forward into a new era for the band. I wrote a lot of songs that are completely different from anything I have written before. Some will be familiar, but we've definitely reached the point now where we're going forward now, just to do our own thing and not worry about genres or labels or who's going to put it out or anything. We're just going to wing it, do what we want, do it our way, and play it by ear for now.

How can people contact the band?

You can get ahold of us at TheScarred.com or Facebook.com/TheScarred - or Justin@TheScarred.com