L: Was there a particular artist, group, or song that made you decide music was it for you; what you wanted to do with the rest of your life?
S: Yeah. There was a group when I was 16. Siamese Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins made me fall in love with music in a whole new way. The songs spoke to me; grabbed me. They related to me in that time of my life; that rebellious, angry-at-the world teenage stage of life. Also, Kurt Cobain, as cliché as that sounds. And Jim Morrison. They inspired me to reach higher.
L: When did you find the guitar, or the guitar find you?
S: I never thought I could play guitar. I thought there were too many strings and frets. I thought it was too hard. My brother got a guitar one Christmas and never played it. It was a Takamine Jasmine. It just sat in the attic for a long time. One day I found it in the attic and was like, “Oh, yeah, I remember this guitar.” There was something about it. It was an elusive challenge I wanted to conquer.
L: What was the first song you learned to play?
S: It was Red Hot Chili Peppers’ ‘Under the bridge.’ You know that slow guitar intro (laughs). I started on leads. I played along with Hendrix to learn the blues which I later learned were just scales. I really wanted to move on to electric. My dad would make fun of me saying, “Why do you want to learn electric if you can barely play your acoustic guitar?” I got into Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Stevie ray Vaughn, and Eddie Van Halen. Jimmy Page is definitely the most influential. I would watch the video of the Metro Concert in Chicago of him playing ‘The song remains the same’ over and over, watching his hands and everything that he did.
It wasn’t until later that I got into chords and scales. I started listening to Explosions in the Sky and Sigur Ros. Before then it was all leads. It was the violin influence of a solo violin in an orchestra.
I was in an instrumental rock band, Seraphim, in Houston for six years. We went through at least 30 musicians. There were two of us core members who wrote all the songs.
L: When did you come to Austin?
S: After my life basically fell apart in Houston with the band falling apart, a break up, and the near-death experience of my lung collapsing. I just woke up at 7:00 a.m. and came to Austin. I didn’t even stop at Starbucks.
It was in Austin that I was swallowed up into the songwriting scene. I played violin at a friend’s wedding. She introduced me to all these great songwriters who are now my friends and musical family in Austin. All of them were just sitting at a table there at the reception- Kalu James, Douglas J Boyd, Josh Halverson. All these incredible songwriters. They made me want to write songs. So I began to take all my instrumental music and make songs. I wanted to make music to the best of my ability and give my music a fighting chance to be heard in the world. You have to be competitive.
L: Why did you choose the name Seraph?
S: The band’s name was Seraphim which referred to the angels that made music for God. When I went solo it made sense to change it to Seraph which I learned later also means “the burning one” in Greek.
L: What is your songwriting process?
S: It used to always be the music and then the words, but more and more I write the words and then the music to fit the words. The music has become less complicated; more to serve the words, but it always begins with a certain vibe or feeling.
L: Is there a particular song on this album that best represents you?
S: Yes definitely ‘Hands in the Sky.’ It talks about my near death experience.
“Before you know it, it’s all gone, too late. Give it time if you’ve got some to waste. One day will be your last so don’t wait to say what’s on your mind, because we were born to die.”
L: What is the overall message of this album?
S: To wake up and really live while you’re alive. There is this old Chinese saying: “once a mind is stretched it will never regain its former dimension.” That’s what I want to do.
L: What was it like working with Ben Blank?
S: He and I worked amazingly well together. We became friends through it. His abilities as an engineer astound me. He’s responsible for the audio clarity and quality.
L: What would you do differently with your next album?
S: I want to include more people. This album was all me – every chord, every drumbeat. Next time I want two producers or at least one and more collaboration. I just want more help for a great live feel but with a more extreme electronic soundscape. I also want to do an acoustic album.
For now I just want to push this record hard.
This album is a solid album – two years of my life’s work. I was a music Nazi on it; devoted to making it the best it could be. I just moved out of my house, sold my things, and bought a camper to chase a dream around the world. I want to serve my purpose in the world and spread the message to wake up and live, pull the veil off their eyes, just wake up.
L: Would you say you were one who helped to grow and nurture the musical family in Austin?
S: I definitely think I helped breathe life into it. It was on its last leg. A lot of people were tired, overworked and underpaid. It needed some youth, but I’m definitely standing on the shoulders of giants.
L: Are you always going to come back to Austin or do you think you will plant somewhere else for a while?
S: I want to plant somewhere else for a while. I’ve always wanted to live in New York. I love to travel but I am a homebody at the same time. I do want to eventually start a bar and venue here in Austin.
Let Scott wake you up with his music. From the upbeat dance beat of ‘Dream the World Away,’ the digital bluegrass feel of ‘Hands in the Sky,’ to the spacey yet jazzy instrumental ‘Crossroads,’ the message is there: just wake up.
Find more at:
http://www.myspace.com/seraphofseraphim
http://www.reverbnation.com/seraphofseraphim
