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1. Hi guys, welcome to VENTS! How have you been?
Feeling great, thanks for having us!
2. With Albert officially joining on vocals and Coba coming in on bass and vocals, RISE marks an important new chapter for the band. What did each of them bring to the band creatively that made you realize this was the right lineup moving forward?
Albert has been with the band for 3 years now and has been crushing it live with us; both on and off stage. He’s also really been connecting with our fans and enjoys the hangs. On the Emos Not Dead Cruise for example, he’s always out and about bonding and being fully engaged with our community, which is a really important part of what this band is, and he seems to understand that part of us deeply. Same with Coba. We love these guys and the vibes are strong with these ones. We like them and we would like to keep them.
Also, Albert and Coba killed it on the new album.
3. “Something In The Water” is our first real introduction to this new era of the band. What was it about this song that made it feel like the right track to introduce Albert and Coba and give listeners a taste of what RISE has in store?
This track is a strong example of the heavier direction of the new album. Groovy chugs and balanced screams from both Albert and Coba, as well as a great example of Albert’s clean vocals in the chorus, we felt like this was a good lil taste of what’s cooking.
4. Scary Kids Scaring Kids have gone through several different approaches to vocals in recent years, particularly with Out of Light and Maps Written In Water featuring a different guest vocalist on each track. What did you learn from that experiment, and how did it influence the decision to establish a more permanent vocal identity for RISE?
We really enjoyed the diversity of music the past two albums allowed us to create. We feel super privileged to have had the opportunity to work with so many great vocalists during that period and learn from different styles. With this album, we were motivated to write a collection of songs that felt cohesive through a single vocal style. At the same time, Albert was becoming a bigger part of the band’s identity. It only felt natural that we made it official and brought that all together in RISE.
5. The band’s history is such an important part of its identity, especially with Tyson Stevens’ legacy continuing to be carried forward. How do you approach honoring what Scary Kids Scaring Kids was originally built on while allowing the band to evolve naturally rather than simply trying to recreate the past?
This is something we think pretty deeply about, and are extremely grateful that our fans have continued to support us. Losing Tyson, who played such an important role in shaping the band’s sound and identity, meant that accepting that the band would never be the same. Coming back initially just gave us to perform these songs live again. Since then, the opportunity to write as a family again, as we’ve done since we were 16, just felt natural. We continue to write what feels most authentic to us at the time, and try our best not to be impacted by external influences or expectations. Our new album is quite a bit heavier as a result.
6. RISE arrives after more than two decades of Scary Kids Scaring Kids’ history, including the early success of The City Sleeps In Flames and the self-titled album. When you listen back to those records today, what aspects of that original sound still feel essential to the band, and what are you deliberately leaving behind?
Driving keyboard leads, solid riffs, and a few solos here and there, have felt necessary for the albums we’ve released to date. We chilled out on the screaming on the last couple albums, leting each featured vocalist shine with their own style; with this album we’re back with the brutal scream and melodic vocals combo that come natural to us. We found a place on the album for a goat scream, but haven’t deliberately left anything behind. Still can’t find the right song for a nice clean whistling solo, but we’ll keep searching.
7. Chad stepped into the producer role for Maps Written In Water, marking his first full album as a producer after making music with Pouyan for more than 20 years. How did that experience change the way you think about the band’s songwriting and recording process going into RISE?
It was a great experience, and a totally natural progression from Chad producing the band’s demos over the years. During the hiatus, he spent a lot of time writing and producing music for himself and other artists. It felt like the right time to take more control over our own production, and it’s definitely more work, but having that level of creative ownership has been awesome. We’re able to schedule production sessions on the fly, go out to Joshua Tree and set up shop, or plug in on the bus and lay down some guitar we want to pump up a bit. Nothing beats that freedom. We’re super excited for people to hear the result in RISE.
8. There’s a fascinating contrast between the band’s early-2000s post-hardcore roots and the very different musical landscape Scary Kids Scaring Kids are operating in today. What do you think has changed most about the band’s creative instincts since those early records, and what has remained exactly the same?
I think back when we wrote our first EP and album as teenagers we wrote from a place of frustration with the systems and the environments we were in. We’ve since gone through a period where we didn’t have those systems, and now; it feels like we’re right back in the center of very similar frustrations.
9. You’ve recently returned to stages connected to the band’s history, including Warped Tour Long Beach, while also preparing to close out the year at Warped Tour Orlando. What has it been like experiencing these shows with the new lineup and seeing longtime fans alongside people discovering the band for the first time?
It took us a long time to nail down this lineup, a group of dudes we couldn’t be more thrilled to play, write, and hang with; a super tough combo to find. It’s kind of crazy to see audiences at our shows to be bigger than they’ve ever been at this stage of our career, and it’s awesome to see it through the eyes of our new members too. When we first returned to do a reunion tour, the audience was largely made up of fans who missed the band or hadn’t had the opportunity to see us in the past, and now we’re talking to a lot more people who are telling us they’ve just discovered Scary Kids for the first time. It’s a great feeling to be able to connect with people through music. We’re all really just happy to be here.
10. Albert has spoken openly about his experience as a gay musician and about the moments when the music scene has felt welcoming as well as those when it hasn’t. How important is it to you that Scary Kids Scaring Kids creates an environment where everyone in the band can bring their full identity into the music?
Hate of any kind has no place in any scene or community we’re a part of, and certainly not in the spaces we create. We hope our band can help create an environment where everyone feels comfortable showing up as their full, authentic selves, and where people who might otherwise be strangers can find a sense of community.
11. After RISE arrives, what do you hope this new chapter ultimately becomes for Scary Kids Scaring Kids? Are you thinking of it as a continuation of the band’s legacy, a fresh starting point, or something that doesn’t really need to fit into either category?
This feels different. With a solidified lineup and Albert leading on vocals, we feel like a band again. More than anything, this feels like a new beginning.
