Interview number 1
Scroobius Pip
08.05.07
NWB: 1000 words is an audible autobiography of your music career, what gave you the idea to create this song and was it written/recorded on a whim?
Scroobius Pip: It's just as much an audio autobiography of my life. When I wrote it I didn't have a music career you see. It tells the tail (part true part fiction) of how I got my stutter. I have had one since the age of 4.
NWB: I discovered 'Scroobius Pip' via 'Dan Le Sac VS Scroobius Pip ' and the song 'Thou shalt always kill', did you expect Dan Le Sac VS Scroobius Pip to become a gateway for your solo music?
Scroobius Pip: Everything that's happened has been a lovely surprise really. Dan le Sac's beats have a way of making my poems and writings all the more accessible. Its strange because, individually neither of us have the most commercially accessible styles but when we work together something seems to just jel.
NWB: When did you start performing in front of live audiences (including open mic night type situations)?
Scroobius Pip: Around April 2006 when I released my solo album (no commercial breaks). I quit my job, recorded the album the toured the country living in my 1987 space cruiser and performing on street corners, open mics and anywhere else I could get heard. I decided that turning up to gigs by artists like Buck 65 and Mr Scruff and performing to their queue was a great way to get my stuff out there. They will literally line my target audience up against a wall for me.
NWB: What are your musical influences as a solo artist and have those changed since Dan Le Sac VS Scroobius Pip was formed?
Scroobius Pip: My influences are really varied and they develop (as opposed to change) all the time. Guys like Sage Francis, Saul Williams, Aesop Rock and many others have been a huge influence but then so have Rancid, Glassjaw, John Coltrane, Johnny Hartman, Jim Morrison and Minor Threat. I try to take influence from everywhere i can. Recently, on the UK spoken word scene, I have been blown away by the likes of Polar Bear, David J and Poem Inbetween People. Its great to get inspired.
NWB: What was the first venue you played and who else did you play with?
Scroobius Pip: First performance I did was a street one outside a DJ Shadow album preview. I then jumped in my van and drove to Camden to do my 2nd street performance, which was outside a Buck 65 gig.
NWB: What/who is your biggest inspiration when writing a new song or poem?
Scroobius Pip: Everything really. I know that's a rubbish answer but its true. Literally anything can inspire poetry whether it be an event or just hearing a new word or phrase and wanting to manipulate it.
NWB: Being from Seattle Washington I am unfamiliar with UK venues, do you have a favourite venue that you would suggest to a tourist or curious journalist?
Scroobius Pip: Its all about the promoters as opposed to the venue in my opinion. There are a group of artists/promoters called One Taste that put events on in London and they have a consistently high standard. On the poetry front Pojazzi and Lazy Gramaphone are also great promoters.
Outside poetry it gets real varied. DIY Womp and Best Laid Plans always seem to have a high standard and wide range of acts.
NWB: Dan le Sac is occasionally responsible for your live beats and you two collaborate often, did 'Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip' seem like the natural evolution of your musical relationship?
Scroobius Pip: Very natural. And it is the main focus for everything i am writing and moving forward with. Its just really exciting to meet someone that is so good at making beats and that i can just bounce off of. I received the beat for "Thou Shalt Always Kill" via email and within an hour and a half I had adapted a poem, recorded the vocal and emailed it back. There's a real buzz and excitement between the two of us.
NWB: What is the group mentality of Dan Le Sac VS Scroobius Pip - Is it similar to Ghostland Observatory's "Ghostland is not a band, but an agreement between two friends…"?
Scroobius Pip: I feel we are very much a band. As I said in the last question, nothing I have done previously has excited me as much as the work with Dan le Sac and the work we are doing for our forthcoming album. We will both continue to collaborate elsewhere and do solo stuff I'm sure but this is the main focus.
NWB: In the northwest area of the states Dan Le Sac VS Scroobius Pip is getting a fair amount of radio rotation, how wide spread is Dan Le Sac VS Scroobius Pip's visibility and is the visibility in the states strong enough for a U.S. tour in 08'?
Scroobius Pip: We are hoping to hit the US in late 2007. We will hopefully be visiting New York and LA (predictably) but if the word continues to spread then, yeah, we would love to have a bigger tour in 2008
Thank you to Scroobius Pip for being a good sport, he is a sweet and talented guy!
xoJxo
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