Ottawa party-animals Scissorkick unleashed a 6-track album, titled I Thought I Told You to Fuck Off, on November 24th through Soundcloud. After interviewing lead singer Anders Drerup, it is clear that these guys are as wacky as their sound is huge.
I Thought I Told You to Fuck Off provides a fuzzy distortion return to the bass that I’ve not heard in such a long time. Some of the tracks were recorded by studio master Ken Friesen, known for producing bands such as Juno award winners Monkey Junk, The Tragically Hip and Great Big Sea – making Ken no stranger to providing a big sound for a local band.
If you’re tired of the same old rock and roll, Scissorkick’s new rocking machine is exactly what you need to get your hands on. Silly musicians with a love for old school rock and roll – the perfect combination.
Read my Q&A with the band below and stream the album on their official website.
[question]Where did the band name come from?[/question]
[answer]
We came up with the name during an all night three way Mortal Kombat tournament. As I recall, there was some debate as to the usefulness of Liu Kang in the MK Multiverse, what with being a mere mortal and all.
Liu Kang then scissor-kicked Raiden in the face and it was pretty much settled.
We’re also all big fans of the wrestler Booker T, whose signature move is the scissor-kick, so it really seemed to fit for all of us. Still trying to get Booker T to follow us on Twitter!
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[question]When did you guys form the band?[/question]
[answer]Somewhere around fall 2012, we would just get together and jam super loud in our friend Richard’s basement, nothing formal.[/answer]
[question]Tell me about the new album you put out recently. Where’d you record? How was the process?[/question]
[answer]
Our debut release, I Thought I Told You to Fuck Off, was a total blast to make. Since we’re all professional musicians and working on multiple projects at any given time we decided not to put any constraints on ourselves for a release date, just make the best record we could with the time and money we could scrape together.
We recorded a couple of tracks with Ken Freisen at Signal Path Studios in Almonte, Ontario. He’s the man. A smokin’ Neve 8014 console and rooms upon rooms full of goodies, not to mention his gargantuan talent and a passion for rock music, he’s even credited as playing the Roland Space Echo on a number of tracks.
The rest of the songs were recorded at Farm Point Studios in Chelsea, Quebec, with Ross Murray and Marty Jones. Anyone who recognizes those names will know that they were and continue to be the driving force behind a number of great Canadian projects.
They’re an engineering dream team for sure. Marty and I mixed the record at my home studio in Ottawa. Way fun but my neighbours loathe me. The walls are thin and playback’s a bitch.
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[question]What are your influences? What drew you to play your respective instruments?[/question]
[answer]
We’re all just fans of great music in general so the influences come from all over. We’ve all been into heavier stuff lately though: Mastodon, Cancer Bats, Soundgarden, Muse, Tool etc. My girlfriend’s Dad just turned me on to a bunch of cool stuff. One of Danny Carey’s early bands, Pygmy Love Circus, totally badass.
As for instruments, Shane would probably tell you he started playing drums because his dad is an awesome drummer. Mark is obviously playing bass because he gets some kind of sick pleasure from making his friends help him lug his 8X10 up stairs, that’s my guess. I was always an egocentric douche even before I played music so lead guitar/vocalist seemed to be the right choice for me.
We’re all doing our part to perpetuate our respective stereotypes.
[/answer]
[question]If you had the chance to play a show with a specific band, who would you choose?[/question]
[answer]Big Wreck, hands down.[/answer]
[question]What’s the one thing you can’t stand about music in general in 2014?[/question]
[answer]The stuff that passes as country music, it’s bad. [/answer]
[question]How about the best thing about music in 2014?[/question]
[answer]The new Truck Fighters album, they’re these three young dudes from Scandinavia who rock so hard. It’s awesome.[/answer]
[question]Are we going to be seeing more of Scissorkick around Ottawa? Do you have any shows coming up?[/question]
[answer]
We’re putting a show together at some stage with our friends at Maverick’s in the New Year. We want nothing more than to play live and we care deeply about putting on a great rock show. Honestly though, its crazy, we’ve put a few shows together in the past that have just demoralized us. Do we need to sacrifice a fucking goat on stage to get people to come out? (P.S., I will totally do that).
We’ve been more focused on getting this recording out recently so things will pick up booking-wise next year. It’ll all be on the website and plastered around social media. I’m serious, two goats, I don’t care.
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[question]Are your live shows like your pictures on your official Facebook? You look like party animals.[/question]
[answer]We have been known to keep a steady flow of hot dogs coming off the stage. Rock is hungry work, gotta keep the energy up. We’ve also had live martial arts demonstrations on with us. Lots of board breaking, so much splintered wood. I was cleaning out my pedal board for days.[/answer]
[question]With the new album out, what can we expect from Scissorkick in 2015?[/question]
[answer]
We’re booking a modest independent tour. Hopefully branching out a bit more this year and touring a bit further a field. We’ve been talking with some great folks in Germany who seem to get it so we’ll see how that pans out.
We’ll definitely keep writing and have a blast doing it, local shows inevitable.
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