We have moved! Our blog is now at www.paper-deer.com.
The Scare is one of those deliciously dirty, sleaze rock bands that you're too afraid to watch in case they spit on you and pass on venereal diseases, but too enticing to look away. Fronted by the lascivious and ever-gyrating vocalist Kiss Reid, they soon found their way onto festival bills with their catchy lyrics and swanky guitar lines. And with their infamous rockstar lifestyle and devil-may-care attitudes, it's quite surprising that the band managed to make it this far intact.
But not for much longer - The Scare are going on one final farewell tour before they pack up their gear and go their separate ways. And if this journalist knows her stuff, this is a band that doesn't do things quietly so it'll probably be quite a riotious show. I will always have fond memories of having my feet squashed, and seeing Kiss Reid drunkenly grabbing my friend Ashy (of Premodernists) and pretty much shoving the microphone in his mouth while singing at The Northcote Social Club (or wherever it was).
Here's the transcript of a chat I had with The Scare's lovely bassist Wade sometime last year.
The Scare has an awesome logo, but there seem to be a few copycat logos. Does that piss you off?
I think there’s a compliment in there somewhere. Like when we say ‘our logo’, it’s like fuck, we have a band logo? Isn’t that weird? A band logo? What does that even mean? We just kinda laugh, because we could probably sue someone but that sounds like too much crap.
You've played at some impressive festivals, like Reading/Leeds Festivals, Download and Wireless, and you're about to do Homebake and Falls. Do you prefer festivals to headlining gigs?
At festivals you get to play to audiences that weren’t going to see you, which always helps out. We don’t really pull crowds but we impress the shit out of festival audiences, or we try to at least. I don’t really like the outdoor type of thing but tents are good. We had one at Homebake a few years ago but it was one of our worst shows ever.
What happened?
Well, Kiss knocked himself out before the first song, and got kicked out because he was too fucked up. Second year at Homebake he knocked himself out again and when he came to he had a concussion and just sat in the crowd. And we were trying to call him out, so I had to sing the songs. Complete disaster because they didn’t want to give us our riders until 30 minutes before our set after what happened the first year. And then Brock also got arrested for having weed in his bag....
But despite all this you still want to play at Homebake again?
I can’t wait to get back there! It’s all in a good show, and [our past Homebake shows] have been pretty shocking but now we’re at our peak and it’ll be around the end of our album tour. Hopefully we’ll be firing on all cylinders and it’s a great line up.
So besides Brock getting arrested for weed, did you have any other rockstar stories from touring?
I had a really awful night once. I spent the night in jail for fighting with a kid, smashing his teeth out with a bottle because he was harassing some girls. Then I got a brick on my head and spent the night in hospital. Then the police beat the shit out of me and made me piss myself.
Huh?
They had me in a cell and I needed to go to the toilet and they wouldn’t let me, and I said I’d piss on the walls if they didn’t let me out and they said that if I did they would charge me with peeing on police property, so I had to piss in my jeans. And we were supposed to be playing in Byron Bay that day and the rest of the band didn’t know where I was so I had to hitchhike.
How did Kiss get the name Kiss?
Bestowed to him upon the gods! [Laughs] When I first met him, I thought his name was Lucas – and I’m not going to tell you what his real name is – and I thought I couldn’t call him ‘Kiss’. It’s like, “I’m playing in a band with a guy named ‘KISS’?!?!” Kissy man is my boy, my best friend in the whole world.
So you joined the band once they were established. What was that like?
It was like I got on at the top of a roller coaster. They all climbed up by themselves, and were like “Hey do you want to come to England? Do you want a free ticket? We’re getting advances from the label and all this publicity?” I was like, “Okay... I’ll just have to check my diary.” [Laughs] I was in another band but I quit.
And then you went over to England with them. What do you think about the English music climate?
We personally feel better when we’re there, but that’s because we can tour a whole lot more. We once did 45 shows in 46 days. We prefer that.
And the English music scene is better?
Mmm, same as everywhere in the world. Same looking kids. Same looking seedy venues. Same arseholey sound guys wherever you go. Except for Japan.
I hear that three of you are hosting Video His next month. What was that like?
That was a funny interview. It’s supposed to look like it’s filmed at the end of November. The press liaison usually tells us when it’s for, but they didn’t and they asked us about the album tour and stuff, and we were like, “What are you talking about?” Kind of got stumped, it’ll look a bit weird.
Will you be watching it?
I don’t really watch Video Hits and I’m not going to watch it when we do it, but it’s something we can tell mums. “Hey Mum! Maybe we’ll make it, we’re on the TV.” Or you can tell your girlfriend’s mum so they don’t think you’re a scum bag.
But would Video Hits normally play The Scare?
They have been playing Could Be Bad, which is really awesome. A friend of ours made a kick arse video, and the song is so simple.
You've worked with Daniel Johns, and you're touring with Jet later this year. Do you still get starstruck when you meet iconic Australian musicians?
Not really. I’ve only been star struck once and that was when we played with a band that had the bass player Martyn Casey from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. At the point I had quit drinking and spent eight months completely sober and clean. Then I met him at the bar and he asked if I wanted a drink, and I was like “Hell, yeah!” He bought me a red wine and we chilled out, it was really awesome.
DATES:
- July 9: Sussex Inlet Tavern, Sussex Inlet NSW
- July 10:Colonial Hotel, Melbourne VIC
- July 16: Night Eats Day, Wollongong NSW
- July 17: Annandale Hotel, Sydney NSW
No comments:
Post a Comment