Info for the Reader’s Readers

Jeannette Madden’s Music Blog for January 30, 2012

It’s time again for some cool musical insider information brought to you by your favorite blogger, me!

This week I scored an online interview with Scars on 45’s lead singer and guitarist, Danny Bemrose.  Having taken over this year’s Grey’s Anatomy soundtrack with their hit song “Heart On Fire” and released two fabulous EP’s in 2011 including “Give Me Something” EP, this British indie rock band has done quite well here in the States.  Danny was kind enough to answer a few questions for me prior to the Scars on 45 headlining show in Minneapolis at the Varsity Theatre Thursday night, February 2.

High Plains Reader:  You were featured on 2011’s Cities 97 Sampler 23 here in Minneapolis and you’re Studio C performance there looks quite professional – have you done much charity work for radio stations here in the U.S.?

Danny Bemrose:  We’ve appeared on a lot of charity albums that radio stations have produced.  It’s essential for a band like ourselves to do things like that.  We’re always interested in doing things that can make a difference for good causes and if we can do that by playing some of our songs, we think that’s amazing. HPR:  I’ve heard your music quite a bit but I’m not a television watcher so I had no idea “Heart on Fire” had landed a big spot on Grey’s Anatomy.  I have to be honest, I assumed you were going to be more
pop music looking, perhaps The Cure mixed with a bit of U2!  When I saw your videos with the flannel and t-shirts I was surprised.  You’re described as an “indie rock band”, is that how you describe yourselves?  How do you define your music?

DB:  I think putting yourself in a certain category is always a hard thing to do.  We look at ourselves as kind of indie-pop-rock I suppose.  We have absolutely no problem in describing ourselves a “pop.”  The Beatles were classified as “pop” and if it’s all right by the Fab Four, it’s definitely ok by us!  We’re all very melody based music lovers.  We listen to anything that has a good melody, so we’re always going to be a band that concentrates on writing honest, catchy songs.

HPR:  Why two EPs released but no LP?  Is it a timing/touring issue?  I do see that your first LP is due to release relatively soon. Can you give details?

DB:  We’ve released 2 EPs and we’ve been fortunate to tour continually for the last year on the back of those EPs, but as every band is, we’re desperate to get the album out there for people to hear.  The album is actually finished, it’s just a case of it being released at the right time for us to be able to visit as many places as possible to play for people who buy the album.  It’s so important for us to do that.  Things are building nicely for us.  We’re VH1’s You Oughta Know artists at the moment and things are going great for us at radio, so I’m sure the album’s not far away now.

HPR:  What’s your writing/creative process?

DB:  I usually sit down with an acoustic guitar and just see what comes out.  Sometimes it just doesn’t work but on other occasions you come up with some nice melodies and lyrics out of nowhere.  I then record it on my iPhone and I instantly know if it’s worth showing the band.  If it is, we play through it acoustically with piano and work out the harmony, as having good male and female vocal lines is essential to us. If it sounds good, we all get together, work out the parts and demo the songs as soon as we can.

HPR:  Collective influences?

DB:  We’re influenced by bands such as The Beatles, Oasis, The Cure, Fleetwood Mac. We’re all about songs though so we listen to a huge variety of music.  As long as there’s a catchy melody and decent lyrics, we’ll be influenced by it and find a way of downloading it illegally.  Haha, that’s a joke!

HPR:  How’s the touring going? What’s coming up in the next year or so for the band?

DB:  The tour’s going great!  It’s our first headline tour so we’re finding it really strange that shows are already selling out.  We’re only 3 gigs in to the tour and they were all incredible!  We’re loving every minute of it.  This year will all be about touring.  We’re heading out on tour with The Fray next month which will be exciting.  They’re a great band and lovely bunch of guys.

HPR:  Any touring coming up at home for you or are you concentrating more
on the U.S. at the moment?

DB:  At the moment, it’s all about the US.  All we’ve ever wanted to do is travel and play our music for people and we are able to do that here.  We’ve had this incredible love affair with the US so far and we want to repay everyone for all the amazing support they’ve shown us over the last year.  Hopefully we’ll have time to go back home and do some touring in the near future.

HPR:  How was it making the video for “Heart on Fire”?  Who came up with the idea for the video?  Is it hard to act for videos versus regularly singing for acoustic performances that are videoed, such as the Cities 97 Studio C performance?

DB:  A lot of bands detest making music videos but we absolutely love it.  And not just because they have catering!  It’s what you dream about when you start a band and we still can’t quite believe that we’ve done two.  The ‘Heart On Fire’ video was filmed in Los Angeles and the idea was developed by the director Jordan Bahat.  He’s a really talented guy and was lovely to work with.  Made us all feel relaxed which was pretty hard with about 40 people watching you acting skills or lack of.  We had a fantastic day though and I think the video looks great.  Go vote for it on VH1.com!

HPR:  You’ve been noted as a band that is quite adept using social media to reach fans. Any comments or stories of how it has helped the band?

DB:  Social media is essential now for bands.  It gives you instant communication with your fans and it’s difficult to imagine what bands did before!  Sometimes we’ll send out a tweet or a Facebook message to our fans telling them we’ll do a little acoustic performance of a couple of songs by our van.  We play a few songs and have a chat with the people that show up.  Social media has enabled bands to do special little things like that hopefully fans will remember for a long time.  It’s something we enjoy doing, meeting new people is part of the job we will never get tired of doing. We have so much to say!

Click here to see Scars on 45 performing live at Cities 97’s Studio C: http://www.cities97.com/player/?mid=21102235

IF YOU GO:
WHAT: Scars on 45 and Anya Marina
WHEN: Thursday, February 2, 2012, 2012 Doors at 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: 1308 4th Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414
INFO:  18+ Tickets $13.50 - $15.50

Click here to purchase: http://ticketf.ly/yofcC9

MORE INFO: 612-604-0222