In this episode of "Seeing Them Live," host Charles interviews Scott Patrick Wiener, an artist, skateboarder, and middle school art teacher, about his extensive and eclectic live music experiences. Scott shares vivid memories of his first concert at age 14, seeing the Red Hot Chili Peppers at Boston University's Walter Brown Arena with opening acts Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins. He highlights other significant shows, including Ministry at Lollapalooza '92 and various local hardcore bands, explaining how live music formed a big part of his life. Scott also talks about the emotional impact of seeing Mogwai live in 2019 and a touching living room concert by Wussy, attended with his young daughter. Throughout the conversation, Scott underscores the importance of music communities and the profound influence of live music on his life.
In this episode of Seeing Them Live, host Charles welcomes Scott Patrick Wiener, an artist and lifelong skateboarder who currently teaches art at Hanscom Middle School in Massachusetts. The conversation kicks off with Scott reminiscing about his first concert experience in 1991 at the Walter Brown Arena, where he saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers with opening acts Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins. Scott recounts the electrifying atmosphere and the impact that punk rock had on his life following his discovery of skateboarding in 1988.
The episode delves into Scott's diverse music tastes, ranging from hip hop to industrial, and his favorite bands like Sonic Youth and the Dead Kennedys. He shares insightful stories about attending Lollapalooza in 1992 and how Ministry's intense performance left a lasting impression. Scott also talks about the local hardcore scene in Boston during the early 90s, highlighting shows by bands like Chillmark that gave him a sense of community. A particularly touching moment comes when Scott describes taking his daughter to her first concert to see Wussy, a band whose songs he used to sing to her as lullabies. This episode is a nostalgic journey through Scott's vibrant musical history, marked by memorable concerts and the unifying power of music.
BANDS: A Tribe Called Quest, Beastie Boys, Beastie Boys, Bob Dylan, Burn, Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, Descendants, Dinosaur Jr., Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, Gang Starr, Heroin, Ian Mackaye, Ice Cube, Jane's Addiction, Jello Biafra, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Kingpin, Lou Barlow, Lush, Megadeth, Metallica, Ministry, Mogwai, Nirvana, Palehead, Pearl Jam, Public Enemy, Red Hot Chili Peppers, REM, Ritchie Havens, Run D.M.C., Said and Done, Sebadoh, Sex Pistols, Sick of It All, Slayer, Smashing Pumpkins, Smiths, Sonic Youth, Suicidal Tendencies, The Alcoholics, The Cure, The Goats, The Pharcyde, The Smiths, The Who, Tribe, U2, Wrecking Crew
VENUES: 930 Club, Aragon Ballroom, First Baptist Church, Great Woods, Lollapalooza, Middle East, Smith College, The Rathskeller, Walter Brown Arena, Woods Hole
[00:00:00] Charles: Our guest today is Scott Patrick Wiener. Scott is an artist, lifelong skateboarder, and currently teaches art at Hanscom Middle School in Massachusetts. He lives in Bell Rica, Massachusetts, and serves the community by collaborating with the rec department on skateboarding and Pokemon card game classes.
[00:00:20] Born in 1977, some of his earliest music memories are of riding around with his family in their VW bus while his dad played cassettes from Bob Dylan, The Who's Tommy, The White Album, and Ritchie Havens are among the most memorable. From then on, Scott wanted his own soundtracks and began his musical journey in 1986 with Run D.M.C., Beastie Boys, and U2, to name a few. Upon discovering skateboarding in 1988, punk entered into the world with the Dead Kennedys remaining his favorite of that style. When pushed, he names his genres of choice as hip hop, alternative, punk, industrial, and tends to fall back on Sonic Youth, The Smiths, the Cure, Gangstar, Public Enemy, and a Tribe Called Quest as his favorite groups. Admittedly, though, he quickly points out that choosing favorites in music is a fool's errand.
[00:01:15] Scott, welcome to Seeing Them Live.
[00:01:18] Scott: Awesome. Thanks so much for having me.
[00:01:19] Charles: Yeah, thanks for being on the show, and I love these interviews, cause, you run into people who have seen some amazing concerts, and your first concert, I think, would definitely fall under that category. Just as a little bit of background, you provided you were like 14 years old, right?
[00:01:36] Scott: Yeah, '91 for sure.
[00:01:38] Charles: 1991, your dad took you and your friends to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers at this ice rink at Boston University, which is called, I believe, is it called the Walter Brown Arena?
[00:01:50] Scott: I believe so. Like, I have, I've looked this up at different times before and I always forget. And if I might interject for a second, like the most magical thing about seeing the Chili Peppers at that time is one, Under the Bridge hadn't hit yet. Two, these two lesser known bands opened up for them.
[00:02:07] Lesser known at the time. They were called Pearl Jam and the Smashing Pumpkins. And I was like, Oh, those bands are awesome too. So I had to get like the cassettes and like, they quickly entered into the rotation along with Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic.
[00:02:19] Charles: Yes, so I did a little research too on this place and it said the capacity was 3,800 people and I didn't know if that was just the seats with the, you know, when they're playing hockey, obviously the main floor isn't occupied or if that included the main floor. But still, , a small venue and like you were saying that the Chili Peppers had just come out with Blood Sugar Sex Magic. And the Pumpkins had just released Gish, right? And Pearl Jam was on their 10 tour. So yeah, that is, that's quite a lineup. And considering too, what was kind of, evolving at that point in music with all these bands. So where were you sitting with your dad and your friends?
[00:03:02] Scott: So that is a great question. The arena, so it says it's got a 3,800 seat capacity. I don't know for sure, but my guess, I'm just assuming now, because I have, like, I wasn't really counting back then. My guess is that that was the seats. Very few people spent time on the seats, because what they did is they covered the ice skating rink. They covered it with something.
[00:03:24] It was slippery, but, there was still, like a pit and all this stuff. Everyone went to their seats, but very quickly, everyone also spilled out of their seats and just went to the floor. So mostly like when I remember like when I was a kid, like looking around and seeing how few seats were actually occupied, but the floor was like packed, right?
[00:03:41] Interestingly too, it's like, I mean, GISH was a great record. I mean, it's still my favorite Smashing Pumpkins record. But Smashing Pumpkins didn't quite hit until Siamese Dream popped off really, right? And then at least that's if memory serves.
[00:03:53] And I also think that Pearl Jam, I don't think Jeremy had come out yet. So it's like, that's why they're like opening for the Chili Peppers who just put out this amazing record, but they also hadn't quite hit yet either. I guess both apologetically and unapologetically.
[00:04:09] I love the Chili Peppers so much at that time. I was into their debut, Freaky Stylie, Up With MoFo Party Plan, Abby Road E.P. Of course, like Mother's Milk. I was hoping and praying that they would come out for their encore in socks.
[00:04:23] So those of you who are Chili Peppers fans for as long as I have been, you will know that like there was a moment, um, in time where they used to come out for their encores in only Socks covering their most private of areas. And of course, like a lot of this music, like that I was into, like Chili Peppers were like part of the punk scene. And as you said in the intro, I was listening to a lot of punk rock and the Chili Peppers were a part of that.
[00:04:44] I discovered them through skate videos. And whenever I say skate, that always means skateboard. I feel really lucky that that happened, and that my dad was willing to take a bunch of like snot nosed freshmen in high school, who, you know, had really bad attitudes because skateboarding was not nearly as popular as it is today.
