Originally published in Excommunication issue #2

Fact one: most pop-punk sucks. Fact two: The Scaries are a pop-punk band. Fact three: The Scaries rock.

I know, this equation makes no sense, but please, take it from Uncle Jackson, this is a band that is too good to be overlooked simply because a million shitty bands turned a perfectly acceptable genre into a joke.

Remember how you felt when you first heard the Descendents? Well, friends, you just might have to check out The Scaries to help reclaim those old feelings. Their new full-length, Souvenir, is out now on Law of Inertia, and their bassist, Matt, took some time out to talk about the new album, touring in Japan, and, of course, Sonic Youth.

Firstly, who does the artwork for your albums? I especially like The Scaries releases with the little downtrodden stick-figure guy. Do you think he’ll make an emergence on a later Scaries album, much like the Descendents guy made a comeback on Everything Sucks?
The stick figure guy was done by our old drummer, so he’s kind of retired. There’s only so many sad, poignant poses for stick figures. The starry cover of Wishing One Last Time was done by a local artist, and the new one, Souvenir, was done by Mark from the Buddy System. We were super stoked to have Mark do it…I love a lot of the covers he’s done, especially the one for Rainer Maria’s Atlantic.

I would like to know the names and instruments played by each and every Scary, and your estimate of how many Sonic Youth albums each member owns.
Matt Tomich – bass – 3
Matt Danser – drums – 1
Mike Magarelli – guitar and singing – 0
Bill Fischer – guitar and more singing – 1

I read on your web site that your new album, Souvenir, released in October on Law of Inertia, is being released after (and I quote) “endless talks with labels, being mixed three times, (and) mastered twice.” Can you explain what happened? How did you come to work with LOI, and why you didn’t sign with Geffen Records, which is the label that Sonic Youth is on?
Two years ago, we sent Ross our last CD, Wishing One Last Time, to review for the magazine side of LOI, and he called us up totally nutso about it. We talked to so many labels, and everybody was about to put it out but the something would always happen where the label would not get paid by a distributor and not have the money to put it out or something crazy. But after everything Law of Inertia is putting it out and we’re super stoked. Ross is the man and gets shit done. He’s so on top of stuff. He does everything full blast. As for the mixing and stuff, I’ll take the blame on that one. I tried to be a perfectionist about it and kept sending it back, and it did sound better each time. But eventually you just have to let it go and start working on the next album.

Name some of your non-Sonic Youth influences, and name some bands that sound similar to you, so that readers who’ve yet to experience The Scaries will have an idea what to expect when they run out to buy your new record (as well as the new Sonic Youth album, Murray Street.)
People say they hear Lifetime, Jawbreaker, The Descendents, and Superchunk. And Metallica.

This past May, you toured Japan (where Jim O’Rourke of Sonic Youth will begin touring in a mere three days) for quite an extensive tour. Can you tell me about that? How did the crowds receive you?
It’s all kind of a blur, but we flew over there and played 12 shows in eleven different cities in two weeks. Most bands when they tour Japan only play two or three shows, but I can’t imagine having gone all the way across the Pacific to only play Toyko and Osaka. But it was absolutely amazing. The crowds, the other bands, the venues are all so into music. Completely unjaded, excited, friendly, ecstatic. They went nuts and yelled for encores. It was the rock dream. Every club asked us to come back next year, so we will.

Do The Scaries have any big plans for the upcoming year? Perhaps writing new material for another release, making music videos, or going on tour opening for Sonic Youth?
People have been writing us and saying that they’ve been waiting for this record for two years, so I’m intrigued to see what people will think and what will happen. But next year will be more touring, a return to the West Coast, more Japan, a bunch of new songs, and probably recording again.

I’m not scared of you. I find your name to be as misleading as “Sonic Youth,” who are, in fact, not so young anymore. Did you, at least, at one time happen to be scary? What’s the scariest thing that ever happened to you?
The first one that comes to mind is when I drove through a tornado in Iowa. No, we’re not scary at all.

Thanks for your time Matt. You can bet I’ll be sending some copies of this interview off to the members of Sonic Youth.
Say hi to Thurston.