Friday, May 16, 2014

Interview With Vincenzo Scutchartney from The Scutches

Critical Mass: Thanks for taking the time to talk with Critical Mass. For anyone new to The Scutches, can you give us a brief history on the band and how you got started?

Vincenzo Scutchartney:  Glad to do it!, I started the Scutches as a name just to record under about 11 years ago on my own after playing drums in so many bands for most my life. Got a good solid line up by 2006 starting touring then from 2007-2011 there were a bunch of line up changes finally got a solid team by 2012 and pretty much have been none stop releasing records and playing out for about 10 years.

CM: You recently returned home from a short tour in support of your latest release, "Glass House". How was the tour for you guys?

VS: It was great the run was just over 2 weeks and the responses from the people we meet and the crowds just keep getting better and better. Makes those 8 hours a day in the van way worth it.

CM: Speaking of "Glass House", how has the response been from fans to the new songs?

VS: Ha, ya know its fun to answer questions like this cause people have favorite songs off every album right? but these last to releases we had out "ten songs, ten years" and "Glass House" seemed like everyone wanted to hear all the songs off both. so I'm guessing that's a good thing

CM: You also just recently did a split 7" with the Shocktroopers. How did that collaboration come about and will you and the Shocktroopers be sharing the stage in the near future?

VS: Shit yeah we are already speaking with Shocktroopers about doing some shows next year together. I believe Tyler from Shocktroopers either saw us open for Teenage Bottlerocket or Miguel from TBR put him in touch I forget the exact conversation with him cause it was over 3 hours on the phone. But yeah Tyler called me and said he's starting this label Tranquil Records and they have some new songs they would love to release with us so of course I jumped at the change. Great dudes, great band

CM: I hear a lot of different influences in your music from punk to pop to surf. Who are some of your musical influences?

VS: See I have different influences for different reasons especially when it comes to music but just to name a few, Richie Valens-Buddy Holly-the Ventures-The Beach Boys-the Beatles-Ramones- Motorhead- Johnny Cash- Tom Petty

CM: Now besides playing guitar, you also play bass and drums as well. How long have you been playing music?

VS: Yeah well ill be 31 this year so as early as I can remember probably like 23 , 25 years. I started playing drums when I first heard the Beatles I was 6 and had built a make-shift drum kit out of a drum pad and a set of bongos I had, used my moms cookie tin as the snare and started playing along to Beatles tapes. Then I got a guitar when I was about 10 never really did anything with it until I was around 13. I was more pulled towards drums... ha I still am for that matter And ya know Bass came along few years down the line when I really started to understand song structure, melody and guitar.

CM: Until recently most of your albums were only available for digital download. Do you feel that the trend of buying physical CD's is behind us and digital is the way to go? Or will you continue to press CD's and vinyl with upcoming releases?

VS: Well yes and no cause I mean we all have ipods and shit like that so digital is good in the sense that its easy to download and carry with you but then its bad cause know ones buying records, I buy records, all my friends buy records but that's a small percentage of the world. We will always release physical albums especially vinyl.

CM: Speaking of upcoming releases, Are there any plans for a new Scutches full length in the works?

VS: I'm always writing songs so maybe, there are alot of factors to way in with recording and releasing full records so yes but not any time soon right now we are focused on touring, we are pretty much touring into 2016

CM: Will we be seeing you guys on the road later on in the year?

VS: For sure we are talking about doing a big U.S. thing early 2015 and some cool surprises already lined up for this year.. So we are pretty excited.

CM: Is there a website you wanna plug where fans can get up to date news on upcoming releases, tour dates and merch?

VS: Yeah you can get all our music at thescutches.bandcamp.com and any news from the band you can view on facebook.com/thescutches also #thescutches @thescutches

CM: Thanks again for taking the time to talk with Critical Mass, Vinny. I greatly appreciate the time. And I wanna wish you and the guys the very best in the future! Thanks again man.

VS: Thank you Brotha! keep ROCKIN'!