[00:05:00] In fact, and I'll quote Jeff Grosso here is a, a pro skater who, uh, passed, um, a few years ago. He said that skateboarding, or skateboarders were a bunch of people. Nobody wanted to be around doing something. Nobody wanted to do. So my dad was so kind and took me and a few friends to, to see this show.
[00:05:20] And it was like, it was like a life changing experience. It was my first show. I've been listening to music, to soundtrack. every part of my life as much as I could. Like, I mean, I still do that to this day. And it was just, it was amazing. I also went, my first show, I also went in a pit and I was like, Oh, I can do this. You know, let's, I'm into people.
[00:05:39] Charles: I looked up a ticket stub from that show. I collect ticket stubs. I have almost every ticket stub, you know, every concert I've ever gone to. And the Red Hot Chili Peppers are the only ones listed on the ticket stub. The price was twenty dollars general admission and and I also was reading on on Reddit that between the Smashing Pumpkins set And the Chili Peppers coming out, the sound guy, you know, they probably play music between sets, put on Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit and the whole place went crazy and I, I was wondering if you recall that at all?
[00:06:12] Scott: So here's, here's the thing, memory being what it is, right? So my memory of that show was always the Smashing Pumpkins going first and then Pearl Jam. When you wrote to me and we were talking about this, I learned otherwise. I do remember them playing Smells Like Teen Spirit. I was at the merch booth.
[00:06:29] I was getting my t shirt and I still have, the one thing I kept like the t shirt ended up with a girlfriend and like an ex girlfriend a long time ago and, but I bought a button too. So I still have this button. I kept it for all these years. It's like this square thing. It's the cover of Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic.
[00:06:44] So I remember hearing it. I also remember, I mean, and for anyone who was alive when Smells like Team Spirit came out, most people remember where they were when they first heard it. And like, I remember that too, it was like such an important song, especially before it, before it like hit the way that it did, you know?
[00:07:00] Cause it's like, Oh, this is like, this is for all of us punk kids being angry at like all the football players that used to put us in garbage cans. So I remember waiting in line and hearing it and I was like, Oh, this is that song. Like it was that new. And I was like, Oh, this is that song.
[00:07:14] Um, and then we went back in the song. I just think the song was over cause we were waiting in line or whatever.
[00:07:19] Charles: I looked to see when that album, Nevermind, Nirvana's Nevermind, was released, and it had only been out for about maximum five weeks when you saw this show. And similar to what you were just saying, when I went to a party around that time, and one of my friends who's really into music, he had Nevermind playing and I walked into the party and I kind of stopped in my tracks and I asked him like, who is this band you're playing? You know? Cause I had, I had no idea anything about Nirvana and that's when he told me. It wasn't like background party music. It was like, everybody was kind of sitting there listening to it.
[00:07:58] So, you have these three bands that you see, and then they throw in the Nirvana song, you know, over the PA system. And it's like a really cool, amalgam of music and that whole period, that grunge scene and stuff was starting to take off. I thought that was an amazing first concert to, to go to.
[00:08:17] Scott: I'll share my story is pretty brief. I was in eighth grade. It's like, it must've been the end of eighth grade. We're driving, my mom, so I grew up on air force bases. My dad actually retired at Hanscom. So, Hanscom Air Force Base where I now teach art was the first place I ever called home.
[00:08:31] And we were actually living in Carlisle for the first year that we moved here, which is a couple of towns over. Base housing wasn't available yet. My mom's driving me to the base for some reason. And this song came on the radio. So there's a radio station called WFNX, which was like ground zero for everything.
[00:08:46] And when I say alternative, I mean like alternative to the mainstream, like all that music. And they were hammering that song a lot. So that was the first place I heard it. It came on the radio and I was like, my mom was like talking, mom, stop talking. Right. And I like sat there and like, listen to this song. While my mom, for one of those rare moments in one's teenage life, respected my wishes. Similarly to you, it's like, jaw dropping.
[00:09:08] There was something else you said that triggered something for me as well. This Chili Peppers show, it wasn't like there was people from all walks of life at this show. So it was like decidedly like lots of punks, like punk kids, like skateboard kids, you know, queer kids, like kids who were decidedly alternative to the mainstream from wherever they were from. So it was like, that word alternative as applied to music also, I mean, for me, I always had a lot to do with the people that were listening to it too.
[00:09:34] So it wasn't this show where like all these people came together from different social circles. It was all the outcasts. One of these first places, I was like, Oh, this feels like home a little bit, you know? Being that I was like, you know, maligned in high school, for being a skateboarder and a punk rocker and also having the last name of Wiener and being short.
[00:09:51] Charles: was reading, your notes, when you filled out the guest form, I was also thinking like, a documentarian should make a documentary about this tour, I think it'd be interesting, cause I'd never heard of those three bands playing together like that.
[00:10:05] Scott: I also wonder, like, and because my memory is definitely not this good, if during that tour, those ban like, specifically Pearl Jam and the Chili Peppers, if they started to hit during that tour. Like if the songs came out, like, you know, started getting like, you know, pop, like started gaining popularity around that time. And then like, all of a sudden the, like, all these things are packed to capacity. I don't even think that show was sold out, honestly.
[00:10:30] Charles: Okay.
[00:10:30] Scott: I don't know that for sure, but it did not seem like there was like a ton of people there.
[00:10:34] Charles: Yeah. That would be an interesting angle to like, as, as the popularity of these bands grew throughout that, time period, it could really turn into something. I thought that would be kind of a neat documentary if anybody wanted to tackle that.
[00:10:49] Scott: Calling music documentarians. I am available for more interviews.
[00:10:54] Charles: Well, Scott, did you want to move on? You'd listed several other, call them maybe second place concerts to that one. And one of them was Ministry at Lollapalooza in 1992. And I was just wondering, what was it about them at that show that stood out to you?
[00:11:11] Scott: Sure. I'm gonna add a caveat. Lollapalooza 92 was like, the show I got to go to because I couldn't go to Lollapalooza 91. And I really wanted to go to that. And I had a ticket and I was in eighth grade and it was like the summer after eighth grade. And my parents were like, we're going to Florida. I was like, I'm going to miss this show. And they're like, yeah, you're, you know, you're 13 years old or 14 years old, you're coming with us. So, you know, like the next year rolled around. I'm like, I'm definitely going to this one. Chili Peppers were headlining. Ministry was second. Like they, they were like right before the Chili Peppers.
[00:11:44] There were a ton of other incredible bands there. Like I discovered the band Lush there. It was also, I remember going to that show and Dirty had just come out by Sonic Youth and we listened to that cassette all the way there, and all the way back. And this was another, like, no one had licenses, so my friend, at the time, this kid Jeremy that I knew, his dad drove us there.
[00:12:04] And then, didn't he, I don't even think he went in, I think he just hung out in the car. And he did not have a cell phone to entertain himself. So we went. I got to see, oh, God, actually there were a few really incredible bands I got to see there that really, they were really moving for me.
