Scott Stevens is the songwriter and frontman for The Exies. There's something pure about the way the LA-based multi-instrumentalist talks music, showing a deep passion for what he does. The fame and attention that comes with being a big rock star hasn't fazed him, luckily, to that point where one becomes just another jaded asshole. He makes the music that he wants to make and doesn't chase any passing trends or fads. Having toured with Evanescence, The Used, 30 Seconds to Mars and Motley Crue, Scott has released four albums with The Exies, which - if I may say so myself - all have pretty cool names. There was 2000's The Exies, 2003's Inertia, 2004's Head for the Door, and 2007's A Modern Way of Living with the Truth, an album described by the band as a "yin-yang synthesis of beauty and destruction." SuicideGirls caught up with Scott on his way to the recording studio to chat about the rigors of touring, the genius of Bob Dylan, and gunplay.
Garrett Faber: How've you been?
Scott Stevens: I've been writing all the time ... I have a ritual, where I wake up, have my coffee [and] for the first three hours I do nothing but write. Then I start my day.
GF: What did you do today?
SS: I lost and found my cat, I started working on some parts for this girl that I'm writing with and hopefully gonna produce soon. I'm heading to the studio now and I'll be there in about five minutes.
GF: How many instruments can you play?
SS: Maybe ten? I can't play drums though, I can play bass and guitar. I can sing and play trombone, trumpet... stuff like that. Piano.
GF: Do you like "Metalocalypse" on Adult Swim? Do you feel like a rock star, per se?
SS: Do I like "Metalocalypse"? Yes. Do I feel like a rock star? I don't know. I think some people perceive me as a rock star and some people perceive me as I am. Not really my choice to label myself a rock star.
GF: Have you ever trashed a hotel room or any crazy adventures like that?
SS:There's been some adventures, [but] no hotel room trashings or anything like that. We've seen our fair share of debauchery and gunplay.
GF: Gunplay? What happened, were you shooting at somebody or was somebody shooting at you? Thats gnarly dude.
SS: This dude was going to try and shoot everybody at a gig. Luckily the police got him, he had a fully loaded, semi-automatic machine gun. That was quite a scare but you can't help it. Not one round was fired though, so it's all good.
GF: Dude, that's fuckin' intense! How did they catch him?
SS: Somebody called the cops as soon as he started to load the gun, so they just showed up. He dropped it, got to his knees and they arrested him.
GF: What music are you listening to nowadays?
SS: I don't really listen to too much music. I get all my inspiration from television, movies and conversations, things that are happening to me. I listened to some of the new Raconteurs...
GF: What about Bob Dylan? Did you see I'm Not There?
SS: I did. I love Dylan. I'm not a huge fan of the record that everybody likes, the latest one he put out. It sounds like a bunch of blues standards to me. He's always a genius lyrically; that's what he is, he's one of the greatest lyricists ever. He's a legend in that way. I like Don't Look Back too, when he was really young, that's great.
GF: What's your favorite part?
SS: He has an interview that's really strange, some of the things he says are just odd. Talking about a light bulb that was given to him by a special friend, which is kind of creepy and vague. There's some cool parts where him and Joan Baez are in a hotel room and he's just typing away and she's like, "How the hell do you come up with this shit?" There's some cool things where a guy comes in and asks Bob if he's heard of Donovan, and Bob's like, "No" and the guy goes, "Well, he's better than you." Bob goes, "Oh, I hate him already." Donovan's got his own success and all that, but the guy was talking to Bob Dylan, who's gonna be around for another 40 years, still popular, about Donovan, who kind of fizzled out. [Laughs]
GF: When you write a song, do you worry about how people are going to perceive it, how it's going to sell?
SS: No dude, I just write music how I hear music. I make the music I want to make and I don't think about trying to please anybody, ever. I try to write and it feels like it's part of me, if people like it, great, and if they don't, I don't care.
GF: Awesome! Do you remember when your song "My Goddess" was in "Fastlane"? It was a show on Fox that had Bill Bellamy and Kelly from "Saved By The Bell". They were like rogue cops and shit. There was a part when this one cop was having a car chase with this broad and "My Goddess" is like rockin' out and the chick crashes her car and blows up... it was pretty cool.
SS: I remember hearing about that show, but I never saw it.
GF: Do you have any acting skills?
SS: Nope.
GF: None at all?
SS: I don't think so. [Laughs] I'd act like I was sick to get out of school. [Laughs]
GF: Did you like Across The Universe? I know you're a Beatles fan.
SS: I thought it was really good, long-winded though. I had the same problem with Dreamgirls. I love the Beatles, some of the renditions just had me like, whatever. Too long of a movie, I didn't even see the end. A lot of the stuff was groundbreaking, amazing choreography.
GF: What was the last adventure that you went on?
SS: Last year on the road was one big adventure. Ten months of touring.
GF: How do you handle that? Does it get to the point where it's like a long workday?
