Scott Garriott
A few words with Scott Garriott. Scott plays guitar, keyboards and harmonica, and has just released an album called Arrogant Paranoia.

Leicester Bangs: Tell us a little about yourself.
Scott: I was born in Ashland, Oregon, and I'm still sticking around here for the time being. I work two jobs. I deliver pizza for a restaurant called Giseppi's, and I work at a video store called Video Explorer. They're both easy jobs, too easy perhaps, but having easy jobs leave me with the energy that I need to apply to making music and other artistic endeavors. However I do work hard enough to keep me going, and keep me motivated. I love sitting around and being lazy, too - but too much of that don't do nothin' for the soul, nor the creative juices.

LB: How did you start out making music?
Scott: I got into the game pretty late to be honest. Around 19 or 20 I made a few albums that were made entirely of computer sound effects (plus my vocals and some other recorded sounds. At that point I didn't play any instruments). Then when I turned 21 my parents bought me a guitar for my birthday. I started writing songs as soon as I could hack two chords together and I've been doing it ever since. I've written about 350 songs or so in those 6 years. Not that I'm proud of all of them, but I have been doing it. A little while after I got my guitar I made an album called "First Steps" which wasn't that great, but it was my "first steps" into creating music using real instruments.  

LB: Who did you grow up listening to and how do they influence what you’re doing now?
Scott: I'm still growing up and will be until the day I die, but I can list some of the artists that have influenced me, and how they influenced me:

Bob Dylan: The obvious one. I've been a fan of his since I was 15 or 16 and my admiration for him grows stronger as time goes on. People always talk about his lyrics which are obviously great, but for me the influence goes deeper than that. It's the way he combined the words with the melody so that the words had a musical rhythmic quality of their own. I also love his attitude and his honesty in his performances. There's something about a great Dylan song. It never gets old and never grows stale, even if you listen to it 10,000 times.

The Velvet Underground:  For a while I was stuck in a rut of listening to solely Dylan/Beatles/Stones. Then I bought the album "Velvet Underground and Nico" and a whole world opened up. It was like a 60's record with a modern attitude. I couldn't believe the album was real. From there I got into punk, and more modern music. Musically I love the way they combine welcoming earthy melodies with harsh noisy experimentation. Plus Lou Reed was just a great songwriter and they knew how to make a song SOUND compelling.

Rolling Stones: These are and always will be my classic rock band. They write these incredible songs and perform them like they're a bunch of cool dudes jammin' in the basement. Their songs just make me feel real good. Maybe the greatest compliment about my music I ever got was from my friend Tyler Foley who said that my music gives him the same feeling that the Rolling Stones music does.  

Beck: Though I'm almost exclusively a fan of his early stuff, meaning the albums "Mellow Gold" "Steropathetic Soulmanure" and "One Foot in the Grave". Mellow Gold got me even more into nonsensical lyrics, and showed me how fun it can be to mix genres and not take yourself too seriously while still making great music. I love Stereopathetic Soulmanure because it shows how entertaining an album can be based mostly on lo-fi homemade charm. One Foot in the Grave is simply one of my favorite albums ever. I'm a huge fan of traditional folk music and of postmodern lyricism, and the album showed me how beautiful music can be when you marry the two styles. It's something I've been trying to do forever, but I think Beck really nailed it with that album.  

I could go on forever here but I better not take up too much space.  Some more artists that influenced me: The Stooges for their uncompromisingly real rock n roll, Ween for their combination of sarcasm and song-craft, Leonard Cohen for his lyrics and haunting atmosphere, The Ramones for their sense of fun mixed with brilliant songwriting, and etc., etc., etc. I could keep on going forever.  

LB: Tell us about your latest release.
Scott: My latest release is called "Arrogant Paranoia". It was originally going to be an EP, because I have so many other albums I'm working on, I wanted to make it a low-key thing. After a while I decided to just go ahead and make it a full lengther. It has a lot of different styles, though I guess much of it could be considered "folk music", but there's also elements of rock n’ roll, doo wop, electronica, and spaced out stuff. Many of the lyrics are absurd, but some are very much grounded in reality. My friend Jacob Ackerman played bass on five of the tracks and I'm grateful for that because it really helped out those particular tracks.

LB: Do you get out and play your music live, and if so, what can an audience expect at one of your shows?
Scott: I used to go to open mikes and occasionally did shows.  I guess my biggest claim to fame is that I opened for Jeffrey Lewis once in Arcata, CA.  I want to get back into performing live, perhaps with more people backing me more often this time.  

LB: What aspects of playing and recording music do you most enjoy?
Scott: I enjoy all of it, but I really enjoy writing and recording stuff on my own and the creation of an album. Everything from creating the songs themselves to the arranging of the tracks to the creation of the artwork packaging, to the release of it (even if it's just giving a few copies away to friends and family) is one of the things I live for.

LB: Where can people find (and buy) your music?
Scott: You can buy my latest album on CD baby: www.cdbaby.com/cd/scottgarriott3.  

You can hear songs from that album as well as other songs I've done at my MySpace page:
www.myspace.com/scottiescrazymusictimewow

SCOTT GARRIOTT LIVE