[00:12:18] Like I discovered there's this old Boston band called Tribe. They're kind of like an alt rock band. They were big in Boston at the time. They had a maybe a minor hit on like 120 minutes was called, I believe it was called Joyride. And also, I don't know if I mentioned this already but Lush played and I discovered them there and that was really meaningful the first time I ever heard a shoegaze band because that term didn't exist back then but that's the kind of music that they were making. I told you I was into hip hop prior to, prior to, um, going to that show, like, like in 1990, I also learned about N.W.A. and then I was following Ice Cube, and Ice Cube played at that show. Not very well attended, because, for, like, his part, because the crowd, while thin, right, everyone went over to see the Jim Rose Circus sideshow.
[00:13:03] Which I opted out of because I desperately wanted to see Ice Cube. And it was really funny because, you know, like Ice Cube, he's like, you know, he was definitely the most political member, like the, like connective tissue between hip hop and punk rock for me.
[00:13:16] And, you know, he's playing his show, and at one point these guys come out on either side of the stage with, these, I forget what they were called, but these squirt guns. They're shooting the crowd with squirt guns, which I thought was just hilarious. I mean, it was amazing to see Ice Cube.
[00:13:31] I'm just going to skip to Ministry because Ministry, before I got to Hanscom Air Force Base. I was living on Ramstein Air Force Base. This is where my dad was stationed and my access to music was pretty limited. You know what I mean? It's like the, the shopping store on base wasn't carrying the dead Kennedy's.
[00:13:45] I had to get dubs from friends. So I was, I was learning about like Metallica and Megadeth and Slayer, Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys, like this local band called these local bands called Spermbirds and Too Bad. They were punk rock bands in the Kaiser Slaughter area. I mean, also, like, I was learning about the Circle Jerks and Descendants and all this stuff, but I didn't have, my access to it was pretty limited.
[00:14:05] I moved to the States and I went into a record store and I was like, they have everything, right? And of course, like, wherever a skateboarder goes, this is true, as much then as it is now. Wherever you go, if you're a skateboarder, you're gonna end up connecting with the skateboarders. So I did immediately, um, upon landing at Hanscom.
[00:14:22] I made friends with a guy named, Dave Craig. I'm gonna shout him out a little bit. He'll be psyched, he'll be psyched to hear this. And his brother had all of these cassettes, like this incredible music, Palehead, which is this collaboration between Ian Mackay and Ministry, which might be the first place I actually heard Ministry, right?
[00:14:38] And then they had this video. His brother had this video called In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up Live, which was a tour that they were doing where they were playing all this material from Land of Rape and Honey and Mine is a Terrible Thing to Taste. Jello Biafra was touring with them and doing this like Dadaist performance spoken word thing called Pledge of Defiance.
[00:14:57] Side note, when my kid, first started saying the Pledge of Allegiance, I made sure that I also played its counterpart, the Pledge of Defiance, , by Jello Biafra. And she, you know what she said? I really like his voice and I was like, cause it's awesome. Anyway, it's a really roundabout way to get to like, I saw this video of this live Ministry playing behind a cage, like behind a, like a chain link fence with two drummers, right?
[00:15:18] Like all of these effects and these guitars and it like, it blew my mind. And so, I think that tour happened in like 89, 90. I probably saw it around 90, 91, and then I got to see them in 92. And this is like right around the time that Psalm 69 might've been out a little bit. They were, I remember them playing NWO.
[00:15:35] Definitely like kind of the beginning of them starting to gain some popularity. I remember them coming on. There was no, there was no fence. They didn't play behind the chain link fence this time. But they started out, if I remember correctly, or maybe I'm just wrong and I want to remember it this way. But if I'm not mistaken, they opened the show with the same song, which is breathe with has this incredible drum intro. From that moment on, I was, like, locked in, right? I was seeing this thing that I saw on video, like, manifest itself in front of me. This is the Great Woods, by the way, for context. I don't know what it's called now. Somewhere, it's near Rhode Island, it's southern Massachusetts.
[00:16:10] But, I'm sitting there and I'm just, I'm blown away. Like they played Stigmata. They played my, like still my favorite song of theirs to this day, the song called So What. They played all of the songs that I saw on that video, which was nine songs. It's not, wasn't the full set list from that tour, but they played these nine songs, but then they're also playing songs from the new record. Like NWO is a standout for me as well.
[00:16:31] So seeing something that I had seen. I mean, I guess like the way that I would put it is seeing something, as an abstraction, you know, like this thing that I was disconnected from seeing that live, like intimately, like, again, it was another one of these experiences that really kind of changed the way that, like, I thought about live music and how I could experience it.
[00:16:52] The Chili Peppers were great. But I had already seen them the year before and like this was the time like Johnny had already left and they were actually touring with this guy called Eric Marshall. Like it wasn't even like, it was, they hadn't even like hired Dave Navarro yet. They thought this guy, Eric Marshall was going to work out, I guess.
[00:17:10] I don't know the full story, but They didn't continue with them, and they ended up working with Dave Navarro for the next record, and I think they toured with them as well. But yeah, like, that, that Lollapalooza 91 was Ministry's show for me. It was incredible. And also, if you've ever been to a Ministry show, or you've seen documentation of it, they always have these amazing slideshows going on behind them that are really, like, strobe heavy and like really like oftentimes vile and violent and hypercritical of contemporary political situations, like, and they also use samples in their music for those, I mean, for those who know their music will know that, where they're like sampling, I think at one point they had sampled Full Metal Jacket for some of their songs. This was before sampling laws existed, friends. But, yeah, it was incredible.
[00:17:54] Charles: Yeah, you mentioned if I've ever seen Ministry. I have seen Ministry, way before Al Jorgensen got into the industrial era. I saw them in '83. They opened, it was a day long concert event with the police as the headlining act, I think there may be five bands. And the one thing that I always remember from that show and, and, and you know how, like when a band comes out and they, the opening song, I don't know, for some reason it has an impression on me or it sticks in my head a lot of times.
[00:18:27] And they opened with that song Work. I don't even know what album And that song, you know, the day, it was, um, it was a beautiful summer day, I was there with all my friends, we had just graduated high school, and they came out and played that song, and it was, it was really cool, you know, I just, I hadn't, I, I didn't know who Ministry was, never heard of them before, but that, that song really Stuck in my head till this day, you know, then they went on to become obviously super famous, like, like you're just describing.
[00:18:58] Scott: Yeah, and I've, like, I've listened to, like, the earlier synth pop stuff, too. Like, it's interesting, like, if you listen to, like, Mine Is a Terrible Thing to Taste and then go to With Sympathy. You can hear the foundation of what they would become because they're still like, you know They're coming out of like in 1983 like i've listened Uh, jello be offer has this podcast called renegade roundtable and he had jerkinson on and he was talking about these like early Like these early bands that he was in he was coming out of punk rock You know and like all this like post punk stuff that was happening at the same time.
[00:19:30] So all that like anti establishment stuff was still with him. Um, and so there's like the lyrical foundation, then there's the musical foundation because for a while, for at least, uh, for a very long time, they never let go of that really like metallic drum sound. And I don't mean like heavy metal music. I mean like sounds like it was coming from a factory, you know, like maybe a car, like a factory that produces cars or something.
[00:19:53] Charles: Yeah. No, that's interesting. I, I'll have to go back and revisit that. that song really, you know, as, as an opening song of all the bands I've seen that, that one still stands out with me.
[00:20:03] Scott: For sure.