SS: It's great to be on tour, but it does get tiring and you do get worn out. Your body goes through a lot of changes; I bet it's a lot like conditioning yourself for an acting role. When you come home, your body is so used to that lifestyle. After ten months, everything is different: eating habits are different, the way you feel is different, the way you crap is different. You have to readjust and take your time, it's probably the hardest thing. It can be pretty brutal on you, especially when you play a lot of shows. 200 plus shows in 10 months. It was like three shows, and then a day off, and then three more, then a day off, four in a row, sometimes six in a row, then a day off.
GF: How do you prepare for that?
SS: You can't party that much, you've got to sleep.
GF: What was the gnarliest show you've ever played? Did anyone ever crowd surf a couch and have you like, "What the fuck was that? A couch?"
SS: Nothing like that, but there was this show in Dallas that got pretty crazy. There were five cops on stage with us just trying to keep the kids off the stage, throughout the course of the night we probably had about 60 people onstage with us.
GF: Are you guys gonna make a live DVD anytime soon?
SS: I don't think so, I don't know. We have a lot of footage though, so we'll see.
GF: Do you put shit on YouTube?
SS: I don't do anything personally like that. There's some Exies stuff up though, but I don't do anything personally myself.
GF: How do you name your albums?
SS: Inertia came from a family member's room. He was like the dude from Little Miss Sunshine, the father who was the eternal optimist, that guy. He had all these plaques that said things like "Confidence", "Strength" and "Opportunity" things like that. One of them said "Inertia" and I thought it was cool, so I wrote a song called "Inertia". When the song was done, we liked that it was about launching something into perpetual motion. Head for the Door was from my guitar player David who was a real spiritual guy... basically "head for the door" was clearing your mindset for a doorway to a more peaceful existence through meditation and self-realization. Set your mind for the door, get it? Head for the door.
GF: Do you meditate?
SS: No, but I do listen to the stillness quite often. I pay attention and know that it's there.
GF: Have you ever done acid?
SS:Yeah.
GF: Did you feel like you were getting in touch with some spiritual thing when you did it?
SS: Nope. [Laughs] None of those kinds of realizations on acid. Either it was a good or bad trip. I've had some amazing times on mushrooms and Joshua Tree, that was awesome. They taste like cardboard but they're good when they start kicking in.
GF: How do you feel about the upcoming election?
SS: I pay a little bit of attention to it, I'm a bit undecided. I'm a democrat, though. I'll probably vote for Barrack Obama.
GF: Do you think he'll win?
SS: I don't know man, it's anybody's game. I don't think another republican in the White House is the answer. They out number us... at least their dollars do.
GF: Would you ever run for president?
SS: Not me, that'd be Chris our guitar player. I'm just gonna slowly withdraw from society as time goes on.
GF: Go live in the mountains like Spider Jerusalem?
SS: Yes, Into The Wild, go live in a broken down bus.
The Exies hit the road May 10th for the inaugural "The Most Wanted Tour" alongside bands Nonpoint, Under the Flood and Deepfield. For more information go to The Exies' official site.
Garrett Faber: How've you been?
Scott Stevens: I've been writing all the time ... I have a ritual, where I wake up, have my coffee [and] for the first three hours I do nothing but write. Then I start my day.
GF: What did you do today?
SS: I lost and found my cat, I started working on some parts for this girl that I'm writing with and hopefully gonna produce soon. I'm heading to the studio now and I'll be there in about five minutes.
GF: How many instruments can you play?
SS: Maybe ten? I can't play drums though, I can play bass and guitar. I can sing and play trombone, trumpet... stuff like that. Piano.
GF: Do you like "Metalocalypse" on Adult Swim? Do you feel like a rock star, per se?
SS: Do I like "Metalocalypse"? Yes. Do I feel like a rock star? I don't know. I think some people perceive me as a rock star and some people perceive me as I am. Not really my choice to label myself a rock star.
GF: Have you ever trashed a hotel room or any crazy adventures like that?
SS:There's been some adventures, [but] no hotel room trashings or anything like that. We've seen our fair share of debauchery and gunplay.
GF: Gunplay? What happened, were you shooting at somebody or was somebody shooting at you? Thats gnarly dude.
SS: This dude was going to try and shoot everybody at a gig. Luckily the police got him, he had a fully loaded, semi-automatic machine gun. That was quite a scare but you can't help it. Not one round was fired though, so it's all good.
GF: Dude, that's fuckin' intense! How did they catch him?
SS: Somebody called the cops as soon as he started to load the gun, so they just showed up. He dropped it, got to his knees and they arrested him.
GF: What music are you listening to nowadays?
SS: I don't really listen to too much music. I get all my inspiration from television, movies and conversations, things that are happening to me. I listened to some of the new Raconteurs...
GF: What about Bob Dylan? Did you see I'm Not There?
SS: I did. I love Dylan. I'm not a huge fan of the record that everybody likes, the latest one he put out. It sounds like a bunch of blues standards to me. He's always a genius lyrically; that's what he is, he's one of the greatest lyricists ever. He's a legend in that way. I like Don't Look Back too, when he was really young, that's great.
GF: What's your favorite part?
