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BACK
 SCAR
CULTURE – Scrapes into Scars
By Adrian ‘The Energizer’ Bromley
NET-only
Unlike a lot of new bands out there who will strive to make a statement
with their eccentric style or melodic tendencies, New York act Scar
Culture’s impact on the music scene will be with their brutal
intensity found on their Century Media debut Inscribe. Tight, harsh
and full of momentum, Scar Culture hits you hard and with little
remorse.
"When it comes to the music of Scar Culture and what we create,
we have never really catered to anyone except for ourselves musically,"
starts vocalist Pheroze Karai about the music on the new disc. "There
are a lot of things that go on within a band when it comes to songwriting
and we just know when a song is right for the band and it deserves
to be part of our live set or on an album.
"A lot of the material here was just re-recorded from our indie
demo when we were called Scrape (the band changed their name due
the Florida act Skrape’s use of the name). We went into the
studio with some new ideas, but a lot of it was made up of that
material. What really set the old stuff apart from the new stuff
was the production of the album [S.O.D. frontman Billy Milano produced
it]. The overall staff and facilities [Blue Meenie studios in Hoboken,
New Jersey] that we used on this record just made it so strong.
They really did an amazing job with the record."
He adds, "All of the hard work gave this record some edge to
it, something that was lacking on the indie release.
"We are 100% behind every song on this record and the way things
turned out" states Karai. "I think we did the best that
we could have done. Production-wise this is such a strong record,
probably the strongest record we could assemble at this point in
time. The song "Reform Reason" is the newest song that
we have written, and if you listen to that song, that basically
sums up what we are all about right now and the direction that Scar
Culture is headed."
With the jump from indie band to the roster of Century Media, does
Karai and the rest of the band -- guitarist John Conley, bassist
Frank Cannino and drummer Duke Borisov -- see any difference in
how things are running nowadays?
"The biggest thing about being on a major label like Century
Media is that I don’t have to do as much," the singer
chuckles. "Before, we would have to contact all the radio people
and do press and promotion [ourselves]. We still have to do press
for the band, but it is not such as heavy a load as it was before.
That is a benefit of being on a label. People take care of that
and let us go out and tour and make records. Apart from that, people
really take notice when you say you are a Century Media band. Of
course, that is one of the reasons why we were trying to get signed.
Century Media has been a blessing for us and things are already
starting to happen. I’m excited.
"I can’t wait to take this album on the road and play,"
says Karai about touring, "But if we see things are not working
out, we’ll just come off the road and work on the next release.
But we are confident people will be into us and that we’ll
gain a legion of fans as we cross the country touring. People are
going to discover Scar Culture and that feels good knowing that."
He continues, "We’ll push the album as much as we can
and then we’ll come off the road and take it from there. We
are excited to see where this album takes us."
Are you nervous?
"I know we have a great album and Century Media has been great
promoting our band," Karai responds. "We have a lot of
support and that keeps me feeling strong, but I am a little nervous
about this. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. I’m
nervously excited.
"Regardless of all things going around us, the strength of
the material and the passion that we all have keeps Scar Culture
going. It really helps fuel the fire within the band. We all get
along really well and love what we do. This is a big deal for us
and we are going to do everything we can to keep it in check."
On the topic of their long-term goals, he comments, "We have
been together for four years now and have had some ups and downs,
but we have gotten through it all. We just want to succeed and do
something big with this band. Getting on Century Media was a big
step for us, but we still have other goals. I’m confident we’ll
do well and we’ll adapt to all of the circumstances that we
face. We just primarily want to make sure that being in Scar Culture
never becomes too much of a job and becomes too routine or mundane.
We just need to stay inspired and be happy with the band."
Like a lot of bands found on the Century Media roster, Scar Culture
are one of those crossover bands that can play shows and tour with
almost any kind of act. The brutal hardcore drive and death-metal
like edge to their music allows them to play with any band, any
time. Karai is happy about that.
"That is something that we have always been proud about. We
have never really had to force that from us, it just comes naturally
from our songwriting. We don’t pick genres to play. We all
have different ideas and preferences when it comes to music and
it all just comes out from us when we go into create music."
He ends, "We all bring many ideas to the plate and just thrust
them together and see what happens. Having that kind of mixture
has allowed us to play lots of different types of shows. We aren’t
picky. We’ll gladly play with any band, any style."
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