[00:20:03] Charles: All right, Scott. Well, we could go off into the, hardcore bands if you'd like. You had mentioned three. Arise, I guess is the name of the band. Nevertheless, and Chillmark. You'd saw Chillmark again, I guess, later in your, your musical journey, um, but you saw early on, was that in the, like the early nineties, I guess?
[00:20:26] Scott: Yeah, this would have been likely around the somewhere like in the 91 to 94 range Um, so I started going I went to my first show I got a taste I got a taste of the magic and I wanted more I was so I was in high school and one of the I hung out with a lot of the skateboarders were older Um, so I hung out with a lot of kids that were older.
[00:20:48] And this new kid had moved to Bedford. Um, so I went to Hanscom is in, is in like four different towns, like Lexington, Bedford, Concord, and Lincoln. And the kids on the base go to Bedford High. This new kid who just moved to Bedford, I forget where he moved from actually. But he was in a hardcore band and he was like talking up like all these hardcore shows that he was going to.
[00:21:07] This is all like, Boston, Cambridge, local hardcore scene in the early 90s. Like a lot of the bands that you mentioned, very few people will have heard of. So he played bass in the band Arise, and he was like, you should come do a show. And I had already met this other friend of mine, too, who was already going to shows, this guy called Jeff.
[00:21:23] And he actually had already introduced me to hardcore. There's bands like Wrecking Crew, Said and Done, Kingpin, Sick of It All. Some of these bands, he was making me cassettes. And I was really falling in love with this stuff because it's like, I mean, hardcore is all, has always been kind of an extension of punk rock, like a heavier extension of like, you know, hardcore punk or punk rock as it was like, I guess it's forbearers.
[00:21:46] And so I was like, this is exactly where I want to be. And then I met this other guy serendipitously. He's like, I'm in this band. You should come see us play. So I did. And I started going to local hardcore shows. We used to see them at VFWs. We used to see them at community centers. A famous place,
[00:21:59] uh, there are a couple famous places. Uh, one, uh, I saw some bands at a place called The Rat in Boston. It's short for The Rathskeller. Um, and But the, uh, one of the places I saw a real lot of shows, because they used to let people, um, have shows there, was a place, um, I think it's called like the First Baptist Church in Cambridge.
[00:22:18] It's right, right at, right in Harvard Square. It was across from Mystery Train Records, is one of the record stores I used to go to. Second Coming Records was right down the street, right? So we would, like, the base back then had a, had a bus that would get us into Cambridge that could get us into the city.
[00:22:33] So we used to take the bus there and go see shows. So I got to see Rise there. Got to see a band called Heroin. I got to see Burn and then there was this kind of community of bands, right? So I mentioned Arise Nevertheless and Chillmark. Because I saw them the most, they were my favorites, and they were all Boston local bands, and they were all friends with each other.
[00:22:53] A lot of their members rode skateboards, right? So, , I started just going to all of these, going to all of these shows, , as often as I could. You know, sometimes they were at night, sometimes they were during the day. We used to see them at the Middle East, upstairs and downstairs, another, uh, famous, , spot in Cambridge, Massachusetts, , where bands play.
[00:23:11] And, I think, I mentioned this before, like, when I was talking about the Chili Peppers and going to the show, and it's like, it felt like home, like, this is where the freaks are. And, this felt, this felt like that, but more. Because this was very small. Very like a very small and it like enclosed community also like a place where people could go who's like, you know didn't Socialize well in high school where they could feel and be them feel like themselves and be themselves Whatever the hell that means, right?
[00:23:44] but one thing we all knew is that we were all kind of like outcasts and Misfits and that felt like a home to me and this is coming from a kid who moved seven times before he got to to Massachusetts, right? This is like a, like, I mean, this is a kind of a strain throughout my life is like, you know, I was always, especially at that age, I was looking for this home.
[00:24:03] You know what I mean? Looking for something stable. I found that in hardcore, , during that time period in high school, you know, that like time where like everything is super weird and like, you're going through all these changes and you're trying to figure out like, Or I guess like, you know, you're becoming who you're going to be.
[00:24:19] That like process, that changing process that happens during those, , during those magical years, no matter how much of a struggle it was, I always look back on it fondly. , so those were the bands I was seeing. I was seeing the most. Um, and also they were all friends. I'm still talk to several of these guys, like, you know, a lot, not a rise isn't playing anymore.
[00:24:39] Nevertheless, isn't playing anymore. Chillmark last year, for a reunion at Woods Hole, down on Cape Cod. This is where they were from. Interesting too, because it's like, you know, when they reflect on it, they're like, you know, we were the, you know, we were the outcasts, like, we were the misfits, we were the people that everyone hated, and we, Did our best to create this kind of community down in the Cape.
[00:25:03] And that's where they started. So they created this kind of hardcore scene down in the Cape. And then of course, eventually like migrated up to Boston and we're playing, and we're playing these shows at some of these venues that I was telling you about. So either way, last summer, cause we're still in 2024 summer.
[00:25:18] So, so summer, 2023, they put out this word and they were like, we are going to play some reunion shows. At Woods Hole in, , you know, down on the Cape. I can't remember the actual town and it was a community center. So they, both of them sold out. But they felt it was interesting because you walk in and you start seeing all these people I used to see it shows saying hello, you know, people who haven't seen in like 30, 35 years, and it also felt like the same size crowd. However, they sold it out. It wasn't, it wasn't full, you know what I mean? So there I am, and I have to say, like, I was unprepared for the emotional impact that this show would have on me, like caught me off guard completely. Like, I was like, cool, we're going to go see this band that we used to see and love.
[00:26:03] And I also went, like I, Jeff, I mentioned earlier, who introduced me to hardcore music, like we went together, so we're still very close friends. We stayed friends for a very long time. And as soon as it started, I got up front and like, I. Like was like overcome with like an emotional response that I can't quite put words to the way that I like to think about it is that like, I, I was like, it's not like I was time traveling in like, you know, where I was like, I felt like I was the kid that used to see that shows or see, or, or I felt like I was the kid that used to go to those shows and was looking for that kind of like, you know, community and belonging and all of that stuff and found it, but it felt like I was standing next to that kid, assuring that kid that everything was going to be all right. And I got, I, all of their lyrics came back to me. I was singing along with the band. I will share a link with you. It is documented. And the kid, kid, the guy in the front, , in some, in a lot of the clips there, wearing the dead Kennedy shirt is me.
[00:27:07] And I'm just like singing along to the songs. I'm like, You know, like, you know, like just completely overcome with this like magic that used to exist and I got to experience that again, somehow, against all odds, this band that barely anyone knew about, got together and did a show and gave this gift to us, right?
[00:27:29] Like, to all of us who cared about them. And they're also like they're a hardcore band and I know hardcore when you like, you know is tense You know loud fast aggressive, but they were like those bands that I mentioned were also very experimental And Chillmark ended up like they started off heavier But they like as their I don't know two two and a half year run. Like towards the end of that run they started to get more reflective and their music became much more emotional. And I was also growing with them at the time and that music is, is the later stuff.
[00:27:59] It is the stuff that really, really resonated with me and they played so much of it and I was just completely and utterly there, captivated, and I feel so fortunate to be able to experience something like that again because those moments are rare. Those of us who are in the middle of our lives, like you and I share that, like, those moments are so few and far between, and it was so intimate.