SS: He has an interview that's really strange, some of the things he says are just odd. Talking about a light bulb that was given to him by a special friend, which is kind of creepy and vague. There's some cool parts where him and Joan Baez are in a hotel room and he's just typing away and she's like, "How the hell do you come up with this shit?" There's some cool things where a guy comes in and asks Bob if he's heard of Donovan, and Bob's like, "No" and the guy goes, "Well, he's better than you." Bob goes, "Oh, I hate him already." Donovan's got his own success and all that, but the guy was talking to Bob Dylan, who's gonna be around for another 40 years, still popular, about Donovan, who kind of fizzled out. [Laughs]
GF: When you write a song, do you worry about how people are going to perceive it, how it's going to sell?
SS: No dude, I just write music how I hear music. I make the music I want to make and I don't think about trying to please anybody, ever. I try to write and it feels like it's part of me, if people like it, great, and if they don't, I don't care.
GF: Awesome! Do you remember when your song "My Goddess" was in "Fastlane"? It was a show on Fox that had Bill Bellamy and Kelly from "Saved By The Bell". They were like rogue cops and shit. There was a part when this one cop was having a car chase with this broad and "My Goddess" is like rockin' out and the chick crashes her car and blows up... it was pretty cool.
SS: I remember hearing about that show, but I never saw it.
GF: Do you have any acting skills?
SS: Nope.
GF: None at all?
SS: I don't think so. [Laughs] I'd act like I was sick to get out of school. [Laughs]
GF: Did you like Across The Universe? I know you're a Beatles fan.
SS: I thought it was really good, long-winded though. I had the same problem with Dreamgirls. I love the Beatles, some of the renditions just had me like, whatever. Too long of a movie, I didn't even see the end. A lot of the stuff was groundbreaking, amazing choreography.
GF: What was the last adventure that you went on?
SS: Last year on the road was one big adventure. Ten months of touring.
GF: How do you handle that? Does it get to the point where it's like a long workday?
SS: It's great to be on tour, but it does get tiring and you do get worn out. Your body goes through a lot of changes; I bet it's a lot like conditioning yourself for an acting role. When you come home, your body is so used to that lifestyle. After ten months, everything is different: eating habits are different, the way you feel is different, the way you crap is different. You have to readjust and take your time, it's probably the hardest thing. It can be pretty brutal on you, especially when you play a lot of shows. 200 plus shows in 10 months. It was like three shows, and then a day off, and then three more, then a day off, four in a row, sometimes six in a row, then a day off.
GF: How do you prepare for that?
SS: You can't party that much, you've got to sleep.
GF: What was the gnarliest show you've ever played? Did anyone ever crowd surf a couch and have you like, "What the fuck was that? A couch?"
SS: Nothing like that, but there was this show in Dallas that got pretty crazy. There were five cops on stage with us just trying to keep the kids off the stage, throughout the course of the night we probably had about 60 people onstage with us.
GF: Are you guys gonna make a live DVD anytime soon?
SS: I don't think so, I don't know. We have a lot of footage though, so we'll see.
GF: Do you put shit on YouTube?
SS: I don't do anything personally like that. There's some Exies stuff up though, but I don't do anything personally myself.
GF: How do you name your albums?
SS: Inertia came from a family member's room. He was like the dude from Little Miss Sunshine, the father who was the eternal optimist, that guy. He had all these plaques that said things like "Confidence", "Strength" and "Opportunity" things like that. One of them said "Inertia" and I thought it was cool, so I wrote a song called "Inertia". When the song was done, we liked that it was about launching something into perpetual motion. Head for the Door was from my guitar player David who was a real spiritual guy... basically "head for the door" was clearing your mindset for a doorway to a more peaceful existence through meditation and self-realization. Set your mind for the door, get it? Head for the door.
GF: Do you meditate?
SS: No, but I do listen to the stillness quite often. I pay attention and know that it's there.
GF: Have you ever done acid?
SS:Yeah.
GF: Did you feel like you were getting in touch with some spiritual thing when you did it?
SS: Nope. [Laughs] None of those kinds of realizations on acid. Either it was a good or bad trip. I've had some amazing times on mushrooms and Joshua Tree, that was awesome. They taste like cardboard but they're good when they start kicking in.
GF: How do you feel about the upcoming election?
SS: I pay a little bit of attention to it, I'm a bit undecided. I'm a democrat, though. I'll probably vote for Barrack Obama.
GF: Do you think he'll win?
SS: I don't know man, it's anybody's game. I don't think another republican in the White House is the answer. They out number us... at least their dollars do.
GF: Would you ever run for president?
SS: Not me, that'd be Chris our guitar player. I'm just gonna slowly withdraw from society as time goes on.
GF: Go live in the mountains like Spider Jerusalem?
SS: Yes, Into The Wild, go live in a broken down bus.
The Exies hit the road May 10th for the inaugural "The Most Wanted Tour" alongside bands Nonpoint, Under the Flood and Deepfield. For more information go to The Exies' official site.
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
kel said:
Semi-automatic machine gun.
right? haha.