Indie Midlands: Growing up surrounded by diverse music, how does your early exposure to artists like Dave Brubeck and The Cure shape your unique sound, and do specific memories inspire your songwriting?
Scrimshaw Porn: With having grown up listening to Dave Brubeck, amongst many other jazz guys, in my early years, and having my grandfather’s 1892 Rosewood Steinway grand sitting in my living room -well the math is clear. I could barely reach the pedals as a five year old and started mimicking Take Five and many others when I could. My dad, who has a brain for each hand, is an incredible ear player and has always been a huge inspiration to me. We have played together, four hands on that piano since then and still do. I’m hopeful that I can get him into the studio this year and gift him a beautiful recording of just him on the piano. No reason to muddy it up!
In early high school, when I really started listening to my own music, as opposed to the 8 tracks or reels my parents had, the whole British new wave thing was in full bloom. The Cure was always at the top of my list in this genre. Robert Smith is bomb – incredible songs, lyrics, singing, musicianship and just a killer presence. I’ve seen them many times. That era also was when digital appeared en masse and most of those British bands began infusing synth and sample elements into their songs and I fell in love again.
My songs tend to use real world sound samples to flavor the song, set the mood and help tell a story. Most of my songs are simply my own life stories. ‘1987’, for example, is set in Burlington, Vermont when I was in college. I didn’t have a car so I’d skate down the hill in my high tops to go to work, hit bars, listen to live music and eat 2am gravy fries from Nectar’s. Other lines and the chorus of that song are about self-sabotage and being in love with a girl at that time and simultaneously being in love with my band, which I was, and the time commitment struggle between the two. Youth! I nearly always hide references to my favorite artists in my songs.
Indie Midlands: Your preference for playing and writing by ear is distinctive. How does this intuitive approach impact your creative process, and do you believe it brings a unique flavor to your compositions?
Scrimshaw Porn: I understand musical notation on a very rudimentary level only. Playing by ear is not so much a preference, but just what I have always done. Without training and written music, I never really had a choice and improvising over something I’ve just laid down is the basis for just about every song I’ve ever written. So, formal methods of creating music just don’t exist in my universe.
I’d like to think that my music is unique as a result but there are many vastly more impressive ear players out there. The process, when it comes together for me in poetry, piano, percussion, meter, structure and mood, however, is the most satisfying thing ever. Whereas I used to micromanage all of the notes on instruments I don’t play, my trend as of late, is to entrust my good friends to play what they feel and keep the good stuff -kind of a Donald Faganesque approach (without the budget!)
Indie Midlands: Having navigated Boston’s music scene and shared stages with notable acts, what insights did you gain from your time with Brave New World and The Arm, and how do these experiences shape your solo musical journey?
Scrimshaw Porn: I wouldn’t trade the many years of playing live with my band for anything. When a group of really tight friends (and musical hacks) come together to create a unique sound and an experience for an audience that resonates, well, it’s vastly better than Christmas as a kid. And I loved me some presents.
In opening for major acts, the ones you really remember and cherish are not just the killer shows with a gyrating audience, but the ones where the headliners treat you well, like musical compatriots, even though you’re relatively unknown. So when you’re the main draw, don’t be a dick and follow suit, right? It doesn’t always go that way. My bandmates are the best friends I’ll ever have.
Indie Midlands: Can you tell us about your release, ‘Edgar Allen’, and the themes it explores?
Scrimshaw Porn: Around the time of this past Halloween, I was starting to re read some Edgar Allan Poe stories for the first time in many years and quickly became convinced that he was song worthy. Initially, ‘Edgar Allan was’ written on my piano as a bass line and the “Edgar Allan” refrain. Super simple.
Theme wise, once the chorus hook got stuck in my head, I fleshed out a narrative that pays homage to the genius of Edgar Allan Poe as a tortured writer, clearly using some of his catch phrases like “nevermore.” I typically get up at ungodly hours, make coffee and retreat to my home recording studio, which is dark and isolated, and this was the case with Edgar. It came together fairly quickly, bolstered by my admiration for this man and his mastery of language, for sure. I imagined him, as a parentless young man, writing by candlelight, probably the earliest American Gothic horror that he somehow mixed with other stories and poems of beauty and longing and forlorn love.
The main pizzicato line felt like ticking time, another center piece of his writing. Once structured and roughed, I booked time at my favorite studio, TRIAD Normandy, in Warren, Rhode Island. My coproducer, Matt Ricci (brilliant!) and I dropped the track and I substituted real piano for MIDI. I sang, overdubbed myself and then had my buddies Neal McCarthy and Trevor Kellum improv guitar accents and sax, respectively. The sax came out particularly kewl, mostly because at the very end of the session, thankfully, we decided to let Trevor reference the extreme Valhalla style reverb live on his sax. He began to play the mood of the patch itself and it really fit the song. Kudos, Trevor! Matt and I have worked together on my last 7 or 8 songs and we definitely speak the same language in the studio. I love flavoring my songs with real world samples. In this case, raven wings & caws, random people chatter, digging and scratching. By sheer coincidence and well after the song was wrapped up, I extended the last sample to find someone yelling “Edgar!” Unintentional but karmically amazing.
As much as I’ll never write like Poe, apparently he held songwriters in high esteem and once said, “There are few cases in which mere popularity should be considered a proper test of merit; but the case of song-writing is, I think, one of the few.” Good shit, Edgar.
Indie Midlands: Your diverse interests range from tennis to sci-fi films. How do these passions contribute to your creativity, and have they influenced any of your musical compositions?
Scrimshaw Porn: I can’t say that playing tennis has really influenced any of my compositions but there are parallels. I’m competitive and the desire to win my matches is strong. Primarily, tennis is a life sport that keeps me in shape. I have been playing with roughly the same group of guys for many years and they are some of my very best friends. Having a competitive spirit translates musically into always trying to better your prior work. It doesn’t always happen, for sure, but over time you spread your wings and try different things and learn from your mistakes. Like tennis or anything you’re passionate about.
I love many kinds of films, not just sci-fi, but I am definitely a science nerd. When a great movie makes you laugh, cry, learn or self-reflect, you become a deeper human and expand your capacity to create. Any medium done well, including film, is absolutely inspirational.
Indie Midlands: Your aspirations include leaving behind a musical legacy and hearing your music in a great movie. Can you pinpoint a specific film scene aligning with ‘Edgar Allen’ and your musical vision?
Scrimshaw Porn: Ha! I think that Edgar might be a touch specific for a film not about him and unfortunately, I missed The Pale Blue Eye! (Please ask me the same question for nearly every other Scrimshaw Porn release…). ‘Edgar Allan’ is a song distinctly about Poe, himself, so unless they remake, those ships might have sailed. It would be an optimal song for another film like The Raven, though. The Pit and the pendulum scene – there you go. It’s clear that the depth of this man and his work will inspire many other films in time, so who knows? I’m open to collaboration and would be thrilled to flavor a great film with Scrimshaw Porn music.