Interview with Scarrots

Posted on Jun 13, 2006 by Tom

Belgian emo-rock outfit Scarrots is one of those bands who fell prey to loosing a band member and finding themselves at the head-scratching period of where to take it next at what can legitimately be called the hight of their career. For several years word on the band was scarce, and as a consequence of the long inactivity some members spread out their wings and influences to other musical projects. But now Scarrots seem to be back with a vengeance, on the verge of releasing a new album, so we had a quick chat with lead vocalist Pieter.

So first things first: tell us who you are, what you do in Scarrots and if there's something else we need to know about you personally just spit it out!

Hallo, my name is Pieter and I’m the singer of Scarrots. If you want to know personal things about me, get to know me or read it in the gossip magazines! 

I guess I was a bit surprised to receive a message that the Scarrots werent quite dead after some three years of inactivity. What exactly happened there, because it looked like you guys were on a roll, having played Pukkelpop and all?

Our first life got to an abrupt end when our drummer decided to quit. In this first life, Pukkelpop was the endpoint of an evolution, rather than the starting point of something great. It wasn’t planned that way, that’s for sure. Plans to go on and record a new album back in 2004 were very concrete. Contacts with several studios had been made, we even had a date set to start recordings. Then the bomb fell on us: no drummer! A long and rather desperate period started. We all had to question ourselves: what do we still want to achieve with this band? Do we want to go on? The answer was ‘yes’ all along! I guess we were too damn stubborn to quit!

Surely a drummer problem wasnt the only thing keeping the band back for so long?

Yes, I would say it was the only problem that kept us from moving forward. Of course, the band had some inside problems. We weren’t too happy anymore about the way we worked on new songs, the atmosphere was sometimes a bit down. But the lack of a decent drummer had a serious negative influence on our mindsets about Scarrots. Motivation sunk to an all time low. But proof that it was not much more than just a drummer problem, was given when we finally found Pieterjan, who is our drummer now for more than a year. We started rehearsing properly again, climbing up slowly. And the new songs came out great. Our way of cooperating improved a lot! We became a bit more efficient. I mean, we found a workable system to reconcile our work for Scarrots with other occupations of all 6 of us. And I just have to say, Scarrots is incredible fun again! We’re really happy we are still alive and kicking after 10 years and after some difficult past few years. Without exaggerating: Scarrots is stronger than ever.

I gather a lot of you were still occupied with (making) music in that difficult period, as I know Joan played in another band (Larsson), so what have you guys been up to these last few years?

Scarrots never ceased to exist. So we were all occupied in making music within Scarrots. Joan started playing bass for Larsson, a band with ex-Circle members. What have we been up to? Well, I know Scarrots-activity was quite low these years. I invested more time in other things. I think we all did. Still, Scarrots kept us busy: we were constantly looking for a new drummer, we never stopped thinking creatively about new songs,… The band stayed very much alive in our heads, but dead to the outside world.

How did you experience the long period of inactivity, must have been very frustrating?

Very very frustrating indeed. After years of rocking stages all over Flanders, it all came to an end quite abruptly. The fact we just couldn’t play live anymore, was no fun. I think we all missed the atmosphere of a nice live show. Another thing that was frustrating, was the fact that the thing we had been working for quite hard in the past years was now dying. But we didn’t let it die. For me that is proof for the strong ties of friendship within our band. I think this has now become one of our strengths. Hundreds of times we could’ve quit the band, but there was something in the air that made Scarrots too important to abandon. This is giving us some kind of security now, some kind of assurance that we are all motivated now to make it work.

Your Myspace has a saying: "It's a priest thing, and you wouldn't understand". Whats that all about?

That’s for us to know and for you to find out.

Of course were here to discuss the new album youve been working on these past few months. What can we expect from it? Have sideprojects like Joans influenced the band and the direction you take on the new album, or does it continue along the veins of A Shooting Star Shot Through My Heart or 1000 Pieces?