[00:28:22] Like, I know the lead singer. Then I showed up like the last time I saw them in the nineties, I brought a boombox in and recorded their set, but I lost touch with these guys. When I showed up, I had digitized it and handed him three copies of the CD. I was like, this is the show that I recorded. Like you might not remember, but I told you that I recorded it at that show, and I finally, all these years later, here it is. And, it was amazing to be able to kind of reconnect in that way. So, yeah, the, big shout out to those guys like, for putting that on and really like, you know, taking that risk because they could have done it and like maybe nobody cared. But they ended up having to open a second night.
[00:28:59] So Jeff and I went to the first night and, but they ended up playing two shows because people wanted to see them that much like the, their music meant, so much to them. I've talked to a lot of people about this and music works this way, especially if you like resign yourself to its power, especially when you're young and going through all of those changes, right?
[00:29:19] Like, it meant a lot because it was a place where you could feel, I mean, for lack of a better word, feel safe and know that there were other people out there that were feeling like you going through similar things. I'm so thankful to have been able to kind of really, like, experience and witness them recapturing that for all of us. The show was, it was like 15 or 20 bucks too. It wasn't even like, expensive. It was perfect. Everything about it.
[00:29:47] Charles: That's a great story. Thanks for sharing that. I could feel the emotion, from you as you talked about that. And that's a really Interesting perspective. While you were telling the story, it kind of popped in my head, I would love to see REM again and play like fables of the reconstruction all the way through or something, you know, from, from that era you know, I was experiencing the same thing, like seeing them a lot and that would be really something to experience. I think I'd have a similar feeling like you had.
[00:30:17] Scott: Like there's something, especially that, uh, like you bring up this early REM music, that early REM music is so intimate, you know, it's so, and it's so like steeped in like struggle and sorrow, but also hope. And I think, like, that is a, that's a, there's a connective tissue between, like, that early R.E.M. stuff, and even some of the mid, like, the kind of, like, towards the end of the 80s, maybe stepping into the 90s, there's this connection between that kind of the intimacy that REM was providing and also the intimacy that Chillmark was providing for us.
[00:30:48] Charles: I could definitely see that. You'd also mentioned another band, Scott, the Magui is the name of the band? And, doing some research, I was watching one of their live videos, it was like from a concert, it was, an entire concert, so it was, it's like over an hour video, and people would describe the music as the experience is transcendent, cathartic, spiritual. You know, I'd never listened to them before, but I could see how that could happen, just trying to relate to that particular show.
[00:31:18] You had put that as, I think you described it kind of using similar words. I wanted to just hear how, that band, how you came to, to find out about them and, and started listening to them and then seeing them live.
[00:31:31] Scott: For sure Um, so magui is a band that I learned about I think around 2001 or two I had just graduated art school I got my bachelor's degree in 2001, uh, from MassArt and, you know, so I was still spending a lot of time with the people that, that I was in school with.
[00:31:49] But, I just discovered them. I heard the album, Come On, Die Young, which is just an incredible record. I have to repeat one of the lyrics from them because whenever I think of that album, there's a song, I think it, it's called Cody, which the is the acronym. Come on, Die Young. And the refrain is a sad song.
[00:32:06] Sad songs remind me of friends. Anyway, we'll uh, we'll let that sort of float out there for anyone to do with it what they will. My friend Jim at the time, he was, he had already been listening to them. This guy, Jim Turbert, I'll shout him out a little bit.
[00:32:18] He'll love, he'll love this. I was like, have you ever seen Mogwai? You know, what it's, what, what are they like? And he was like, every time I've seen Mogwai, it is the best show I've ever seen. You know, he might see other bands and then like, that might sort of step into place.
[00:32:31] But then he's like, every time I see Mogwai, it is so good that it becomes the best show I've seen. And that stuck with me. I did not see that band until I think it was 2019. It was right after they released this record. I wrote it in the notes. It's either Every Country's Son or No Country's Son.
[00:32:47] Charles: It was Every Country's Son tour. 2019.
[00:32:50] Scott: Yeah, that was their new record at the time. And I was like, okay, it's time to see Mogwai. I'd actually linked up with an old, an old friend of mine. This girl, Kelly, we had reconnected because her brother died. We were, you know, kind of just kind of loosely staying in touch.
[00:33:02] And I was like, Oh, you know, I'm going to go see Mogwai. You should go. And her and her boyfriend at the time came and we got to see Mogwai together. So it was, this was also a person who I was going to hardcore shows with, back in the time period I was just discussing and I mean, I think there's a thread here too.
[00:33:16] It's like seeing bands for me is also as much about the people that I'm with as it is about the band that I'm seeing. I've seen a ton of shows with Eric, one of your previous guests, Eric Green. And I remember like, you know, they opened, they started playing and then all of the sudden, like, and this is, I was talking to someone today about this band because they, at any given time, they've got a drummer.
[00:33:37] They've got, someone could be playing keyboards. They could have one, they could have two guitarists and a bassist. They could have three guitarists, you know, like it's all the same band, but they'll like kind of create these, I don't know, these blankets of sound. Like they're so, I don't know, like not quite wall of sound, but like they create an environmental sound, right?
[00:33:56] Your experience of it is as corporeal as it is oral, right? So at one point, like those two things, like my, my bodily experience and what I was hearing merged. And I was like, it was almost like an out of body experience. Like, I don't know that I would call it spiritual, but it was certainly something that's difficult to put into words as you can tell.
[00:34:16] I can barely remember, like, the songs. I know they played a lot of new songs, some older ones, and there was this moment, and I forget the name of the song, but where there was this, like, kind of feedback happening, right, and this guy, like, one of the, like, leads, they have several leads who will sing, like, kind of they interchange singers, sometimes there's no words at all. And this guy, one of the guitarists is doing something, he's hunched over, it's clear that he's putting on a guitar, and it's just this wall, it's like, almost like feedback, right?
[00:34:44] And he turns around, and like, starts playing the guitar in the middle of it, and it was almost like silence was disrupted. And that, it was like watching a mushroom cloud explode in front of you, except you're not scared, and the experience is pleasure instead of horror. Maybe it's both, right?
[00:35:01] I teach art, I went to art school twice, you know, I have a bachelor's and a master's, so I think that is maybe one of the few times in my life where I might've experienced the sublime, which is, if the art historians have it their way, the simultaneous experience of pure pleasure and horror, terror, and then one's ability to, like, recognize that they are human and marvel at themselves that they can conceive of it. Right?
[00:35:24] And so that was this experience for me. I was very aware of these two things happening at the same time and it was music that was doing it. It was so so powerful. And then you know, I went home and I, I was like I have to listen to this over and over and over again. So I was able to find some recordings of different shows, but not that show.
[00:35:42] Charles: Yeah. When I was watching that video, it's hard to describe like virtuosity, People will probably not agree with me cause I, I don't necessarily know what I'm talking about here, but, it kind of reminded me, I saw this band last summer and I'm seeing it again at the end of this summer called King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.
[00:36:02] And yeah, it was like, they're all, they all sing, they all play these. At one point, the lead singer, Stu McKenzie, or he's, I guess, kind of the leader of the band. And again, I'm a King Gizzard novice, so, he's playing the synthesizer and then he pulls out this flute. He's playing a flute and it was just like this layering of the music and they, they go off into like kind of this heavy metal stuff and then come back to this trippy psychedelic music.
