SCARY KIDS, SCARING KIDS
interview by Teen Haze
With a haunting synth lead-in that suggests something out of "Halloween" gone hard, "What’s Up Now?" explodes into throat-searing screams and weighty guitars before easing into melodic vocals that immediately demonstrate Scary Kids, Scaring Kids knew what the fuck they were doing back in 2003 when they DIY’ed their first EP "After Dark." Two years later, with the backing of Immortal Records, they carefully performed their aggro-melodic balancing act with their debut full length "The City Sleeps In Flames."
The Scary Kids are:
Tyson Stevens – Vocals
Chad Crawford – Guitar
Steve Kirby – Guitar
DJ Wilson – Bass
Pouyan Afkary – Synthesizer
Justin Salter - Drums
With just a few months to recover from the 2006 Warped Tour, the Phoenix-based sextet is hitting the road again for a US tour beginning in February. We caught up with them via Hiptop for a round of questions:
What cities are you looking forward to hitting on your upcoming tour? Where are the best parties at?
Well, first and foremost... LA to hang with Chelsea and the girls. Any time we know people in town we are going to have a great party!
Did you ever wind up in some bumfuck town, offend the locals and get chased out? If not, pretend you did and include a dragon in the story.
Kind of... On tour with Mest in February of ‘05 we ended up in some nothing town in Montana on the way to Chicago where Mest had two hotels rooms. It was just turning to evening and their bus was about to leave so they offered their rooms to us to stay in with Nick (their drummer). We all got pretty drunk, had a pool party, threw microwaves and TVs out of hotel windows, you know... the typical rocker party! So police showed up very soon after, luckily no one pressed charges so we high tailed it out of there!
Having six members must make recording tough, but does it make things like forming Fellowships and fighting crime easier?
Without a doubt when we tag team. We love "Fellowship of the Ring" too.
Have you recorded anything new recently?
We are currently writing for our next CD, but we did record a track for "A Santa Cause 2" Christmas CD titled what a "Wonderful World" originally by Louis Armstrong.
Do you ever talk to SmartChild over AIM? That little fucker really gets my goat.
Who’s SmartChild?
A robot. You did some music for "Master's Of Horror" -- are you guys big horror film fans?
FUCK yeah dude, we highly recommend "Evil Bong" with Tommy Chong!
Do you ever wish you could enter people's dreams like Freddy and just fuck their shit right up?
Hmm. Nah.
If one of our readers has only 99 cents to spend on iTunes, which SKSK song is the safest bet for a first time listener?
"Darkest Hour" would be the best received song for n00bs.
The track "The City Sleeps In Flames" on your full-length of the same name seems to be about 9-11 – am I wrong?
Totally wrong bro, it was more about the changes in society happening at the time.
Todd 0: SKSK 1. How does having six different voices in the band effect the song writing process? Is it difficult to accommodate everyone's viewpoints?
YES.
Growing up in Phoenix, AZ gave you relatively easy access to Mexico -- were there any exciting Mexican misadventures?
No. A couple of us have the Mexican blood in us, if we went there we would never return.
If you all get stranded in Lawrence, Kansas, which member would you eat first to stay alive? And who would do the cooking of that unlucky band member?
I think we would all agree on cutting DJ’s leg off and have him cook it for us.... He’s such a culinary artist AND A BITCH.
What bands are kicking ass right now that you wanna shout out?
Copeland’s CD is pretty fresh, as well as the Saosin CD... and of course my (Steve’s) favorite Dragonforce.
Beyond this tour -- what are you guys hoping to accomplish in 2007? More music videos? Warped Tour again?
Yes and yes! We would also like to do a lot of international touring and hopefully get the opportunity to ride a pack of lions.
I need a new job and am looking for suggestions--what would you guys do if you weren't making music?
Probably start our own website called Satan’s Studs!!
Lastly -- and perhaps most importantly -- you're all locked in a maze with a Minotaur, who makes it out alive and who gets their shit ruined by a mythical bull-man?
Well, I can only speak for me [Steve] and Pouyan on this one, but I know we will both make it out no problem thanks to our lives devotion to Final Fantasy. DJ would most likely end up fist fighting the Minotaur.
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