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Hi Scoob, welcome to VENTS! How have you been?
AMOGUS. I’m great, thanks for having me! Just sitting on my balcony with a cup of Dark Horse coffee (now with real horse!) under a eucalyptus tree in my hometown, San Diego.
Can you talk to us more about your latest single “Don’t Worry”?
Sure! “Don’t Worry” is a song about worrying about worrying. Trying to live my best life and all that nonsense, I enabled push notifications for all sorts of “self-improvement” apps. Drink more water, have you meditated today, your Japanese lesson awaits—all that sort of noise. It buried me.
Before the pandemic, I used to think that lack of time was the problem. Turns out it was me all along!
Did any event in particular inspire you to write this song?
It was more of a collection of events. From my day job to life and loss, a ton of crap built up all at one point. When it rains, it pours! But I think writing, producing, and reflecting on this song helped me to come to terms with a few things. I’m not meant to be a robot. Slow, technologically driven and app-recorded daily progress works for some people. But for others, it’s okay to not track every cup of water and log every second of meditation. My Japanese in particular has improved the most by just making it a part of my life, rather than something I sit down and type my progress into a spreadsheet. Sometimes anxiety can nudge us closer to self-awareness.
Any plans to release any sort of video for the track?
Every single song I make (aside from my first record) has a music video on my YouTube page. So yes—I will definitely be making a video. I’ve found I like making videos in collections, rather than on a single-to-single basis. There just more to sink my teeth into when making a visual album or EP. Speaking of which, my new visual EP, Little Hug, drops on 4-20!
The single comes off your new album Big Hug – what’s the story behind the title?
My last full-length record was called Masks and Monsters, and it really explored a lot of the feelings and absurdity stemming from 2020. Little Hug (the EP) and Big Hug (the LP) are a necessary answer to the last record. I’m trying to create a musical experience that is consoling. Not in a distant or bubblegum kind of way, but in the way talking to an old friend can feel. That sense of “I get you” and “I hear you.” That’s what I need, so hopefully this record can help others feel supported too.
What made you want to go for a visual record?
I feel like music making in 2021 almost requires corresponding visuals. Not in a perfunctory sort of way—more like I want to make an experience where someone can listen to my record alone, in headphones and feel comfortable. I want a new fan to dig into my catalogue like binging a Netflix show. I also think humor is an important and often missing part of music. This future we inhabit is absurd. It is beautiful and terrible and everything in between. I think my visual albums can bring some of that humor and absurdity into serious songs and vice versa.
I also like making my own videos. I’m no filmmaker, and I think that’s okay. I don’t know if music fans realize that bands historically have spent $10–100k on videos. Personally, I want the bands I love to keep as much of their money, so they can keep making art, rather than having a bill to their record label a mile long.
With that in mind, I’m trying to make fun (and sometimes stupid) videos and hoping my audience is alright with me not doing sexy videos with face closeups, models, and all that. I mean, if that’s your thing, you’d probably hate me!
How was the recording and writing process?
As a one-man band, I attack the recording and writing process in a ton of different ways. Sometimes it starts with a lyric and melody I write at the beach, many others it starts with a bass riff or groove that I topline. I like working fast. Everything from my first record, Finding SD, was written, recorded, mixed and mastered in a day. Now, I usually spend three or so days on a song, but I like writing lyrics and recording vocals at the same time.
Something can be lost when a song is written and forgotten and re-remembered. Just like how there’s a magic in improv comedy—I think there’s a feeling of risk and play that improv captures. It’s joy. Jazz, baby. So, I try and improv a lot of my music with Pro Tools running. Celebrating mistakes and little failures. Chasing tails and making heads of it in post-production.
It’s easier since I’m the one mixing and producing and all that. Less chance for communication breakdown!
What role does Encinitas play in your music?
Encinitas is my home. But it’s also too expensive now for me to live in. I’ve watched it grow as I’ve grown, with gentrification tearing at some of my favorite bits (like Kealani’s and the old snack shack). But also watched the locals fight back (Whole Foods closed) and a good chunk of the original culture keep root. I still go to La Paloma every Valentine’s Day with Velma to catch The Princess Bride. We won trivia once. V proud.
Encinitas has this mystical vibe, with the Self-Realization Fellowship and other somewhat fringe religious communities calling Encinitas home. But there’s a good fun to it. Like my favorite brewery Pizza Port naming their flagship IPA Swami’s—incidentally I named my second record SWAMI’S too. Or the Cardiff Kook—a statue we initially hated but then started to dress up. One of my close friends in Carlsbad actually was one of the first to playfully dress the statue. I think he made him look like Van Gogh.
I hope my music reflects this dual nature. Struggling with some realities of life (like getting pushed out) but celebrating the small victories (keeping the culture) and feeling hope for the future. A beachy, somewhat relaxing nature is across my music—though with occasional chaotic moments like when I was a kid around the fire pits at Moonlight, sneaking beers and raiding the snack shack for surfboards to paddle out at night.
What aspect of stress and daily life did you get to explore on this record?
For Little Hug, the title track really takes a look at how much we need intimate contact—physical and otherwise. And how hard it is to go this long without really seeing each other. I also have a song called “Premadonna” about student debt and obligations, digging into the crisis so many of us face having made big financial decisions before really understanding what that means.
There’s so much stress baked in. And so little of it is understood by the elites in this country or in the world. It’s lonely. But it’s strange, because more of us feel it than don’t. So hopefully my concerts can be little singalong moments of community. A place to commiserate and celebrate. A rare place where you don’t feel alone.
Where else did you find the inspiration for the songs and lyrics?
The internet is clearly a big source for me. I spend a lot of time on Reddit and different smaller internet communities. My band name comes from there, and so does a lot of lyrical inspiration.
For the grooves, I look back to the 70s a lot. For Scoob fans, the first two Brothers Johnson records, Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain, and pretty much all of Rick James should be required listening! I also love to draw from the Beatles (as does everyone), but I particularly draw from them as a recording engineer. And I love the guitar work on D’Angelo’s Black Messiah. Isaiah Sharkey is the man. James Jamerson and Carol Kaye are my two favorite bassists. And my favorite drummers are Bernard Purdie and Nate Smith—and Bravo Buggs!
Throw all of that into a pot, add some more pot, and you get Scoobert Doobert!
What else is happening next in Scoobert Doobert’s world?
I’m hoping to convert this internet band to IRL. But I’m also hoping to keep a foot in the internet even when you see me life. Coming up, I’ll be releasing a ton more recorded music, videos, and mini songs. Some people on Reddit requested some new remixes (I’ve been remixing San Diego jingles for fun), so expect some weirdness on there too. Be sure to check out all of my different social media channels. I try to have unique bits of music and visual “art” for each, so it’s easy to miss something that you might love! Find all the links at my website: ScoobertDoobert.Pizza
And of course, feel free to send me a dm. I love just talking to people, sending memes, and miss social interaction… now more than ever. The new normal. We’re all in this together.
Connect With Scoob
Official Site/Instagram/Spotify/Official Beformer Site