[00:36:35] They're like basically span, you know, all these different genres of music. So watching that video kind of reminded me of them. And I'm going to go see him again. It's like, why am I going? I don't know. It was such a cool experience. I've got to check them out again.
[00:36:50] Scott: That's like, I had mentioned this earlier, I was talking to a colleague today, and we were talking about like, bands like King Gizzard and, or was it King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, and like bands like Mogwai, who are able to create these like environmental sounds, but also get like, They also allow for the instruments to all be heard.
[00:37:12] And apparently that's really difficult. Like, to actually set that sound up, to make sure that like, you know, while this guy's doing his synth thing, this guy's doing his guitar thing, this person is playing the bass, like, this woman is singing, there's this person on the drums. You know what I mean?
[00:37:28] All of that is coherent, available, orally, right? But also coherent, but also like, I think maybe I said coherent before, but a cohesive presentation. I guess maybe the word that I'm looking for is like, provides the opportunity to experience transcendence.
[00:37:44] Charles: Yeah. It's very, very interesting and unique to just watch it unfold, like, and keep unfolding and you think you're going somewhere and then they pull out a flute and start doing something different.
[00:37:55] Well, cool. On your list, Scott, you had this Alternative hip hop band called Pharcyde that you saw at a place called the 930 club. That also stood out for you as one of your top shows. And maybe was that one of your first introductions to hip hop?
[00:38:12] Scott: It was my first introduction to live hip hop. It's the first hip hop show I ever saw. I mean, hip hop was like, probably the first musical form that I ever took ownership of as a listener, like, you know, before it was my dad playing stuff. And then in 1986, my mom sees Run D.M.C. on Sesame Street.
[00:38:29] She takes me right out to Cave Barn, she buys me Raising Hell, and then like, the rest is history. So, I had mentioned this person, this guy Dave Craig, who I saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers with that first show at the ice skating rink. And so something that I think a lot of people know is that military families move around a lot.
[00:38:44] So he actually moved to Virginia, right outside of DC, lived in Alexandria. And he, like, I went to visit him, I believe it was the summer of 93. I wasn't a junior yet. I remember it was between my sophomore and junior year. And you know, he's a skater. We went skating, you know, he was in a band at the time so like hung out with his band members and stuff like that.
[00:39:03] And he was like The Pharcyde is playing at the 930 club. We're going. And I'm like, "yes, that." Right. I had already been listening to Bizarre Ride. So that was supposed to be four groups. They were supposed to play with Masta ACE Incorporated. We were also really into Masta ACE Incorporated.
[00:39:19] They just put out this record SlaughtaHouse. That was incredible. They were supposed to also play with The Alcoholics, who just put out a record called 21 and Over, another really like classic seminal hip hop record. Those two groups didn't make it. I have no idea why they just didn't make it. So, who played was, you know, the openers was this hip hop group called The Goats, we had never heard of them before, and they ended up being really good.
[00:39:39] And The Pharcyde, who we were very familiar with, Passing Me By was all over the radio. I mean, this is a time I think, that's important to highlight, is that hip hop, all this stuff that would have been considered like underground, the record labels were signing everybody and putting and putting out songs all over the place from all of these, what would have been underground hip hop acts.
[00:39:59] So The Pharcyde was one of these groups. So Passing Me By was out. They had a song called Your Mama that is just all mom jokes, which is just, I mean, it was hilarious. And he was like, we're going to see them. We're going to see him at the nine 30 club. And I'm like the 930 Club. So, my cousin Lori, who was an early musical influence of mine, who used to send me Dead Kennedy's records, and Suicidal Tendencies tapes, and Dirty Rotten Imbeciles tapes.
[00:40:21] And she introduced me to the Ramones, and like, she also introduced me to Jane's Addiction. She was from, Baltimore, went to high school there. She used to talk about 930 Club shows as if they were the be end all of like the live music experience. And I gotta tell you, it did not disappoint. The Pharcyde back then, bunch of kids, high energy, got on the stage and gave what is still to this day one of my favorite performances because The Pharcyde would a lot of people I don't know if this is lost to time or not, but many people might not know this they a lot of those guys started out as a break dancing crew. So they got on the stage. There's four guys who rap. When one guy is rapping the other guys are dancing and I was like, this is amazing. Right? Like I can't believe that like this group is that good what I heard on tape was just like a taste of how good this group could be.
[00:41:16] Charles: You'd mentioned that your cousin talked about the 930 club. I was reading, well, the original one, I guess doesn't exist anymore.
[00:41:23] Scott: And that's the one we saw the show at it was like it basically like it feels like it was in an alley, like if memory serves.
[00:41:29] Charles: But then I was reading that in 2018, Rolling Stone named the new club, I guess, cause it's 2018. I don't know when they got rid of the old one. It was one of the 10 best concert venues in the U.S. I guess they were onto something early on and reinventing it, the modern version of it still holds up as a, as a great place to see a, live music.
[00:41:53] Scott: For sure. I mean she like her stories about the 930 club are insane. I think the closest thing we have in Boston, which still exists thankfully, is likely the Middle East. , that is probably the closest, like, if I remember that old 930 club, the Middle East is the closest thing we have in Boston to something like that.
[00:42:10] Charles: You know, you had, a a not so great experience with seeing one of your favorite bands, Sonic Youth at the Roxy. And you'd quoted your friends as saying they're either epic or not. So yeah, what was going on there?
[00:42:26] Scott: Let's dive in. So, that person who said that to me was the same person who, like, sung Mogwai's praises, this guy Jim. Another person I'm still very close with. So yeah, he said that. He was like, look, Sonic Youth, I've seen a bunch of times, they're either incredible or they're terrible.
[00:42:40] For my money, the best of Sonic Youth, when they're, like, standing in front of their amplifiers, just drowning themselves in feedback and, like, punctuating it with notes that will eventually lead to another song, like, that's the Sonic Youth that I was, I want to see that Sonic Youth, right?
[00:42:57] That was not the Sonic Youth that I got. The energy was low, it seemed. The song selection wasn't my favorite, you know what I mean?
[00:43:04] They weren't doing a lot of the, like noise wall stuff that like, had my fingers crossed for. And while, you know, like Kim Gordon is always amazing, they did this really epic version of Making the Nature Scene, if I recall at that show. I enjoyed that.
[00:43:18] So there are aspects of it that I liked, but as a whole, like, I went home being like. Jim, Jim was right. I got the not epic version of Sonic Youth, right? That was salvaged a few years later when they did a warm up gig. Because they used to live in Northampton.
[00:43:32] Northampton is also famously where Dinosaur Jr. comes from. Also, Sebadoh is born out of Northampton. Because Lou Barlow and Jay Maskis, of course, were in Dinosaur Jr. together. And then, you know, Lou went and did his thing for a while. He still does Sebadoh and he does his own thing, but now he's playing in Dinosaur Jr.
[00:43:47] They had announced this Smith College show and I was like, I'm going to see Sonic Youth. They had just put out Sonic Nurse. I really liked that record. Like, I was like, this, Murray Street was cool, but this feels more like the Sonic Youth that I love, right? So this was also a kind of an interesting show.
