Running With Scissors

Posted on 30th May 06 by Liam Tyrrell | 0

Artist: Scissors For Lefty
Author: Liam Tyrrell

A while back when I went to see The Fiery Furnaces in Whelans" a little known group called Scissors For Lefty played support for them. The Scissors" a four"piece operating out of San Francisco" were back in town a week later to play their first headline show on these shores in The Hub. With a single out in June and an album to follow in September" both on Rough Trade Records" who brought you everyone good from Pulp to The Arcade Fire" these guys are definitely a band to get excited about. They were quite excited themselves too" having recently given up their day"jobs to pursue global fame and fortune" this was their first time to appear in venues outside the U.S. A small enough tour then" just the U.K. and Ireland" but they"re happy: Peter "I think we got kinda lucky cause we"ve been in hotels" sometimes if you go outside on a tour you end up in someone"s basement." They"re also doing one show in Germany" with Dirty Pretty Things and Paul Weller no less" and an upcoming date with the band"du"jour Arctic Monkeys" means that this band is on the way up. So is there anyone else they"d like to play with then: Bryan: "Well if you know anyone you can tell them we"ll carry their gear" we"ve gotten really strong from carrying our own gear."

Comprised of a pair of brothers" Peter "keyboards" guitar" and James "drums" Krimmel" and an unusual younger"uncle" older"nephew combination" Bryan" the nephew""vocals" guitar" and Robby" the uncle""bass" Garza. The band started making music together in 1999" and following relocation to San Francisco they found a manager who put them from playing 4 shows a year to playing 60 shows a year" which tightened up the sound to its current level. This line"up isn"t the first" Peter: "This is the classic line"up" I guess we did the regular thing which is to cycle through a whole load of drummers." James used to be a bassist while Robby used to be the lead guitarist" no shortage of adaptability in their ranks then. Bryan: "We"re family" so we can"t really split up" but we like playing songs and we get along pretty well" so this is what we"ve always done. Four fits on a stage better as well" the fifth guy always looks like he"s about to fall off."

The band already have an album "Bruno" which is only available in the U.S. but the new deal with Rough Trade will see their music released worldwide" everywhere except the U.S. that is. Bryan: "We"re really grateful" they"ve been a really good little family for us to work with." The album will be out in September and they finished working on it just before embarking on this tour. Recorded in Senora" Los Angeles" in a small" homely studio where "if you bang on everything twice" it will stop buzzing"" the album promises to be a little less polished and more down to earth than one might expect from a west coast band. It was produced by Charles Goodan" who has worked with the Dust Brothers" Beck and Carlos Santana: Peter: "He just had an eclectic taste and fit really well with what we were going for."

The band also took advantage of the amount of equipment available to them for this recording. Peter: "I had a Wurlitzer" a Melatron and a really old Korg mono keyboard which we put through some old effects pedals to get some of the sounds on there. We were trying to use old equipment but in a new way." They had plenty of guitars too and some strange rules to follow: Bryan: "We had this one amp that was really small" and our producer wasn"t a big fan of guitar solos" so if you had a big solo you had to play it through the small amp. We"re not really big fans of butt"rock" you know expressing your machismo through this shaft on your shoulders" so we just like to use any instrument that gets the job done." The drums were uncomplicated" James: "We just used a straight"ahead kit" but we had some tambourine and shakers and hand claps on there too." Any other noises they required were manufactured by jumping up and down on things" and by Bryan using a CB Radio mike" along with some old kid"s toys and anything else they could get their hands on. Robby: "All our best equipment is rented""

James is an admirer of Ringo Starr: "He"s very tasteful." As Robby is still a guitarist at heart" his favourites are all six string players" like Steve Stevens and Jimmy Page: "That doesn"t necessarily mean that it"s what your style is" that"s who I enjoy watching" I definitely enjoy their showmanship and their ability to play great at the same time." Bryan recommends a guitarist called Dave Metcalf" from their hometown" "I always choose antics and enthusiasm over skill"set" and he"s not too bad either." Peter is a Jonny Greenwood fan" who amongst us isn"t" "because he plays violently."

Influences for this group are many and varied although Granddaddy and Pavement are two groups they all love. They also like girl"fronted bands like The Cardigans" Ladytron" as well as some early sixties girl groups. Bryan: "We just like good songs" I don"t think any of us discriminate or are too uptight about style." Peter: "We all go out dancing together to whatever is playing in the clubs and we pick up a lot of stuff from that too. There was a Britney Spears song we all liked for a while." The band has a distinctly British sound" which they take as a compliment" and it may also have influenced the decision of Jeff Travis and co. to sign them to Rough Trade" although according to Peter "its just their own personal taste" they just sign bands that they like." Bryan: "I think we"re a little left of centre for what comes out of America" even California" we"re all kinda quirky" fun guys" there"s so many different types in America" you have music for fraternities" music for coffee shops" we just found our own little niche inspired by a number of other bands and college radio really helped with that."

Their sound has recently been described as "dirty glam" and "flirtatious pop." They claim to write songs to close chapters of their lives. Bryan: "We seem to have a lot of adventures" relationships" moving" lifestyles" what your neighbourhood offers." Peter: "If you move in San Francisco" from one neighbourhood to another it"s a big change because the neighbourhoods are so different." Bryan: "Lyrically" I can"t express things usually so well" or I can but its usually bullshit" in person" but you write something down and you think about it" come back in a couple of days and think about it and then a week later it"s a song and it"s kinda what you meant to say. Then you can say that"s my conviction on that matter and that"s why I was supposed to get drunk then." Although Bryan writes all the lyrics" the others are actively involved in putting all the music together" Robby and James being the multi"instrumentalists who turn the others" ideas into riffs. James: "A lot of it is just us interpreting each other."

So then" in one word what made these four want to be in a band"
Bryan: GIRLS"
Peter: Songwriting
Robby: Destiny
James: Companionship

Bryan tells me they"ve just watched Almost Famous" "just make us look good man" he says as I pack up my stuff" judging by their performance that night they don"t need my help. They have a live set packed with energy and playing a delicious blend of rock you can dance to" Scissors For Lefty look certain to make a big impact this summer. They"ll be in Europe touring this summer and are hoping to make some festival appearances" catch them before they start selling out I say" you won"t be disappointed.

www.scissorsforlefty.com