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Daniel Anthony Bullock was gentleman enough to answer a few questions.
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Sepiachord: How did you settle on the name, "The Scarring Party?" Does the name refer to a party where you go to intentionally get scarred or to a party that was so bad you ended up traumatized?
Daniel Anthony Bullock: It's just an evocative pairing of words. It's abstract enough for people to mine their own interpretation.
SC: I love the term you have for your sound, "End Timey Music". Who came up with that term?Are you happy with it?
DAB: I don't remember if Isabella or I came up with it, but it was more about being earnestly evasive of some labels that may have been floating around for our sound.
SC: The term "punk cabaret" has been bandied about a bit lately. It's a catchy term but do you think that "punk" is appropriate for what bands like yourself are doing?
DAB: Not really. We're pretty wary of names and labels. They typically do little more than give people a means to misrepresent your work and keep one from reaching out to a new audience. Labels become short hand for lazy journalists to surface-scuffing critique. I think the bands referred to as punk cabaret have little more in common than a musical memory that extends
beyond forty years of guitar driven rock. When someone compares us to the Dresden Dolls, I can only assume it's because we wear the same hats. Musically, they're completely different.
SC: What other short-hand summations do you use when people ask what you sound like?
DAB: It's usually a rundown of instruments- accordion, tuba, banjo,unorthodox percussion. In another month, we'll be adding reeds to the list.
SC: Are you just adding one multi-instrumentalist reed player or is this a whole new section of the band?
DAB: We're adding one multi-instrumentalist reed player. Versatile players can really improve upon the economy of the arrangements. Someone who can maneuver between high and low end can play where needed. When writing and arranging, we don't want to feel compelled to put in superfluous parts. Songs should be lean.
SC: What sort of bands did all you play in before founding The Scarring Party?
DAB: Mr. Greiner was in the Tossers for awhile. The rest of us hadn't really been in bands.
SC: Who are your main influences?
DAB: Lately, we've been on a Lord Invader kick. Waller, Noel Coward, Son House, Violent Femmes, the Fugs, the Bologna Ponies, Screamin' Jay… it's a long list.
SC: Where did you learn about your pre-rock musical influences?
DAB: Blayne and I were both very interested in the Lomax field recordings. I think Guthrie and Leadbelly were starting points, and eventually it led us to folk blues and early jazz. You follow an artist like Billy Bragg or Waits and you listen to what influenced them and so on, until you hit a dead end.
SC: You're young folks, how did you end up making music that sounds like it came from a dischronic victrola instead of playing eye-liner MTV "punk" like so many of your contemporaries?
DAB: Our Panic! At the Disco covers always sounded kind of forced.
SC: Your lyrical content is much darker than the work of say, Fats Waller. Is writing lyrics a group effort or is there just one of you responsible for this affront on American Sanity?
DAB: Coincidentally, Waller's "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter" is the flipside to Leonard Cohen's "Famous Blue Raincoat".
I write the lyrics. Mr. Burzelic looks them over and offers suggestions. The sarcasm and imagery is seldom subtle, but the unsettling images often keep me preoccupied.
SC: Did you grow up in Milwaukee or other places in America's Dairyland? Do you think growing up in the midwest affected your sound?
DAB: Most of us are from Milwaukee. All of us are from the Midwest. There's a feeling of space, long stretches of fields, hills and trees. Some people find a lack of confines remarkably confining. Everyone feels miles apart from one another.
SC: What are your favorite things about the city of beer? Any special places that visitors should hit if they're trapped there for a few days?
DAB: My favorite place in Milwaukee is the Calatrava (Milwaukee Art Museum). Stepping in the building is like standing in a living piece of architecture. If you come to catch a show, the Pabst Theater is the second oldest theater in the country, and probably my favorite venue ever.
SC: Milwaukee has a few other solid bands right now, like IfIhAdaHiFi. Do you see a good future for your scene or will great musicians continue to bleed of to Chicago and the big coastal cities?
DAB: Sadly, the most promising bands in Milwaukee have a nasty habit of breaking up before breaking out. I haven't been a part of it for very long. With all of the help we've gotten from other artists and supporters there's a conscious push being made to build a community
that nurtures promising bands. I'm very optimistic.
SC: What other head-gear, aside from the bowler, do you find fitting for a man to wear in these troubled times?
DAB: The bowler is a favorite, but we're not immune to the modest statement of a tricorn hat. It might be difficult to acquire a hat that compliments the tiresome t-shirt and drab denim wardrobe that's become so ubiquitous. Straw boaters are suitable, but only between Memorial and Labor day. Pith helmets aren't objectionable, but most people bear a tasteful aversion to the khaki that best compliments them. A powdered peruke may be the head-gear that we'd most like to see catch on, but it might be another decade before they're fashionable again.
SC: Do your fans get gussied up when they go to see you? How happy would you be if you did a show and no one was wearing jeans and t-shirt?
DAB: Certainly some of them dress quite well. I'd hate for what we're doing to be reduced to a look or form of dress, but when folks arrive at shows in formal evening attire, it transforms the spaces we play.
SC: You've opened for Cake, Southern Culture on the Skids, and the Ditty Bops. Did you actually get to hang out with any of them? Any nifty stories?
DAB: We'd hang out with them on occasion, but usually the evening of a show is all about the show. Nothing particularly interesting happens backstage. Some people might be doing blow or eating cheese and crackers, but for us and the people we play with it's just small talk, jitters and hastily scribbling set lists.
SC: What's the next step in The Scarring Party global domination plan?
DAB: Making a record. Touring. Making Milwaukee proud.
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Genuine thanks to Daniel for his time and trivia!
http://www.scarringparty.com/
http://www.myspace.com/scarringparty
For more information on The Scarring Party check out these sites:
http://www.scarringparty.com/
http://www.myspace.com/scarringparty
And check out the Scarring Party song "Eat Your Young " on the Sepiachord Jukebox
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