[00:44:01] Sabato played with a drum machine, right? They didn't have a drummer. So they played and I was like, cool. Sebadoh is going to play. I've never got, never, I never got to see Sebadoh. I was really into Sebadoh in high school. It's another one of those bands that kind of felt like home. You know, like things suck and like other people are also experiencing that, but it's also kind of sad and happy and like, you know, there's like a warm blanket. It's like that kind of music is like a warm blanket to pull over yourself when things are feeling a little wrong.
[00:44:25] So, excited to see Sebadoh, Jay Maskis and Lou Barlow at that time started talking to each other again, because they, for a very long time, from what I understand, did not get along. They played a set with their original punk band whose name I forget because I never really listened to them. But before Dinosaur Jr., they were in this punk band together and Jay played drums. That was his instrument for that band. And then if I'm not mistaken, the Dinosaur Jr. part of the show was just Jay and a guitar. So he was just playing these kind of like, you know guitar like these guitar versions of Dinosaur Jr. songs and also some I think he played some of his like solo stuff that was out at the time So this might have been like 2000
[00:45:05] And Sonic Youth played last. This was again, this was a test gig for them. They were, or a warm up gig I guess they're called. They were about to go on tour. And it was incredible. They did all of the things that they are known for. Like, playing to the amps. Like, stretching out the songs.
[00:45:21] Using these experimental jam? Like jam noise things to go into songs both old and new. They also were playing songs from my favorite records, which were like my favorite records at any given moment will be like Sister or A Ball, but I also really like Confusion of Sex, but I also really love Goo because that's how I first heard them. I love Dirty because of the time in my life that it came out, and they were playing selections from all of these Albums. I was like I did it. I'm never seeing Sonic Youth again. Like I decided at that moment I got what I was after, and if I go see them again, it could be hit or miss and I don't want to ruin that experience for myself and i'm true to form. They broke up in 2012. I never saw him again.
[00:46:01] Charles: Well, that's good. they get rectified somehow. Right?
[00:46:04] Scott: For me. They knew I was there.
[00:46:06] Charles: I'd gone to see Sonic Youth. One of my friends was into them and it was a double bill. It was Public Enemy and Sonic Youth at the Aragon ballroom in Chicago. And,it was a great show. I had really nothing to compare it to cause I wasn't really a Sonic Youth fan but, , they were, they were really good.
[00:46:24] And after the show, I guess there was a war protest going on across the street from the Aragon ballroom. Hundreds of people protesting. And so when the show was over and all those fans from the Sonic Youth Public Enemy show spilled out into the street and started mixing in with the demonstrators and the police and, yeah, things kind of got out of hand and I, thankfully scurried away, just avoided it. You come out of a concert and, and all of a sudden you're in this like weird situation. So that, that, that's my, my sonic youth story.
[00:46:57] Scott: Sounds hectic. I didn't go to the show, but my friends, that guy, Dave, that I keep mentioning, like, his older brother is a guy called Steven. He saw Sonic Youth on the Goo Tour, which was opening for Neil Young.
[00:47:07] There are a lot of stories about this. Neil Young fans were not excited about Sonic Youth. All I knew is that he saw Sonic Youth and I didn't get to see them like back then. Because I was you know, still young. That Goo came out in like '90 or '91. I can't quite remember the exact date but it might have been 90.
[00:47:25] Charles: I think when I saw him was 1990 was that show? Maybe I'd have to check. But yeah, I could see Neil Young, Crazy Horse, you know, that whole sound.
[00:47:33] Scott: Neil Young asked for them to tour with him, like Really into them. I thought it was kind of cool, but the fans didn't think it was as cool, apparently.
[00:47:40] Charles: Well, uh, Scott, we've talked a lot about a lot of cool things. So I thought, you know, we could wrap up here. I thought, under your most surprising, it was, it was really a neat answer you gave and you said to the effect, not knowing what to expect at a concert as your most surprising.
[00:47:57] And I think that's a good way to put it or a different way to look at it. Usually people will say, and myself included, when we kind of thought of that question like, surprised opening, you know, guest or, you know, something strange happens. But, yeah, what you said, not knowing what to expect is every show is kind of surprising then.
[00:48:17] Scott: Yeah, for sure. And like, that's happened, I described some of the shows that I've been to where that's happened again and that was my experience of it at the time. So like walking in, you know, walking in, I didn't like, I didn't know what the space was going to look. I was like, it's an ice skating rink, and then like, you know, sitting down, I was like, okay, I'm gonna, we'll sit in our seats.
[00:48:34] And then like, Oh, no, you don't have to and then we would go down and like all of these Unexpected things started happening on top of each other. When is the band going to start? What are they going to sound like? Like, what does even live music actually sound like? And I learned on that day that it sometimes can sound better than the record.
[00:48:50] Sometimes it doesn't sound as good as the record. It can depend on a lot of different factors. To cap it all off, it's like, this is my first show. There was a pit. I had heard about pits and people slamming into each other and being violent and these things, so I was like, I didn't know it was gonna happen. I saw that it was happening. My friend Dave, he's like, we're going, and he grabbed me and took me into this thing. Where that experience is also not as dangerous as it first appeared, at least for me, it wasn't, you know what I mean?
[00:49:18] Charles: Yeah, with mosh pits, depending on the show, you kind of know maybe who to stay away from as it's developing. Just recently I was at Lollapalooza 2024 and the Deftones were playing. We were there primarily to see The Killers, which was the main act and the Deftones were before them. And so there was probably, I don't know, 60,000 people there for the Deftones. Man, it was packed. And they had a drone and they were shooting all the video in black and white.
[00:49:47] So, you know, the big giant. Jumbotron screens, it's all black and white. And then they pan over to the drone and the drone, I was nowhere near the mosh pit, but it was over the mosh pit and you could see it, and because it was in black and white and it was rotating like counterclockwise, it looked like, like a hurricane.
[00:50:08] You know, like an aerial view of a hurricane ever see those like from, from an airplane, they, they show the rotating cloud. It's like the eye of the storm. It was really interesting to see it. But I would, again, I was, I was nowhere near because the, the front of the crowd, maybe 15, 20 people deeper up against the railing.
[00:50:27] And then the mosh pit was behind that and then there was tons of people behind that. So it was like this. isolated swirling thing to see from the perspective of the drone was, was really cool. And it looked kind of ominous because it was in black and white.
[00:50:41] Scott: I'm like, I'm sitting here imagining it because like, that's a lot of people. That was probably a really big pit. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that.
[00:50:49] Charles: And I, I turned around and I, As far as you could see, there were people. You know, and a lot of people were probably there to get a good spot for The Killers and stuff. it was a huge crowd, but it was interesting how they featured the mosh pit on the video
[00:51:04] Scott: I'm sure they were, I'm sure whoever was monitoring that was like, Whoa, get that on the screen. Before we end, like, I was wondering if I could share, like, one last show experience? It was at a living room show, it was, I mentioned it earlier, is that, would that be okay?
[00:51:16] Charles: Yeah. Like a house concert?
