J:
I personally think there's no way it could have gone more perfectly.
Wonderland in Alice in Wonderland is a magical place where all your
dreams come true. In our case, the Curiosa Festival was our very own
Wonderland, where myself, Interpol, The Rapture, Mogwai, Cursive, The Cooper
Temple Clause, Head Automatica and the rest of Scarling. became exaggerated
cartoon characters on a brilliant tour that to us seemed Just Like Heaven.
Here we shared stages, excruciatingly high temperatures, sunburns (notice how
a bunch of historically pale musicians get increasingly tanned in each photo),
dressing rooms, fans lathering in sun block, and many bottles of booze. But
most importantly, we shared a private audience with Robert Smith and an
opening slot for The Cure, who has influenced all of us immensely from the
first moment we heard them. Truly, a life-changing experience.
SATP: What was the most interesting/memorable/funniest experience you
had while on the road with The Cure?
J: There are so many, but the ones that come to mind would be the first
day arriving in Utah to find that due to the singer's ongoing illness, Head
Automatica would not be able to perform. We got to go on after Mogwai at 6
p.m. After what seemed like an eternity, Nick, our tour manager, called and
we were back in the van on our way to sound check. It was now 2 p.m. and we
were back at the venue. Sound check, head check, name check we're on!
There's a sea of black-clad fans. I announce over the mic that I am nervous
and our 25-minute set just flies by. We did it. The band nobody knows gets a
round of applause and much to all of our surprise, we find that Robert Smith
has watched our entire set from the side of the stage. WOW! I am so glad I
did not know he was there while onstage; I might have swallowed my tongue.
The friendly faces of Sam and Carlos from Interpol help ease us into a
conversation with Robert. Nick videotapes the meeting; I stumble on my words;
Christian, Rickey and Beth loom around silently. He likes us! He really
likes us! Okay, in my mind, we are officially on the tour. They refer to us
as "Scarling. the little band that could." Daryl, The Cure's manager,
introduces himself to us. We all immediately hit it off with Daryl. At first
impression, we all agree that he and Robert have
something about them that puts us all at ease and makes us feel as if we've
known them for years. At nightfall, Daryl personally escorts the entire band
and crew to the side of the stage where we get to watch The Cure's set.
Basically, the entire day was one of the highlights of my career thus far.
SATP: How much do you feel the Curiosa Festival gave you in the way of
exposure and reaching new lovers of Scarling.?
J: I think it certainly
increased peoples' awareness of us. No matter what city we were in, it
seemed that most of the crowd had never heard of us until Curiosa, but
stayed to watch our entire set, even through 110 degree heat in the middle
of the summer. That kind of exposure for a young band like us is
indescribable; it gave us the opportunity to reach a large amount of people,
if even for a short time onstage, who might never have gotten a chance to
see Scarling.
SATP: You told me you went to London in September after Curiosa. How
did that go? What did you do there?
J: It was a lot of fun.
Originally, we were just going to relax, but we ended up attending a lot
of shows: Interpol, Moving Units, and the taping of mtvICON: The Cure. We
also tried to soak up as much local culture as we could, stayed the night
with a good friend in Brighton, shopped, and (most importantly) met some
really great fans at a Queen Adreena show. Needless to say, relaxing
wasn't a large part of the equation, but hangovers certainly were.
SATP: How do you feel about the recent mainstream resurgence of interest
in Goth-tinged music like Interpol and Muse and classic Goth like The Cure?
J: I've been looking forward
to Goth-inspired bands to make yet another mainstream comeback. As the 80s
revival continues to intensify and post-election blues set in, it's only
fitting that melancholy music makes its comeback. So this resurgence isn't
surprising to me, but more of a sign of the times. Ironically, the Goth
genre that hinges on pain, melancholy and death refuses to die. Every time
it looks like it's about to outlive its relevance, another band comes along
with a new take on the genre and reminds everyone why it's so essential.
