VOD#3, Family Scott

L: Alright, question man!
A: What’s the weird connection between bike messengers and hillbillies?
S: I don’t think there is a connection really.
A: Like hell! Bugtussel, Wanna-Be Texans, Butt Ugly Hillbillies, Pleiadians, and now Family Scott.
D: I think it goes back further than that.
C: And I’ve never met a bike messenger that wasn’t a Johnny Cash fan.
D: I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t a Johnny Cash fan.
L: What does it go back to?
S: Me and him [Dave] met each other when we were in Bugtussel when I first became a bike messenger, and he was a half bike messenger, ‘cos he didn’t show up that often.
D: I think it started when a friend of mine back in Romeo, Michigan found a banjo in a garbage can and decided to play bluegrass music. We all decided to play bluegrass and when I came out here, I carried that with me. I got together with this bum [Dumptruck]. He was into heavy metal.
L: No doubt! You were into super cheesy metal. Isn’t that your gory past?
S: Yes, it is very much.
C: When did you start and why did you form this band?
R: It was the will of Allah.
S: It really did fall together very strangely. Well, me and him [Dave] were jamming already. Then I met this guy [Robert] and I could tell he would fit in good with our type of music. Not too many people can play this kind of music.
L: Robert can play anything!
A: Y’all were in Rodney Kingston Trio together, right?
S: Nah, he only played one show with us. It was a fluke.
E: And then Robert and I were jamming at that party at Deirdre’s house.
S: Yeah, she found us. We didn’t ask her.
E: I wanted to play with Robert. I didn’t want to play with the other two.
L: What’s the difference between a violin and a fiddle?
E: It’s how you play it. Violin is classical.
R: It’s spelled different.
D: Fiddle is the right way.
C: And why fiddle for the Family Scott?
D: ‘Cos we play weird country. I would think violin would work for some of our songs.
E: Violin wouldn’t work for any of these songs! You can’t wear jeans and play violin.
L: So Robert, this is the first band you’ve been in ever, right? The ham in you is coming out in full force.
D: We’re actually going to make a big ham suit for him, that he can fit into and still play guitar.
R: All of a sudden people are really cold now. “I saw you in BAM,” they say.
L: No way! You guys were in BAM? So you are saying you’re not getting the babes.
R: No, I’m not! That whole thing about you get in a band and get laid all the time – that’s total and utter complete bullshit.
D: All four of us have put the moves on Robert, but he won’t go for it.
L: And Dan, why did you get involved in this band?
N: To pick up chicks.
L: And, how’s it going?
N: Well… uh… why don’t we talk about something else?
I: Can we get you guys to pose nude later?
D: No.
L: Like the SF Weekly article!
S: Why don’t you get a picture of us wearing the most clothes we’ve ever had on in our entire lives… Like, we’ll have fucking 18 layers of clothes on.
L: What do you think about this new movement of country punk?
A: That’s not new. That’s as old as the hills.
S: It comes around every ten years.
A: The Hickoids, the Weeds… it’s old school.
R: It has to do with sun sports, actually. We got another four or five before it starts tailing off. We better start milking this cow for all she’s worth.
[much moo-ing[
C: What do you call your music? Psychobilly, punk, western?
E: I think BAM called it cheeseball rock… corn ball.
S: It’s just country.
C: [ire up] No, no, no, it’s not “just country.”
L: Are you actually from the country?
S: I’m from the hills of San Diego.
L: No, you’re not – you’re from the city. Are you from the country?
E: I’m from a town of 10,000 in Michigan.
L: [to Dave] And you’re from Michigan, too. The Midwest connection. [To Dan] What about you – are you from the country?
N: No.
S: He’s from another country. [groaning]
L: So, none of you are real country folk. You’re just poseurs.
S: It’s not true. My ancestors are hicks.
D: I don’t think that really is the point. It’s what you listened to as a kid. We had an old Johnny Horton record that I used to listen to over and over ‘til it was useless. And my dad had a 45 of Vaughn Monroe doing “Ghost Riders in the Sky.” I remember thinking that was just the coolest sound ever.
E: I guess we have to say it’s Dave’s fault.
S: My mom used to play country music all the time and I used to think, “That shit sucks; it’s too easy.” But then I met Dave and started playing it, and it was fun even though you’re only playing two notes.
L: Like punk rock.
A: Bluegrass is difficult.
D: It’s faster than punk rock. Earl Scruggs doing “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” is faster than anything.
A: What’d you do when Bill Monroe died?
D: I heard about it a couple days later and I was bummed.
E: I suggested we play a cover of his, but no one said anything.
N: Who’s Bill Monroe?
R: Kill him! Kill him!
S: We need a new drummer right now.
D: He’s the Neil Young of America, Canadian Guy.
C: I’m learning how to play drums.
A: And he’s a real hick!
R: So [Dan], do you want to ask the questions and Chris will answer them.
I: Where did the band’s name come from?
S: I just mentioned it one day. I didn’t really want it as a name. I said I didn’t like it, but these guys said we had to keep it, so it was all their doing not mine.
E: It’s after the toilet paper brand.
R: Scott Tissue approached with us the possibility of sponsorship.
A: How was it, raising chickens?
D: You raised chickens?
R: Why do you think I wrote the song?!
L: Because it’s a historical song. You’re informing people.
C: You wrote that song, man?
R: One day Dad took me and my sister out to San Fernando Road to the Feed N’ Seed. We didn’t know what we were doing at the Feed N’ Seed. Well, first it start with duck. Took ‘em home; raised ‘em up.
S: I did ducks, too.
N: You raised ducks?
A: He did ducks.
N: Oh man…
R: Got some chickens. one day we brought home a rooster. Pretty soon we have more chickens and lots of ducks. Actually soon we had so many ducks, we couldn’t give them away. Ducklings are easy to give away to stupid suburbanites, ‘cos they look really small and cute. Then they grow up, and we don’t know what happened to them. We gave away hundreds of those things.
D: They got et.
R: We couldn’t give away the eggs. My sister and I would get bored – we lived right next to the Ventura Freeway. We’d throw them in the air to see how high we could throw them without breaking them. Then we’d start throwing them on the 101.
E: They were hicks.
L: You were an actual Beverly Hillbilly.
R: San Fernando. They actually check your vehicle for chickens now when you enter Beverly Hills.
L: But I thought the song was about an actual historic movement where Jews had chicken-farming communes. During the commune of the early 1900s, these Jews came out to California and raised chickens.
A: He’s carrying on the tradition.
R: Yeah, sure, whatever.
A: So LA was founded by chicken-farming Jews.
L: Did you ever see the chickens fuck?
R: Oh yeah, all the time.
L: Really, what does it look like?
S: She wants to know about the sex lives of chickens. Get a life! Get your own sex life!
[much screaming and crowing]
C: Chickens do it three times a day.
A: [To Dan] You’re the most recent part of the band, right? How did you get hooked up with these guys?
N: I was working at Speedway as a messenger. This guy that used to work there, Shawn Miller, played bass. Being a drummer I was really into jamming with people because I just got into the city. I was over at his house jamming and Scott and Robert showed up. I think they were really drunk. They said, “What, you’re a drummer? We want to play you a song; we’re looking for a drummer.” They played with such a heavy groove, I was able to start playing at the intro. We played the whole song straight through, and we stopped at the same time. It just clicked instantly.
L: Elizabeth, what’s your background? Is it a classical violin background? Is it weird to play fiddle?
E: I stopped taking lessons when I started college, then I wanted to start playing fiddle again.
L: Does it seem like a step down?
[much righteous indignation]
E: No, it’s a lot harder. Because I was trained classically. You read the notes and then you do what it says.
S: She has to make up things with our songs.
E: It’s totally creative and I have to ask Scott what to play. Two years before I met these guys, I was playing with a lot of different people, but with one or two other people at a time. The thing is I don’t like is the amplification.
C: Are you still terrified to go on stage?
R: No, you got to remember this: the audience is just as scared of you as you are of them.
L: You guys should both put on the ham costumes.
E: If I had to play by myself, it’d be a big deal, but I really feel like we’re a good group.
L: So what’s the dirt--- do you guys fight or is it really supportive and good?
E: We don’t fight except Scott gets mad at Robert. Scott’s hard on Robert but nobody else can be, ‘cos he’s…
R: Kind of pathetic!
A: When are you going to do a country version of Frank Sinatra?
R: When Frank Sinatra starts doing covers of Family Scott songs!
L: When are you joining the Mafia? That’s where the money is.
R: Hmm… yeah, I know. We should start playing some of those weddings, huh?
L: When’s your first Bar Mitzvah?
R: I already had my first Bar Mitzvah.
C: Did you do most of the songwriting for Family Scott?
R: No, not at all.
S: Me and Dave write most of them. A fourth of them are old Bugtussel songs that Dave wrote.
E: But some of them, Mack wrote.
D: I’d like to say at this point, that McIlroy –
L: The Virginia Woolf of the band.
D: He wrote “Ugly Moon” and “Mack’s Liver.”
A: When are you going to cover, “She’s a Whore Just Like Mom”?
D: Never.
S: He did a song we want to do in the future. It goes, “When I think/I think I’ll drink/I think I’ll drink some more/’Cos when I drink/Don’t have to think/Don’t have to think no more.”
A: That sounds like a Shel Silverstein poem.
[Scott and Robert bust out]
L: That’s gorgeous; that’s beautiful.
S: I wish Mack could write all our words, but he can’t stay awake long enough.
A: Are you kidding?! He can stay awake for a week! What do you want, already – a month?!
S: The thing is, he’s not much fun to hang out with when he’s been awake for weeks. You’d have to have a fucking stenographer there to get all the shit down.
L: But he does lose his voice eventually.
D: He is truly the sixth Scott. He’s been our friend forever – since Harrison Street.
S: And I still ask him to help me write. I ask him for ideas, ‘cos the dude is a genius in a really stupid kind of way.
D: He’s one goofy bastard.
S: Obviously, anyone can tell the dude can talk. You have to write down what he says; he won’t write it down.
A: He writes a regular column for our ‘zine, I’ll have you know. I call it, “Mack Back on Sac.”
D: When I first met him, he was coming through this window. Mack had fallen asleep and just woke up in the middle of the night, going “Kill! Kill!” There’s probably a song there too.
R: You mean, “Kill Kill Fucking Kill”?
C: Who wrote “Hayride to Hell”?
S: Dave wrote that with Sean Maher.
D: We were up for a few days… I came up with this idea because I was back in Michigan and got stuck behind this hay truck. If you’ve ever been on a dirt road in a country town, you get stuck behind one of these hay trucks – it’s the most ridiculous thing in the world.
C: Takes up the whole road.
D: You can’t pass him and the guy’s going like two miles an hour.
S: No, seven miles an hour!
I: Do you guys do any covers?
S: Two. One’s traditional: “Blackberry Blossom” where Elizabeth sings. And, oh, we do three covers. “Don’t Fence Me In.”
L: [Ecstatic] Oh really?! I’ve been singing that while I’ve been riding! I LOVE that song. I’m so excited. It’s such a great messenger song too. “Don’t fence me in/I want to ride/I want to ride/Under the starry skies above…”
C: Who wrote that?
D: Cole Porter.
E: “Blackberry Blossom” is a classic. I took the words from Michelle Shocked.
D: It’s an old bluegrass standard.
R: There’s “Redneck Mother—“ which is also a cover.
L: Ray Wally Hubbard.
E: We’re learning another that’s a combination of Irish reels that Dave came up with.
D: I would personally like to do more covers. Things we’ve maybe heard in the background but never really thought of. Instead of doing like “Proud Mary” and all that bullshit. Instead of doing covers that are so obvious, why not do covers that people haven’t heard before?
E: Like “Black-Eyed Sailor.”
L: Is everybody listening to Top 40 all over the country?
D: God, let’s hope not!
A: Well, there’s definitely country pop.
D: I’d like to say this now, for all of us, new country sucks and your best bet is listening to old Bill Monroe, old bluegrass, old country. That’s where it’s at.
E: It’s the heart of America.
S: I don’t even consider the new stuff country. It’s like new pop, sang in a country way, but the music is really gay.
L: Because you put a new twist on this music, you’re not making fun of it – you really love it.
D: In songs like “Kentucky,” we poke fun at the whole lifestyle, but I don’t think that has anything to do with how we feel about the music.
S: I like it. I played heavy metal and hard rock until I met Dave, and now I enjoy it much better than I ever did heavy metal.
A: Why aren’t you playing banjo?
S: I’m not that good at it. I play bass. It’s hard to play bass and be a banjo-player.
A; Well, yes, two at one time could prove difficult.
E: Scott can not get satisfied with how the banjo’s amplified. It took such a long time for me to get comfortable.
S: We’re also thinking about bringing in a stand-up bass.
L: So, that’s almost getting into rockabilly territory.
D&S: No, no, no!
D: We play both kinds of music: country and western.
S: If we could find a jug player, I would invite them to join us.
L: Just for fun?
E: Just for the fun; I don’t think there’s any ulterior motives other than playing music.
R: Well, how do you rank sex, fun, and money? I think in that order.
E: I think it’s time to practice now!
I: What lays ahead for the Family Scott?
S: We need a demo tape.
L: So, you guys are all sticking together and this is what you’re going to do?
E: We’re the Family.
R: We’re all getting married.
S: We’re going to have the first five-way.
C: I wanted to ask the atypical question: who are your influences?
E: Scott, Dave, Robert, and Dan!
D: Bobby Horton, Hank Williams, and Bill Monroe.
S: My bass-playing influence is Geezer Butler from Black Sabbath. But then after I learned the stand-up bass, I learned this weird slap style…
D: Junior Husky, man, I’m telling you…
R: We rip off everyone.
C: You have no influences?
L: Well, there’s me, of course.
R: It’s all about Frank. It’s all Frank.
S: Yeah, Frank Sinatra was his guitar mentor. Frank showed him how to play lead.
L: What about you, Dan? What are your influences?
N: It’s really strange. My favorite bass-drum combinations are reggae oriented. In terms of this music, I just play what feels right for the mood.
D: You do a damn fine job, too.
R: I concur.

Post-script: Dan was replaced by Stephen MacMurray as drummer, shortly after this interview in 1996, who in turn was later replaced by Mario. The band broke up some years ago and, as of the end of 2005, Elizabeth Lee is currently playing in Gallimaufry Orchestra, Scott is playing in Piss’n’Vinegar, Dan is playing around in North Carolina, and Dave is somewhere lost in Michigan. Robert Stuart Joseph passed away on 13.December.2004.

What happened to Dan Carrigan.

"Family Scott," demo tape, 1996
“Hayride to Hades,” on Pothole, CMWC SF compilation CD, 1996
“Tornado,” on Mission Accomplished, compilation CD produced by Dill Records, 1996
“Mac’s Liver,” on Welcome to the Big Ring, CMWC DC compilation CD, 1998
"Family Scott, 17 Classic Songs" produced by Mac's Liver Productions, CD, 1999. Contact Scott for ordering info.