The new album is a collection of 11 extremely catchy rock songs. They have all the ‘traditional’ Scarrots ingredients. In contrast to our previous album, the new one is homogenous. But just like our older songs, the new songs all have choruses to sing along to. It’s still powerful and poppy rock music, but the atmosphere is more dreamy, the guitar arrangements are much richer, we got more out of our synthesizers, the vocals are more mature and more melancholy,…There are a few songs that quite stand out and differ from things we done in the past, like ‘Arrows of Light’. This is a very sad dreamy and dark song, but still it’s uptempo and dancable. You can listen to it (and to some other songs) on our My Space and our new website www.scarrots.com. Some more intimate songs like ‘Daydreams of Escape’ or ‘Soma Holiday’ have this dreamy feel to it, but they still rock hard! And as always with Scarrots, it’s sad music that sounds quite happy. Side projects don’t influence us. Scarrots music is always something typical. Even if we want to make a song that is different, it always comes out in a Scarrots-way. But that’s a good thing. It means there’s a feel to our music that is typical for us. I don’t say this myself, I just say this because we hear that from other people quite a lot.

Can you reveal the albums title? And will the new album be appearing on Goodlife Recordings, as I understand you still have a contract for three or four albums with them?

The album title is top secret! The label stuff is also top secret.

How comprehensive have Goodlife been towards the bands situation these past few years, because you guys were about the only band of your genre on the label at the time you released your cd with early material? They put a lot of money in promotion of the album, but with such a large gap in the bands history Im sure they feel a bit cheated!

I’m sorry, I have to be like a politician on this one. I don’t agree with things you say in this question, but we can’t say much about label stuff (yet). Ask us later again.

Are you still associated with L&S?

Yes. We resumed contacts with them. We will cooperate much more intensely in the future.

Time for some random questions to get to know your musical preferences a little better! What's playing on your stereo at the moment?

I’m a music freak! Music has a deep meaning in my life. Some things I’m listening to at the moment: Interpol, The Editors, Millionnaire, My Morning Jacket, Band of Horses, Phoenix, The Magic Numbers, Dear Leader, Grandaddy, The Flaming Lips,… Bands I particularly like too are: Alkaline Trio, Wilco, Death Cab For Cutie,… For old times sake: Bad Religion, Good Riddance and Propagandhi. Singers who are so great: Norah Jones, Johnny Cash (all time favorite), Bob Marley, Ella Fitzgerald,… I could go on with name dropping for quite some time. Apart from the names I’ve dropped here, there’s much more I listen to.

What song that is currently on the radio do you shamefully admit to liking?

Euh, I have to admit the song ‘Goodbye My Lover’ by James Blunt always moved me, but that’s for very personal reasons. Damn, I get emotional by only just thinking about the words of that song… 

Everyone has this one CD they listen to when they want to get away from everyday life's worries. Which record would that be for you?

For me music is escaping. I don’t have one record in particular that permits me to escape. There are albums who make you escape a bit easier than others. Let’s name one then, that has been quite successful in letting me float off to heavenly feelings: ‘Z’ by My Morning Jacket. Johnny Cash’s saddest country songs make me happy. And there’s one song by Interpol that is so sad that it absorbs all my dark feelings in a way so profound that after listening I get a boost of energy: ‘A time to be so small’. Enough name dropping now. May I add that the new Scarrots album is an ideal recipe for escape?

What are the bands ambitions at this point, where bands like Flatcat and Nailpin easily achieve a lot of mainstream success with accessible music, just like yours I imagine?

Our ambitions reach quite far. We want to become a well known and respected band in Belgium. By that I mean: media attention, a lot of live shows, acknowledgement from fellow artists, the things every band and every artist is striving for of course. I think we now made an album that is worth giving this attention. It’s full of great songs and we want as many people as possible to hear and like them! I’d love it when Scarrots would gain a meaning in peoples lives. I could become all philosophical about it and say that we want our creations and feelings to enter peoples lives and generate a sense of recognition. That would be true. But I could also just say we want to find our way in all channels that are important in todays rock-musical culture in Belgium. About the two bands you mentioned, I consider it a compliment that you compare Scarrots’s potential to theirs. I don’t think Flatcat has achieved mainstream support easily. Flatcat is a band that has been around for a long time, like us. They have worked hard to get where they are now. That deserves respect. About Nailpin I can’t say anything, because I don’t know their history. When I see that their music gets chances to become popular in Belgium, then I have to say that Scarrots music should get the same chances. We’ll see about that.

Any short-term plans except to promote the album in live fashion?

Just follow everything on our website.

Any famous last words of wisdom?

It’s a priest thing and you wouldn’t understand.

Interview Information

Taken On:

June 13th, 2006

Interviewees:

Pieter - Vocals

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