Today, we sat down with the band Scandal Tree to discuss their inspiration to write music, heroes, and much more! Be sure to check out the music of Scandal Tree on Spotify below after the interview!
Interview:
What is your inspiration to write your music? Is it your surroundings?
[Huck] As the lyricist I usually draw my first inspiration from the music and melody which set the mood. From there its imagination not surroundings. For me it is about storytelling and taking people places they don’t expect. We’ve copped a few comments about some of our songs being a little too American, but America is a place I’ve never been. For me it is a fantasy landscape full of endless possible story ideas. I also like to tap into horror, crime and movie tropes. All up, I just milk the teat which flows freely.
What type of music did you listen to growing up?
Everyone in the group has their own story around the type of music they listened to growing up. Broadly speaking Dano loves his hair-metal and 90s alt rock, Grant and Pete dig on their classic rock, while Joe, who’s the youngest, loves the 60s and British invasion. [Huck] Personally I have my rebellious punk roots nowadays I’m always on the lookout for new bands and musical ideas.
Is there someone you looked up to as a hero?
Perhaps not heroes, but we all have our musicians we admire and who’ve influenced us. They aren’t always from bands we necessarily listen to. Having an open mind and getting ideas from different places is really important to us.
In other bands we’ve all worked with the bassist who wants to be Les Claypool or the guitarist who wants to be the second coming of Hendrix. Those guys are very hard to get anything out of which is fresh. So, we lean to having influences over heros.
If you weren’t a musician, what would you be doing today?
If we weren’t musicians we’d probably be leading soul-crushing, unfulfilling lives [laughs]. Music is what we love doing and it doesn’t matter if we have an audience of one or 10 million. I truly get it why the Stones or Kiss don’t just quite and retire on their squillions…?
Other things fulfill us of course but when we don’t have a band or are playing it is like something is missing, a sense of loss or grief.
What advice do you have for our fans out there that want to create music?
I reckon I’d quote Frank Turner and say, “The only thing that punk rock should ever really mean, is not sitting ’round and waiting for the lights to go green” That lyric has always stuck with me. Peeps, choose an instrument and watch tutorials on YouTube to learn it. You don’t have an excuse. Anyone can form a band and there are like-minds out there if you go looking. Do it for the love of it. And if you make recordings or want to play then remember, your music has value. Don’t give it away for someone else to exploit.
Music:
