FROM INK&DIGGER, by Justin with Adam:
I&D: First of all, tell the readers who you are.
ADAM: I am Adam Cooley of Scissor Shock, a "progressive noise" band from Columbus, Indiana...
I&D: You've been doing Scissor Shock for over 5 years now.
Are you happy with how things are going with the band?
ADAM: Yeah, things are going okay. I think I'm finally at a point where I'm comfortable making the music I create. The past few releases have been extremely well-recieved, and people seem to be "getting" it... and that's all I really care about.
I&D: What is your goal with Scissor Shock for the next 5 years?
ADAM: To release something on Skin Graft, Web of Mimicry, Tzadik, Ipecac, some label like that.. so I can get enough money to tour for a month or something.. I don't have some delusions where I think I'll get rich off of this shit, but I should be able to make enough money to put everything in my life on hold for a month or so. That'd be nice. And also to buy more stringed instruments.
I&D: I've only heard a few of your releases, but each one sounds completely different yet somehow the same.
Why is this?
ADAM: Well, I've dabbled in almost every genre around, but I don't make a conscious effort before I do a song/album.. I don't go.. "Okay, I did surf already, I'll do this this time.." I like to think I don't belong in any genre rather than belonging in every genre. There has always been elements of no wave and electronic music and jazz and noise in my music, though and I guess I just don't want to keep making the same album again. When I first started the band, all I listened to was Sonic Youth and Brainiac. Now all I listen to is John Fahey and Sun City Girls. My music is just a reflection of that I guess...
I&D: Do you ever get any negative attention for changing genres a lot?
ADAM: It's interesting, I think I actually turn potential fans off because they've heard something in my catalogue that they don't necessarily like, but of course they might LOVE the stuff I'm doing now. I think of it more like, if you're open minded to like one release, you're probably open minded enough to appreciate another release I did. But, yeah, generally, my fans are ... I think they appreciate that I keep changing.
I&D: What instruments are currently being used in Scissor Shock?
ADAM: I play acoustic guitar, ukulele, electric guitar, xylaphone, saxaphone, and I program a lot for Scissor Shock. Booe plays trombone, accordian... we both use lots of homemade percussion... some circuit bent stuff.. I dunno, just whatever.
I&D: Which era of Scissor Shock has been your favorite?
ADAM: Era? Uh, like... I guess, what "sound" do I prefer? The stuff I'm doing now, I guess. I'm working torwards a more some kind of prog-no wave thing, the songs I'm writing now are 10 minutes long with tons of free jazz breakdowns and odd riffing. I don't really like any of my early stuff, I think Scissor Shock actually gets better every year, because ... well, it's not that I'm becoming a better musician, but I think I myself am starting to finally "get" what Scissor Shock is. I think the first few years was experimenting and me trying to figure out why I do what I do, but now I'm finally comfortable being Scissor Shock.
I&D: I saw a video on youtube of you playing live with a ton of people and I saw another video of you playing with only 2 other people.
How does a live show with Scissor Shock usually work?
ADAM: Basically, Scissor Shock is me and Booe right now. I write all the songs and always have, but I always like to have at least one other contributor so I don't get lost in too much self-indulgence. So, live, Booe is always with me. However, I grow very bored with playing live (and I don't play live that often anyway), and I want to make things interesting for me. So, me and Booe know all the songs by heart, but I like to throw in some other chaotic element to make things more interesting. What I've traditionally done is to show people the drum machine parts and have them practice their own parts and then when we play live, I have no idea what they're going to play. I think I'm pretty smart when it comes to finding people's strengths musically, and I tend to exclusively work with interesting people as opposed to only "talented" people. I know tons of "talented" people that I wouldn't ever want to work with because I don't see them ever adding anything unique to my sound. One of the shows you mentioned was a show with 17 people, and I wanted to create a kind of noise orchestra I guess.. Some of the people there knew what to play, some had no idea, but it still worked. I guess I picture myself as a conductor live .. everyone watches me and trusts me.. but I also give them freedom to do what they want. I'd like to eventually play live more, with a real full time drummer and real full time other guitar player (preferably my friend Stu because his guitar playing compliments mine to a T!). But that's the future...
I&D: How did you get hooked up with Crucial Blast?
ADAM: Ah, I'm glad you asked that, as I get asked that all the time. They simply asked me to do something with them one day.. I turned them down at first because I was busy but then I emailed them the next day and said, "Actually, fuck, I'm going to put everything else on the backburner and do this album for you." That album's pretty cool, I actually like it a lot, because it shows many many sides of Scissor Shock. I designed it more as a primer for people who never heard us before. It doesn't sound ANYTHING like what I'm doing now, of course, but at the time it was a pretty great summary. There was a lot of ways I could have fucked that release up, but I think I did the best I could, and I was very nervous about it. I can't thank Crucial enough; they are easy to work with, and they got me a shit-ton of listeners. The only downside is, after having an album on Crucial, about 30 labels emailed me in the next few months and wanted me to do releases... and I don't think anyone got what Scissor Shock was, they were just like, "Oh, Scissor Shock has an album on the Crucial Bliss imprint, so that means instant sales for us!" Which.. haha.. it doesn't mean shit.. I mean, one prolific grindcore label in particular emailed me asking me to do a release through them, I sent them some songs and they said, "Hey, this isn't what I wanted." I actually got a similiar response from antoher label. It's like, these labels saw me as a way for them to sell records so they wanted me to alter my music to fit in THEIR idea of us. Which is totally the opposite of what I want to do. The whole thing, there was like 6 months there that was just ridiculous. It taught me a lot about "underground" record labels; they're really not much different than mainstream record labels. They just want to make money, which is understandable, but I don't want to compromise on any level, and they kind of expect that. Not Crucial Blast/Bliss though -- they completely understood and enjoyed my work. I couldn't ask for a better label to have released something through at that time.
I&D: How do you write your songs?
ADAM: I'm not sure......
I&D: I just heard Robe for the first time the other day. I was surprised as it sounds nothing like Scissor Shock.
What exactly do you do in Robe?
ADAM: I actually get asked an almost identical question by another zine in an interview for Robe!... Um... I'm the guitar player in that band.. Mainly, Robe. is a collaboration between me and my friend Kyle (and Booe when he isn't being lazy), and it's a lot more epic and droney and spacious than Scissor Shock. It's actually the exact opposite of Scissor Shock in almost every way, which I guess is something I really like; no point in being in two identical bands, I guess. Kyle usually constructs songs from guitar stuff I come up with, though there are a couple Robe. songs I've primarily written which are always really really long, quiet, and minimal. Which is similiar to some of the ambient stuff I've done in Scissor Shock, which is actually a lot of people's favorite aspect of Scissor Shock. So, I guess my part in Robe. is an extension of the ambient stuff I've explored in Scissor Shock before. I've done a lot musically and have had tons of projects I've been involved with, but for now I'm comfortable being in these two bands as they both offer me tons of uncompromising freedom. Also, it's nice, because some people hate Robe. but love Scissor Shock and vice-versa. Most people love both though. Which is great. Haha.
I&D: Let's talk about your recent records.
First, I'd like to know if you have anything to say about The Mars Travolta? Like, why the title? Why the songs connecting? Is it a 'concept album'?
ADAM: Ugh. The Mars Travolta was done in a very weird part of my life. Actually, looking back at all my full-lengths, I always have lots of negative feelings towards them. It takes me so long to do them and I spend so much time getting them "right" that my life goes through so many ups and downs and... yeah. That album in particular took a whole year, the longest I've spent on a record. I was very happy when it was finished and even happier when everyone liked it. JKTapes did an excellent job with that release! But, yeah, the title, I just thought it was funny. "Blow Out" is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I like the word Travolta.. the Mars Travolta.. it just sounds cool, right? Some people think it's a fuck-you or a parody of the Mars Volta or it's my favorite of prog; I mean it kinda is, but I basically picked that title because it sounded important. That whole album was especially difficult. I never want to spend a year doing an album again. Jesus. So much shit went on during that time... it just felt like hell making it... It is a great record though.. probably my first or second "great" record. The reason the songs all link together is because every song sounds COMPLETELY different, and I didn't want it to sound like 11 completely different songs in a way.. I wanted it to have some kind of melodic or aesthetic link... so it kinda does.. it's very very glitchy, which I don't... I don't really like the glitch musical genre, because most artists are just ripping off Oval or Nobokazu Takemaru, which I'm proud to say I didn't do. I am very influenced by the glitch culture, the glitch aesthetic, glitch art, and such.. but not so much glitch music... so, that's why it doesn't sound like "glitch" music. I think people become so in love with glitch that they decide to base all their music on that, but only 20% of the album sounds all that glitchy. I just used it as another instrument. It's basically 11 very different songs that all sound like decaying CD's in some way or another. I'm very proud of it. An album I can listen to without cringing. A lot of people liked it... Go read the Blood Ties Webzine review of it, it's a great review... they totally 'got it'.
I&D: How about You're All Slime?
ADAM: "You're All Slime" as the first album I did with Booe. I just wanted to do something very stripped-back and more.. real.. sounding. It was all recorded in the woods with a broken drum machine, a toy keyboard, an acoustic guitar, and trombone. It sounds very, very minimal and quiet. Very dark. I didn't like it very much while recording it but I love it now. I think there's a lot of heart in it. I think it's pretty daring. I think it's challenging even to me. It seems like a record you put on at 3 AM and get lost in. I felt very full of ideas while making it, ideas based around the limitations we were working with.... The title for that record comes from how I was feeling about the world at that particular moment. It was originally called "Dead Fucking Dead"...
I&D: I recently heard Tease the Skeleton, and it blew my mind.
Can you talk about that a bit more?
ADAM: Sure.. That's the best album we've done. It's 31 minutes of progressive no wave with elements of everything else we've done tucked in there. I guess my goal with that album was to make songs that could be performed live. It's not that I want Scissor Shock to be taken seriously, but I feel as though I've made far too many songs that are impossible -- I know that aspect appeals to a lot of people, but I want to move away from that. There's no reason to keep making the same record twice, right? I wanted to make songs that you could sit and play on your guitar.. I mean, they're still fractured and fucked-up, but you could sit there and play 'em. It was very difficult for me to get to a point in my guitar playing where I could make it a prominent part of the mix, but I think I was finally comfortable enough making music. Actually, Matt from Bubblegum Octopus told me he really liked the weird guitar stuff of the early recordings, so that's why I decided to start playing again.... I can safely say the reception is the best we've ever gotten, I haven't heard a single bad thing said about it, which blows my mind. I kind of look at it as a record for people who hate Scissor Shock. I mean, there's actual memorable riffs on it. It's not so much of a sensory overload anymore. I think it's a really good record, there's nothing I'd change about it, and our following releases will definitely have a lot of elements taken from this album; I'm not going to completely reinvent myself yet, because I want to expand on some themes I briefly touched on here. Also, the title is from Booe.. we were watching 'Orgy of the Dead', a great film... and there's a scene where a chick is dancing with a skeleton.. and Booe said, "Yeah... tease that skeleton..." Something no one in the world knows except me is that none of the drums on this album were programmed before hand. I add the drums as the second-to-last I do... individually... every nanosecond of drum is me mixing them in... 'Nitrous the Godhead' took about 9 hours to make, while the last song took only 45 minutes from beginning to end... I was particularly fucked up and hung over from Everclear and felt like shit while recording the last song... but I just wanted to finish it... so I did. I'm very proud. I always try to make my last songs good.
I&D: Can you talk about Booe, who also is in Robe, right?
ADAM: Booe is great. There is absolutely nothing appealing to me in the slightest about making music by myself, because I need someone to tell me no.. I need someone to tell me if I'm wrong. I need someone to confirm that something's brilliant or awful. Unfortunately, Booe is not that person, because he is too much like me! However, that also means he knows exactly what I want when I ask him to. He's also a great artist and he's willing to do anything I ask him to do.. more importantly, we trust each other, which is great. Robe. requires him to play long, slow, mournful trombone passes, but he can be a bit more, uh, free with Scissor Shock.. he's played some absolutely amazing stuff... one of my favorite moments is at the end of the song "(doom)reverb", I told him to play something "Avant-garde" on the trombone and he plays this really weird and hilarious-sounding trombone boogie or something over top of my glitchy mess. It's pretty hilarious. When me and Booe make music, it's like a party.. we'll have movies on and he'll make curry and we'll get messed up and stuff.. I mean, it takes HOURS to do these songs, so yeah.
I&D: What movies inspire you?
ADAM: Cyberpunk films like Pinnochio 964. Arty films like Rampo Noir and Begotten. The works of David Lynch. Obscure 80's horror.
I&D: I read a review for Tease the Skeleton which talks about your guitar playing and noted its strangeness. Can you talk a bit about your guitar playing?
ADAM: Uhhh... I don't think I'm a great guitar player, I just listen to lots of great guitar players. The first rule in making good music is that you have to listen to know what good music it. My favorite guitarists of all time are Seiichi Yamamoto of Boredoms, Zoot Horn Rollo of Beefheart, Richard Bishop of Sun City Girls, Trey Spruance of Secret Chiefs 3, and John Fahey. I never learned to play conventionally, but I later picked up a few conventional things, which I think everyone should do: Do things your own way for a while to develop your own technique and then learn some actual musical theory to improve your technique. I don't know what my technique is. Apparently, I was looking through some scales today, and the double harmonics scale closely resembles the kind of stuff I play. Lots of single notes and tremolo picking and harmonics. Basically, I just try to play sounds that resemble sounds that perk up my ears when I hear other people playing them. I'm not big on effects. Delay pedals are okay, but... I usually hate effects.. I'm not even that big into distortion. I've been using lots of slide and whammy bar lately, but I don't want to abuse it. My riffs combine many different types of extended techniques. My guitar is a navy blue Fender and uses the same strings as Dick Dale. I'd say surf music is the biggest influence to me. Yeah. I don't know what else to say. I think I'm a terrible guitar player, but I was showed a 13-year-old some guitar tricks the other day and he told me I was amazing. I've kind of made my own language. Unfortunately for people who hate guitar, the new Scissor Shock stuff is going to be very very guitar oriented, so watch out. The way I got my sound on Tease the Skeleton was to take 7 or 8 guitar tracks and mix them slightly off-sync with each other; a nanosecond or two.. and change the pitch of each of the tracks a couple of semitones.. it gives a very bright, glassy, full sound which I like a lot and have never heard anything like that before. I'm not a big fan of guitar noise.
I&D: What future plans do you have?
ADAM: Splits with xdugef (with 2 new Scissor Shock songs), Monosodic (with 2 new Scissor Shock songs), Giggle the Ozone (which will have 1 new Scissor Shock original song and 2 cover songs -- one Sun City Girls cover, one Beefheart cover), Bubblegum Octopus (with 3 new Scissor Shock songs), and in the future splits with Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck and Eddie Edwards. Over the summer, we'll hopefully have a couple new EP's recorded, but my main focus right now is writing songs for the new full length for Laser Seizure Records... "Synonym for the Word Decay". It'll be a doozy.
I&D: Who are your main influences?
ADAM: Everyone/everything. I get influences from just about every kind of music, even shit I don't necassarily like. I look for the good in everything. I try not to reference any musician too much, though I guess I feel like kindred spirits with the Sun City Girls in particular. They were always different but always themselves. That appeals to me..
I&D: Do you want to shout out any current bands you like?
ADAM: Of course, my friends Baloo is a Bear, Conspirators, Warmth, Bubblegum Octopus, Kindergarten Hazing Ritual, Mossy Throats, anyone on my "top friends" on myspace!!
I&D: Thanks for your time.
ADAM: No problem...
From MTVHELL.com, by Fred with Adam:
FRED: This first question is kind of a standard thing, but definitely
necessary for all the egrind bands I interview. Tell the readers just who
the fuck you and a little bit about yourself.
ADAM: Hmm.. lemme see... My name is Adam Cooley. I'm from the small town of
Columbus, Indiana and I'm in the band SCISSOR SHOCK. Scissor Shock is an
interesting little project I started a few days after Christmas of 2002
which is when I got a really cheap $100 K-Mart guitar and amp. It made a
ridiculously bizarre Sonic Youth-ish sound because of all the cheap
electronics which had been used to create it. I'd been in many bands over
the years (Stagedive Suicide which was techno/grind; RUINHORSE which was
noise-rock kinda like Big Black; Ranger Raccoon which was bizarre sci-fi
screaming pop dark noise party music; etc.) and I was pretty burnt out on
doing overly complicated songs and shit. I just wanted to do something basic
but interesting in the vein of the shit I listen to, so I plugged a guitar
in and programmed some basic drum beats. It all sounded pretty good, and I
just started to do more and more songs. And things got way more complicated
and headache-inducing for me and the listener over the past few years. My
buddy Steev discovered me, and he released my record through
www.xdiedenroutey.net and that's that. Scissor Shock is described as
"techno noise jazz no wave grind", but I dunno how acurate that is.
FRED: Scissor Shock's music is noisy, chaotic, layered with a variety of
instruments and not like anything else out right now. Where and when did the
idea for the musical nature of Scissor Shock come from?
ADAM: It's interesting, because Scissor Shock originally started as just one
guitar and some drums, and I just was gonna make some basic, simple rock
songs with a few time changes. However, within 5 minutes of programming, I
got bored because of my low attention span, and I had to make things as
schizophrenic as humanly possible. It's the only thing that interested me.
I was definitely inspired by bands like Polvo, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic
Youth, though... bands that took their guitars and made them something more
than guitars. They took their guitars and made them sound like god. On most
of the earlier Scissor Shock songs, there are about 7-10 drum tracks playing
at the same time, 5 different guitar tracks all put through different FX,
and usually some extremely distorted keyboards, as well as my vocals.
However, and I don't think most people realize this about Scissor Shock, but
it definitely makes it cooler to listen to, in retrospect: The drums are the
main instrument. I've never heard a non-math rock or non-tribal band where
the drums are the main instrument, and that's pretty much the thing here.
The more recent Scissor Shock songs (of which there are only 4 or 5 offerings on soundclick) are way more keyboard oriented and... noisey. On the album "Super Yum Surgeon Boy", I took these basic Scissor Shock songs and obscured them under layers and layers of distortion. Some of my fans found it alienating; some found it brilliant. Whatever. It's just something where I don't want to make the same album every album, and I just want everything to be an extension of what I had done previously. However, the key elements of any Scissor Shock song will always be: Many, many layers; tons of screaming; and drums, drums, drums. It's just how it needs to be.
FRED: The imagery you surround Scissor Shock with often depicts Asian girls
engaged in various graphic sexual acts with extremely violent subtext
attatched. Does this imagery relate at all to the lyrical content in your
songs or is it simply designed to appeal to and stimulate your listeners
senses?
ADAM: Well, it's both of what you said and neither of what you said. Scissor
Shock lyrics are... well, honestly, I write really "educated" lyrics. Not
because I'm particularly scholary or anything, but what I'm trying to convey
to myself is way too complicated for a simple "RAHHH. I HATE YOU. DIE,
WHORE." So, in essence, Scissor Shock is often-times an exploration of
really confusing aspects of my life. That Sonic Youth album title
"Confusion is Sex" comes to mind. The thing is, I'm not going to put the
lyrics on the website or in the CD or anything, because I want the listener
to draw their own conclusions.
I think there's a couple songs in which you can hear what I'm saying, such as "Don't make me stop this car." but I want you to think about that simple phrase for a second... what does that mean to you? That line right there was about the time my stepmom was yelling at me when I was 7 years old because I wanted to roll the window down in the car. It was my birthday, and my dad and her were fighting before we went into Chuck E. Cheese's. She stayed out in the car, and my dad and I were in there for about 3 hours while she sat out in the hot sun. She'd been abusing me for YEARS when I had to visit them every other week, and I tried to tell my dad about this abuse but he always ignored me. You see, he had to work 12-hour shifts at the hospital and he was usually not around when I was there for visitation. Anyways, I asked to roll the window down, and she said "I DON'T GIVE A DAMN WHAT YOU DO!" And I complained about it being hot, and my dad said, "Adam, don't make me stop this car!" So, all this arguing and fighting and turmoil all building up over weeks and finally reaching the climax on my birthday. I haven't seen my dad or her since. And, yes, all that is a true story, and I'm not embarassed or ashamed of anything like that, but I just wanted to tell you what one simple lyric in a song means to me. It's very difficult to totally convey that message without it becoming convoluted. I think my songs, in the end, mean different things to different people, and people searching for some kind of message may be looking too hard.
Scissor Shock is meant to be whatever you, as the listener, want it to be. If you see the lime green Asian nurses covered in semen as something of beauty or as artful or perhaps an expression of desensitization or... I dunno, whatever. What it means to me is completely different than what it means to the listener, and I enjoy that aspect. To me, the Asian nurse whores are a perfect symbol for Scissor Shock for 3 reasons: 1) Asian females are extremely beautiful, yet they're also more willing to participate in disgusting things such as bukkakke, scat, etc. more than any other race. It's all so contradictory: They're beautiful, yet they want to cover their beauty in feces, for example. I think it's a perfect metaphor for life. 2) Scissor Shock is "bukkakkecore", a term coined by Cory from KHR. 3) I just can't think of anything more interesting to look at than them. They're timeless. And lime!
FRED: When you sit down to write a song do you have a preconcieved notion of
what you want to end up playing or do you just allow ideas to flow out of
you and manifest themselves however they seem fit?
ADAM: A lot of both. I have the song planned out in my head, but it's so
difficult to even tell you how I make a Scissor Shock song that I will
attempt to tell you in a second how I make a Scissor Shock song. It's all
very much a fast-paced, schizophrenic, obsessive, and odd process that is
different every time I sit down to create something. What normally happens
is this:
1) Write lyrics. I have a huge notebook of lyrics. 2) Play guitar, play keyboard, whatever. I'm not really talented as far as playing chords and such, but I'm told I make interesting sounds, and that's what matters. 3) Begin making drum beats to attach sounds to. 4) Lots of cutting, lots of pasting. 5) Scream over top. 6) Obsessively tweak for a week straight. 7) Finish song. 8) Go back and tweak some more.
I'm extremely, EXTREMELY obsessive. I have OCD, in fact. I don't have ADD, but I have OCD. I will tell you two different songs here to show you how different it is every time I sit down to make a song: On the first album, the song "Waterbeds Are Boring". My amp was over at my friend's house at the beginning of recording this song, so I had no way to record the amplified little melody at the beginning. My guitar was down to 3 of the 6 strings because of my insanely intense guitar-playing, and I played all 3 strings at the beginning of this song. I noticed that my computer microphone had 3 holes in which it used to hear the sounds it recorded. So, I stuck each string into the hole in the mic, and I recorded it directly onto sound recorder. It sounded pretty cool, but then I decided to get my amp back, and what you hear at the beginning of that song is the sound of the mic directly recording the strings AND the mic recording the sounds of me playing the guitar through the amp at the same time. Gives it a really creepy sound, for sure. I then added little noises into each speaker (including the ENTIRE SONG sped up for about 2 seconds in the left speaker) into that part. The next section, with me screaming, had the guitar recorded through sound recorder, and on my old sound recorder, if you recorded onto the sound recorder itself at 44100khz, it would over-distort the sound. So, that's why you hear weird staticy guitar. I came up with that before the beats, which I did sometime in between coming up with these ideas. I came up with more guitar lines and keyboard lines after doing the drum beats. The drums are unintentionally lo-fi, but I think it goes really well with the creepy sound at the beginning. The song ends with a drum crash that was sampled from "The Linguini Incident", a movie starring David Bowie and Rosanna Arquette. Lots of cutting, lots of pasting, but it's all very... simple... it all makes sense to me. Like, someone once said to me "you could take any section of any Scissor Shock song and take it out of the song, and the song would still make sense... because Scissor Shock DOESN'T MAKE SENSE." That's usually true, but I think every section of that song is important to me. Vocals are always added last, without exception. The song, in all, took 3 hours to record.
On the last album, the song "Techno Slave Are Fucking Go!" was 10 1/2 minutes long. It starts out with a funeral organ, then it goes into video game music, then it goes into weird moog torture and ambience, then it goes into video game music with insane breakbeats, then it goes back into ambient music, then it goes into this extended breakbeat and techno jam session with the flanger pedal being messed around with a ton, as about 20 different keyboards build up in the mix. The techno fades out and just leaves a very funeral-esque fade-out. It is very insane and bizarre and I just had the idea "Hey, funeral techno song. I should do it." and it went from there. The song, in all, took 4 hours to record.
It's a very weird process, and I guess that's why Scissor Shock has a unique sound. I couldn't just sequence drum beats and record riffs. That'd get boring fast. There's other bands that do that way better.
FRED: What bands and/or musicnans do you cite as inspirations and
influences? Also, are there any bands out right now egrind or otherwise that
you think are worth the readers time to look at?
ADAM: Haha... this question! Well, I honestly don't listen to much grindcore or
anything. I used to. I had a year where I listened to that almost
exclusively. Then, I had a year where I listened to harsh noise almost
exclusively. I like every genre of music, and I like lots of artists from
every genre usually. My major influences for Scissor Shock are: Boredoms
(the drums, the vocals), Brainiac (because they are still ahead of their
time), Big Black (who I covered!), Melt Banana (guitars, insanity),
Polysics (keyboards), Polvo (guitars.. listening to them taught me to play
guitar), Shakuhachi Surprise (just listen to them, and you'll see), Sonic
Youth (guitars), Drive Like Jehu (just because I love them, they're my
inspiration), Slowdive (because I want to make songs as beautiful as
theirs). I always get asked if I was into Venetian Snares and Berzerker and
things like that, but I didn't hear them until afterwards. A band I've
heard recently who sound like I want to sound is (((Microwaves))), and they
broke up.
Bands people should check out (most not e-grind, sorry): KINDERGARTEN HAZING RITUAL, Imthedevil, Eddie Edwards (the only egrind band that REALLY inspire me), Athenian Mercury, The Smile Adventure, Colombian Necktie, Automized Cyborg Death, Hari Kari Kitty, Violetta Beauregarde, Roxanne Jean Polise, Xinlisupreme, It's Okay We're Chainsaws, Fuck I'm Dead, Electrocutionerdz, Disfigured House Wife, D. Yellow Swans, Melk the G6-49, Spoozys, Experimental Dental School, Point Line Plane, Whirlwind Heat, and my good friends in Darth Vegas.
...If you're wondering, I usually describe Scissor Shock as "Boredoms meets Sonic Youth meets Atari Teenage Riot".
FRED: You've been known to collaborate with other egrinders like Cory
Monster from Kindergarten Hazing Ritual. Are there any other collaborations
pending that people who like your stuff should be looking for? How about any
collaborations you would like to do?
ADAM: I know I said in the last question that I don't listen to much grindcore,
but I listen to all egrind bands! That shit interests the hell out of me.
I think there are some truely creative minds making that stuff, usually. I
mean, think about it: A lot of grindcore guys are anti-electronica,
anti-technology, whatever. So, it's kind of taboo and breaking some
grounds. So, yeah, I'd like to collaborate with pretty much any of em. Lots
of cool dudes making that shit.
Cory is one of my best friends and he's my partner in crime, for certain. We've done a lot of things together... I just recently added keyboards to one of his songs, and he recently screamed over top of one of my songs. He's a very cool guy, very easy to work with, and a lot like me. We even look alike (since I have a black man's nose)! Anyway, Scissor Shock's doing some splits with Imthedevil, Colombian Necktie, and a few others and I'm really glad to do that, and I think some people look forward to that. I dunno. My dream is coming true, since I'm doing a split with Eddie Edwards. The only other band I'd really like to go out of my way to do a split with is Electrocutionerdz or Smile Adventure since they make me orgasm. No, seriously. I'd also like to do a Kindergarten Hazing Ritual part 2 split one day if Cory's up to it (he's a busy dude).
FRED: When can we expect another Scissor Shock full length? Any surprises in
store once it's unleash on the unsuspecting masses?
ADAM: I am notorious for taking long amounts of time with my stuff. I have a lot
of stuff, but I just obsess over the tiniest things. I've recorded 5
minutes of material for the Eddie Edwards split over the past month, for
example, but I'm going to take out things and add things for the next 2
months. As well as doing 5 more minutes of music. Whoo....... Anyway, a
Scissor Shock full-length... this year, an EP is being released through
excitebiketapes and about 6 or 7 splits are being released through tons of
different record labels. I'm glad. I really, really enjoy not having to
focus on a full-length right now since it is such a mind-boggingly difficult
process in my mind, since I have to basically reinvent myself every time I
set out to record a full album (see the part where I said "I don't want to
make the same album again and again"). It's tough work trying to reinvent
myself yet still appeal to a crowd that wouldn't mind if I released the same
thing for every album for the next 60 years.
That being said, I've actually written plans for 3 albums, and I've actually written down every single part of an entire album, which is very rare for me. I want to surprise people, and I think saying the concepts of the 3 albums still won't explain what it will sound like, and chances are all will be scrapped or I will mix them all together in the end, so I might as well tell you... I have an idea for a REALLY FAST album, something in the vein of Melt Banana, but I'm talking... WAY WAY WAY WAY fast. Faster than anything ever. Like, I want to do full-length songs and then speed them up so fast that they're just blurts. It'd be something like 500 songs in 20 minutes. However, it would remain interesting throughout because no two songs would sound alike. I have the technology! My other idea is for something way doomy and epic, which... that's the more realistic of my ideas and I think I will do that. It'll be the album I have had in my mind every since I started doing this bullshit long ago. Album three is the one I have written out, and it's an opera. It will have huge dramatic crashes and tons of voices and be more classically-influenced. It would kill music. I just have way too many ideas, and I'm not getting paid nearly enough for them, haha.
FRED: You say on your website that you will play whenever you're booked, but
would you really? Even if it were in someplace like Virginia or FLorida or
something? if so, have you ever considered going on tour?
ADAM: Well... right now, I'm just trying to get shows around here, and it's hard
to do that. Hahaha. And, right now, I don't have the funds to do that, but I
would definitely want to one day. Like, sure, if someone wants to pay me to
play their club and pay me to travel there and such, I would do it in a
heartbeat. I actually had one guy tell me he would do that with one of my
old bands.. buy me a plane ticket and everything. Too bad I was 14 at the
time. Heheh. So, yes, I say that on the website, and I really will follow
through with that one day, but it's hard to be independant in a field like
that, because there are so many factors involved with that. Being your own
agent, being your own booker, being your own manager, etc. is very
difficult. I would love to do a tour, though I would prefer if it were a
house show type thing instead of a club thing, for three reasons: 1) No 21+
only clubs, 2) I could probably stay the night at the guy's house who booked
me, and 3) Because club owners are scummy. Yes, even Joe.
FRED: You are without a doubt the king of self-promotion. You whore out your
art with dignity and creatively at every chance you get. For anyone who's
interested in starting an egrind band what advice can you give them once the
time comes for them to go out and start promoting the music? Any labels or
distros in particular that can lend a hand?
ADAM: Wow, thank you. I never realized that I was so good at being
self-promoting, haha. I will name a few things that I do that my friends
tease me for, but I wish someone had given ME these tips a lot earlier and I
wouldn't have had to come up with them: 1) Write your web address and a
description of your band on all your paper money. Money travels a LOT, and
you're really not supposed to write on the money. Do it anyway. It will
eventually fall into the right hands. 2) Make posters, send them to your
"street team" or whatever, and have them tape them up around town. EVERY
town has a scene, every town has a few people that would like your music...
no matter what you play. I gurantee it. 3) Be cheap. Be very, very, very
cheap. 4) Never forget that not everyone is going to like what you're
doing, so don't be agressive. 5) Make things interesting. People are more
likely to download your music if you advertise it as "POWER VIOLENCE POLKA
SURF NAZICORE ELECTRONIC GRNDCORE 666BPM WHOA!!!!!!" than "grindcore band
from tulsa." 6) I have more, but I don't want people stealing all my ideas.
As far as labels and stuff go... EVERYONE has a label. There are way too many labels out there, and I know at least 10 people who run them. Just look up grind labels, noise labels, egrind labels, whatever kind of music you are, and set up a soundclick site or something and send the owner a link. Simple! Just don't BUG the owner, because that's alienating.
FRED: Last question, I know you like to be nice to people but please be
honest... how do you feel abut guys who approach you for interviews and then
take fucking forever and a half to get back to you? wink.gif
ADAM: Hahaha. It's no biggy. Good things come to those who wait, and I think it's
really nice that you took the time to think of interesting questions to ask
me. So, I'm not going to complain. I just hope that my answers are more
interesting than Cory's were... and, by the way, I know I'm a nice guy, but
if I had to wait one more week for this thing, I WOULD HAVE FUCKING KILLED
YOU. WITH A STAB. Thanks!
From Marcos Hassan, Oscillator Zine:
By Marcos Hassan
Scissor Shock play a kind of music that is impossible to ignore, it�s short, it�s fast, it�s ultra cluttered with junk and noises and it�s apocalyptic. It�s also very fun to listen to, like a party from planet Bizarro. But they hail from Columbus, Indiana, hardly a hot spot for avant-garde music yet it gave us one of the best of this kind right now. And you think this band might repeat itself over and over with such a narrow genre and mission just to make annoying sounds, but each album (or phase) the band has endured is different from each, demonstrating an evolution hardly found today in conventional rock, let alone the extreme kind. A very sarcastic band with song titles like �Writing The President Kill Theme Song�, �Santa Got Me A White Belt For Chrismas�, �Urethra Franklin� and �Forever Celebrating The Death Of Ectoplasm�, you might want to drown them on the coldest lake you can find or praise them as the next punkest band ever, the aesthetical heirs to the Butthole Surfers, Boredoms, Atari Teenage Riot, Brianiac and Wolf Eyes. I talked to band founder/leader/sometimes only member Adam Cooley and newcomer guitarist Sean Edwards about playing live, Highlander and the Pope.
Marcos Hassan (The Obsolete): Introduce yourself
Adam Cooley: Hello, my name is Adam Cooley, of Scissor Shock fame. We are techno noise psychadelic math glitch jazz grind speedcore rock from Columbus, Indiana.
Sean Edwards: I'm Sean, I play guitar.
How did the band started?
Adam: For Christmas 2002, I got a really cheap guitar and amp ($100 for both). The following week, I decided to try to make some songs with it's naturally tinny and bizarre sound. I didn't try to make weird songs or anything -- just songs I found to be interested. Well, naturally, I have a short attention span, the songs became just ridiculously insane and it went from there. We've explored video game grindcore, psychadelic noise, and tons of other things throughout the past 2 1/2 years, but three things remain the same: An emphasis on drums, tons of screaming, and insanely complex. And so it goes. Things evolved, and now Sean is in the band, playing guitar and shit.
Do you think Scissor Shock is a collective or if it ever will become one?
Adam: We recently played a live show, and the live show included an additional guitarist (Sean Edwards) and on THAT particular show, we had our buddy Norton make growls on a song. Scissor Shock has evolved over time, and I'm still kind of in shock that we were able to play live. To bring it all together is just mindboggling. I still do all the programming and stuff, but it's nice to have input from Sean and other people. I want the live experience to be somewhat interactive; as in, the crowds themselves help make shows. If anyone wants to join us on "stage" to help us through our set, that'd be fine. If you can bring anything to the table, then go ahead. Though our music is constantly evolving, the live show, I think, is pleasing to any fans of our band, new and old. As more and more aging Baby Boomers peer through their bifocals at the haggard Lance Hendrixian face of their own mortality, one question seems to occur with numbing frequency: where do we go after last call at Bistro Earth?
Bistro Earth, sure! What is it about short, dissonant, abrasive music that appeals to you so much?
Adam: Nothing. I'm more interested when people become comfortable with an idea and they start adopting a mindsight for their particular band as if it was THE rule for music itself. An example is Lightning Bolt. 3 bass strings and a banjo string on a bass and a drummer that tears up the drum set. Occasional vocals, whatever...but they write these songs based on these "limitations" and they've accepted what they are, and I really enjoy things like that. Whether they're writing 30 minute songs or 1 minute songs, I find that all very appealing. It's like THAT is what music should sound like to them. I think if a band can only pull off their sounds with long, drawn-out, doomy music, that's cool. Scissor Shock just usually uses the short, dissonant, abrasive music that you described because my attention span is too short. I mean, I know people say life begins at forty. Yeah, if you're the fucking Highlander. But, you know, the rest of us are trying to make sense out of the indecipherable babble of everyone else's best guess as to what awaits us behind door number 3 in Monty's death jar.
Sean: Hmmm...basically, I like short, dissonant, abrassive music because it doesn't drag out and get boring. It kinda gets to the point and then moves on to something completley different-sounding. Yes.
I�m still stoked you named-dropped Highlander, that dude rocked...rocks...whatever. What do you think is the message in your music?
Sean: Uh...do we have one Adam?
Adam: ...
Sean: "Get crunk't, kill a ho."
Adam: Haha. I'd just rather people draw their own conclusions. We're trying to open minds, but I don't want to cram our music down people's throats. It's like, what does the music mean to YOU? A guitar riff can be the most beautiful or the ugliest thing to someone's ears. Who knows? I don't know what people think of our music, only you know that. Damn, I'm so clich� today.
Sean: We don't like women, drugs are okay, kill a nun, and then rape her rotting corpse, and then steal her fat and muscle(s) and sell it to little children at playgrounds.
Adam: ...the views expressed by Sean Edwards are not exactly the views of Scissor Shock.
What do you want to achieve with Scissor Shock?
Sean: To let people see something new each time and to get people to think a little differently.
Adam: Yes. I mean, I've already made about $60 and have 4000 myspace friends. That's a pretty good start. Also, this is the second interview I've done, and we just played a live show. Plus, we've released shit on some great labels (Xdiedenroutey, Brokecore, Excitebiketapes, !!!PLUG PLUG PLUG!!!). I think I've achieved quite a bit... and I'm thankful for that. I guess my main goal in the band now is to try to open people's minds a bit and to try to make interesting things happen. I guess every band's dream is to make music exciting again, and I'll go ahead and use that clich�. You know how many truly original, awesome albums I've heard in 2005 that came out in 2005? None. That bothers me. I just want to play live shows and turn that into a huge thing. And everyone that ever wanted to see us can eventually see us and hear us. Basically, there's a kid sitting there somewhere who NEEDS a band like Scissor Shock and they don't have it yet. So, I want to give that to them.
So what is music to you?
Adam: The art of arranging sounds.
(pause)...Well, ok. Do you ever work on music while drunk or something?
Sean: Haha, well...not usually...hmm...no.
Adam: I've never done drugs, drank, smoked or anything. It's odd, though. Our music ALWAYS has some kind of "drug" thing attached to it... people hear it and go, "Man. This is crazy. They MUST be on drugs." Funny.
Who do you think are your contemporaries?
Adam: Not sure yet...
You've just started to play live, how has it been?
Sean: Pretty fun...I mean, I had fun.
Adam: Well, we've played one show so far. It was WAY better than I thought it would be. Nothing fucked up, it went smooth, it was fun, and people stared and didn't know what to think. AWESOME!
Glad to hear, it shows by the pictures. You've covered songs by Big Black ("Passing Complexion") and Six Finger Satellite ("30 Lashes"); in your opinion, what makes a good cover?
Adam: You know, it's funny, I like very few covers. I like some Kindergarten Hazing Ritual covers and I like Cap'N Jazz's "Take On Me"...I dunno...I guess a good cover is just basically when you take the song you covered and make it your own.
Sean: Yeah, it should sound similar to the song...like, you know who it is by, yet it should reflect your style of music in it and have your own sort of twist too.
Adam: Yeah.
Sean: Yeah.
You recently wrote an essay detailing the recording of Super Yum Surgeon Boy, how important is the process to you, whether it is the songwriting process or the recording process?
Adam: Well, I think it's important that people share their techniques and such, especially artists who make their records on a budget of a few pennies, like myself. I get asked about a million times a day "HOW DO YOU MAKE YOUR MUSIC? WHAT DO YOU USE?" And I guess the point I want to stress is that no matter what I use, most people probably won't get the same effect with what they use. You just have to...use what you use...uh, yeah. I'm totally getting off track. I like to detail how I do shit, because it makes me all teary-eyed to read it later, though sadly it kind of also represents the fact that I spend more time reading and writing about music than listening to or making it. Oh well.
Do you think music will only live in digital form in the near future?
Adam: Yep, absolutely. It's funny, I'd buy CD's more often, but they're just so goddamn expensive. I saw Gang of Four�s Entertainment! in a book store the other day for $19.99. When did that CD come out? 1977 or something? I mean, seriously, a near-30-year-old 40-minute CD for $20?!. That's ridiculous! I'm not rich. (Edition: What Adam didn�t consider was that it was the reissue with 8 extra songs and other stuff and that it had been out of print for some years, but his point is clear, I didn�t buy the album either because of the price). It costs 43 cents to make the CD itself, and that's really the important part. I like the art and shit, but you end up seeing all the art, lyrics, and all the other info on websites anyway. So, yeah, I think music will eventually be all MP3s and CD-Rs eventually. Give it 10 more years. Did you ever notice the phrase "In God We Trust" only appears on the lesser denominations of our currency? You get up around the $1000 bill, and it just says "God, I Think I Can Take It From Here."
Do you think Johnny Merzbow is a character in your music or do you think he can become someone recurrent in your releases?
Adam: Johnny Merzbow is a scanner cop. That's all we know. He could be just another pissed off DMV zombie who makes you go to the end of the stooge line behind the guy who had one Tai Chi lesson and went into a biker bar to test it out. He's standing in front of you there in the crane position with a pool cue sticking out of his ass, blunt side in.
Do you find inspiration in stuff other than music, like movies or books or anything else?
Sean: I get motivation from my one and only true hero, the Pope. Sometimes, I pray and ask for insight, and I write what I feel, man... what I feel.
Adam: All the music I make comes from my dumb life.
What have you been listening to lately?
Sean: GWAR, Placebo, Fantomas, Pixies, Slowdive, Pig Destroyer.
Adam: +/-, .poundsign., !!!, 1.6 band, 1905, 1-speed bike, 31 knots, 400 blows, 90 day men, a day in black and white, a handful of dust, a luna red, a minor forest, a problem of alarming dimensions, a silver mt. zion, a spectre is haunting europe, a trillion barnacle lapse, aarktica, aaron dilloway, ac newman, accelera deck, acetone, aceyalone, acid mothers temple, advantage (the), aereogramme, a-frames, achim reichel, agitation free, agoraphobic nosebleed, air, air conditioning, airport girl, aislers set, aix em klemm, akarso, akimbo, alan licht, albert ayler, albert marcoeur, albrecht d, alcrataz, algarnas tradgard, all 7-70, alec empire, alternative tv, alvaro, alvin lucier, ame son, amm music, amon duul, amon duul ii, angel hair, animal collective, antipop consortium, aphex twin, arab on radar, arcane v, at the drive-in, atari teenage riot, athenian mercury, atom and his package, babyland, bananas (the), bellini, bellmer dolls, berg sans nipple, biblical proof of ufos, big black, bill orcutt, bjork, black cross, black dice, black eyes, blonde redhead, bloodthirsty butchers, boredoms, boris, botch, brainbombs, brainiac, bread and circuits, breadwinner, breather resist, brian eno, bride of no no, broken social scene, broken spindles, bucket full of teeth, bugskull, built to spill, burning star core, burmese, burnt by the sun, butthole surfers, cali gari, c average, califone, calla, calvary, camera obscura, cannibal ox, cap'n jazz, captain beefheart, causey way, charles bronson, child pornography, chinese stars, chrome, circle takes the square, clouddead, cobra kai, computer cougar, coachwhips, coalesce, coathanger '84, cock esp, comets on fire, company flow, converge, couch, crack: we are rock, cracker factory, cranes, crash normal, cream abdul babar, crom-tech, crimson curse, crispy ambulance, cub, cul de sac, dazzling killmen, deerhoof, deftones, despise you, DEVO, die monitr batss, dismemberment plan (the), dj rotting corpse, don caballero, double leopards, dracula does calculus, dragbody, drive like jehu, drowningman, dysrhythmia, earlimart, early day miners, earth, echoboy, eighties matchbox disaster, el da sensai, el guapo, elastica, electric company, electric wizard, eligh, ellen allien, embrace, empress, enablers, end on end, engine down, engine kid, enon, entrance, envy, erase errata, esg, esoteric, espers, euphone, even as we speak, examination of the..., ex-models, ex-girl, experimental audio research, experimental dental school, fantomas, flying luttenbachers, forcefed glass, former members of alfonsin, forstella ford, four hundred years, four tet, frodus, from ashes rise, fuck, fuck...i'm dead, fugazi, funeral diner, f.y.p, gang of four, ganger, gas, gastr del sol, ghost, ghosts & vodka, giddy motors, girlfrendo, girls against boys, glass candy & the shattered theatre, go betweens, go sailor, god is my co-pilot, godflesh, godspeed you black emperor, guitar wolf, guns n' roses, guyana punch line, gravediggaz, hair police, half japanese, hanatarash, hella, henry's dress, honor role, hot snakes, hum, i hate myself, i love you but i've chosen darkness, infomatik, i, robot, ian dury, iceburn, icewater scandal, icy demons, ida, idle tigers, idlewild, ifihadahifi, ignition, ikara colt, ill bill, ilya, imitation electric piano, impossible shapes, indian summer, ink and dagger, isis, isotope 217, ivy, jackie-o-motherfucker, jessamine, jesus lizard, jim o'rourke, joan of arc, joanna newsom, john cale, john coltrane, john henry west, john wiese, john zorn, jonathan fire*eater, joseph arthur, joshua fit for battle, joy division, joy zipper, jr ewing, juana molina, jucifer, julia, june of 44, juno, juno reactor, j-zone, kaito, kamikaze missions, kaos pilot, karate, karp, kate bush, kayo dot, kc accidental, keelhaul, keith whitman fullerton & hrvatski, kerosene 454, khanate, kid606, kid kilowatt, kid koala, kill me tomorrow, kindergarten hazing ritual, knifehandchop, kraftwerk, lab partners, labradford, laddio bolocko, ladybug transistor, lake of dracula, le shok, les savy fav, liars, lightning bolt, lost sounds, lotus eaters, love and rockets, love as laughter, love like electrocution..., loveliescrushing, low, low skies, l'spaerow, lull, lumen, lustre king, lycia, lydia lunch, lync, lynx,macrocosmica, mad capsule markets, magic markers (the), masonna, mastodon, mclusky, melt-banana, merzbow, metronome, miracle chosuke, mk ultra, mocket, morrissey, motocompo, mr bungle, my bloody valentine, my cat is an alien, my lai, my morning jacket, mystery girls, naked city, nation of ulysses, need new body, neon hunk, neutral milk hotel, no knife, number girl, numbers, nurse with wound, ocean colour scene, of sinking ships, off minor, officer may, omoide hatoba, oneida, ooioo, ooo, opal, o'rang, orchid, organ!, orthrelm, oswego, otis redding, out hud, outkast, outrageous cherry, ova!, oval, owen (the kinsella's), oxbow, oxes, painkiller, passenger of shit, pavement, pink and brown, pixies, placebo, polysics, q and not u, racebannon, radio 4, rah bras, ranger raccoon, rapeman, refused, robad pills, rocket from the crypt, rovo, ruinhorse, scissor girls, scissor shock, screamers (the), secret chiefs 3, servotron, shellac, sick lipstick, silver apples, shakhauchi surprise, six finger satellite, slint, slowdive, smiths (the), sonic youth, space streakings, spoozys, squarepusher, stagedive suicide, stylex, sun city girls, sunny day real estate, super junky monkey, sushi smash, swans, ted leo, television, thee michelle gun elephant, themselves, thunderbirds are now!, to live and shave in la, tora! tora! torrance!, turbonegro, twodeadsluts onegoodfuck, u.s. maple, ufo or die, ugly casanova, unicorns, usaisamonster, venetian snares, vicious hairy mary, violent onsen geisha, violent ramp, vss (the), wesley willis, whirlwind heat, whitehouse, wired, wolfgang dauner, wolf eyes, woorden, xbxrx, xerobot, xhol, xhol caravan, xiu xiu, ya ho wa 13, yaphet kotto, yellow swans, yoko ono, you & i, young and sexy, young ginns, zephyrs, zoviet france, zazen boys, znr, zoobombs, zweistein.
What's next for you?
Sean: College? Death? MURDER? I dunno, I'm going to Denny�s in about 15 minutes.
Adam: I'm going to kiss my girlfriend on the cheek.
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