[00:51:17] Scott: Yeah, so there's this band that I discovered, I think I discovered them around, like, maybe 2018 or 2019, band from Cincinnati, Ohio called Wussy. There are very few times in my life now where I really get into a band like hook line and sinker. The way that I would have when I was young You know what? I mean where it's like everything that they're doing is speaking to me. I'm listening to it all the time. So that happened with this band. So much So, because my daughter was born in 2015, so much so that I started singing a few of their songs to her when she was young, as lullabies. Like this is also mixed in with like You Are the Everything by REM. Summertime Roles by Jane's Addiction is another really impactful song, Bizarre Love Triangle, but the Frente version, not the New Order one.
[00:51:59] And Wussy was like, kind of mixed in with that. They have dual lead singers. Someone named Lisa Walker and Chuck Cleaver. And recently, they had announced they were doing one of these living room shows, in a town called Alston. It's like a suburb of Boston, right.
[00:52:12] I talked to my wife. I was like, what do you think? I was like, you know, Lex was, she was not, she just turned nine. She's just turned nine, right? She knows these songs. She loves these songs. And I talked to my wife. I was like, what do you think about like, you know, going to this kind of show?
[00:52:25] I had run other shows by her before, just so we could talk about it and see like, what might it be appropriate for like a young person to attend? Jane's Addiction did not make the cut. And I'm actually happy that we did not go see Jane's Addiction, because these living room shows are really intimate, and it was only Chuck and Lisa, so we walked in, we went, parked our car, walked into the show. We were looking for seats, and someone way at the front, like Wade, said there's some seats on the floor up here.
[00:52:48] So we went and sat on the floor right in front of them. I had seen them before and I had told them I wanted them to sign some records for my daughter, because of, you know, I sing, I sing their songs to them and they like, they were super into that. And like, they were, they drew her pictures on the record and things like, it was amazing.
[00:53:03] So this was when I saw them in, I don't know, maybe 2018 or something. We showed up and like, you know, we introduced ourselves because they're right there. They're not playing yet. And I'm like, you know, I saw you a few years ago and I was the guy who like, you know, had you signed these records for my daughter?
[00:53:16] And they were like, I remember that. Lex introduces herself. They're talking before the show gets started. They start playing their songs. They start playing songs that, you know, some that we know, but nothing that I had really sung to her yet. And they had this like amazing banter with her.
[00:53:31] Like they would be like, you know, you're, they were like, Oh, this is great. Like you, you're sitting here. You're enjoying the music. We did this other show with these teenagers. This guy brought his teenage. You know, son and his girlfriend and like they were not into the show and he like went off and told this hilarious story.
[00:53:45] So there was this like back and forth between Lex and Chuck and Lisa and I was a little bit, I was a little bit involved. And at one point Lex raises her hand, Like she's like, like she's in school and says, she goes, well, you play Hello, I'm a Ghost, right? Which is one of her favorite songs. One of the songs I've been singing to her for a really long time and sat there and they kind of went back and forth.
[00:54:04] And Chuck is like, I don't really remember it. We, I don't know if we can play it. I can't play it. Right. He's like, kind of like, he's like, you know, older guy. He used to be in this band called the Ass Ponies. If you ever heard them from the nineties. And she was like, no, you can do it. You got it. Like you start, we'll get it going.
[00:54:16] So they start playing the song and Lex and I are sitting there, like, we're like kind of mouthing along to it. And like, someone actually got a video of it, which was really touching and send it, sent it to me. I thought that was really nice. because I didn't take any video the whole time. I just wanted to be there with my kid and experience that show with her, which was her first show ever.
[00:54:33] So, he's playing it, he gets to the end and he stops and he goes, I can't remember the rest of it. And they go into this other song, and then at the end of that song, he starts playing Hello I'm a Ghost again. He still, he stops again, can't remember the lyrics. I actually had the lyrics on my phone, and , I was like, I have them.
[00:54:50] And he was like, oh. And they started playing again, and finished the song. And Lex was so happy. They played the rest of the show. Lex has a bunch of new favorite songs now, like songs like Acetylene is a really good one, and another one called Pretty As You Please, new songs that have entered the repertoire for nighttime, for the songs I sing to her at night, and at the end she had a 7 inch and they signed that for her.
[00:55:12] And right when she got there, I forgot to mention this, this is really cool. She had knitted them these circle, these pins, these little circles, and they both wore them for the entire show. They made this big deal about Lex bringing them gift, and they wore them the whole time.
[00:55:27] I hope that is a really cool concert experience for her first show. I wanted to try to do something where it meant a lot to her. It's obviously going to mean something different to her than it did to me when I was like 14 seeing the Chili's. But I wanted it to be like, really, really impactful. And, she loved it.
[00:55:42] Charles: I, think, that's a good first show for sure. That ranks up there.
[00:55:46] Scott: And it was, it was like really big for me too, like sitting there with my kid, singing this song together, that I had been singing to her forever. I'm sure that she will remember it. I don't know if this wraps it up or anything. I just have a couple of like, a couple of people I want to shout out whose names I didn't mention earlier.
[00:56:01] Charles: Yeah, sure. Go ahead.
[00:56:02] Scott: Yeah, so like, some of the bands, we talked about, I talked a lot about Chillmark, but, the other two bands, Arise and Nevertheless, the guy who had invited me to all these shows, his name was Crouton. His real name is Mark, but he went by Crouton in high school because one time, he's a red haired kid, one time he got a flat top and people started calling him Crouton, so he just went by that.
[00:56:21] So he was a really good friend. The lead singer, Scott, was like always really friendly. He's also one of the best performers I've ever seen play live. He used to like writhe around the stage and like really like painfully, and emotionally wrap himself in the music. The drummer, Matt, who's like has his own things going on in a band these days called Garden of Hedon.
[00:56:40] And the two guys that I knew really well from Nevertheless were a guy, the singer, Jesse Cousineau, who I hung out with a lot later, and their drummer, Jeremy. And they were, you know, we've also kind of kept in touch, and at one point, Nevertheless, I saved all of their music. It's all the demo tapes and like seven inches that like, you know, like, unless you know you're looking for it, you're not, you're never gonna hear it.
[00:57:00] So at one point I worked with all the band members and helped them, like, actually get their discography on Bandcamp. Yeah, it's because their music meant a lot to me. Like, those three bands were really, really important. But the likelihood of Arise and Nevertheless reuniting? It's probably about as likely as Chilmark reuniting, but Chilmark actually did it.
[00:57:16] Charles: Yeah. You never know. Right? Well, good. Is there anything you wanted to plug
[00:57:21] Scott: that's
[00:57:21] Charles: we didn't touch on?
[00:57:23] Scott: I think that's it you know? I mean, we can't be here all night, you know what I mean? You and I could sit here and talk music until the wee hours of the morning.
[00:57:29] Charles: I know. this, this has been great. It's like talking to one of my concert friends, , you literally could just keep going on and on and on. but no, I really appreciate you coming on the show and sharing your stories. Some really interesting, heartfelt things that you shared with us and yeah, a few bands I never, never heard of before, listened to. So, give me something else to check out. A gain, thanks a lot for being on the show. We'll stay in touch.
[00:57:55] Scott: Yeah. And you know, thank you so much for having me. I'm really happy to be able to kind of talk about this stuff and like that, you know, it'll be published somewhere for people to listen to. And, maybe that means something to them too. So I just really appreciate the opportunity. And I appreciate you taking the time to like hang out with me and listen to listen to those old guys stories.
[00:58:12]
Charles:
Yeah, yeah, no, it's been fun.