SCARECROW, flies into the thunderclouds for his debut interview. Bass music is a household name for this aspiring producer. Well, when the Don, Caspa is your inspiration; good things will happen. Welcome, SCARECROW to the storm.
Question 1: Thank you for joining us. We are curious, where did the name Scarecrow come from? What sort of backstory is involved in choosing such a prolific icon as your alias?
Answer 1: Absolutely! This is my first interview, so I’m humbled by you for reaching out, thank you! The name Scarecrow was decided upon first and foremost because I had a good feeling with the name – I felt I related to it on many levels. At first, I thought about the Batman villain. Both me and DC’s Scarecrow have a background in psychology – specifically, we’re both Jungian Psychologists. He was a psychologist in a prison, I was once a prison guard. Also, Scarecrows defend crops from crows – in that sense the archetype of the Scarecrow aligns with that of the warrior. I’m a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. Deeper than that, I’m a bit of an esoteric knowledge nerd who likes horror movies and Scarecrows are ancient ghostly figures who hold the secrets of hidden realms. There are a lot of parallels and ways that I relate to the Scarecrow.
Scarecrow · SCARECROW – Mischief
Question 2: For the unknowing reader, and soon-to-be fans; what can you tell us about your journey into the dance music world? What lead you here, and ultimately what kept you?
Answer 2: I’m a latecomer to the dance music world! My first dance music festival was in 2016, its a smaller festival in the Midwest called Infrasound. There are a lot of UK dubstep acts there like Caspa, as well as trippy weird/awesome stuff like Tipper and Shpongle. I was blown away by all the new sounds, I had never heard music like it before. I’d say in 2018, when I went to Lost Lands was when this world locked me in and threw away the key. I’m a headbanger, I’ve been in metal bands for the last 15 years, and this was the first time I had encountered heavy dubstep and Lost Lands is a massive dose. After that I was hooked – and since I’ve been a musician my whole life – I knew I had to start making it myself
Question 3: You have a major presence on Twitter, which is where I found you. What do you feel Twitter does best for artists and on the contrary what do you believe it needs to work on for the greater good of music?
Answer 3: Discovering and connecting with likeminded people is probably the biggest strength of Twitter. There are few better places I can think of where you can so quickly connect with people that are outside of your circle. Within a couple months of using Twitter I had a quickly growing group of new friends who were at the same point in their journey as I was. I made great connections that are still with me today, many are Prophet Collective members. It’s important when you’re starting out to surround yourself with others that are working towards the same goal – you can learn and grow together. The problem is that Twitter’s biggest strength creates its biggest flaw – it creates an ever-polarizing echo-chamber which ultimately leads to extreme thinking, and it seems the posts that get the most traction are the most extreme posts – which is sad. As a musician, it’s hard to cut through all that noise and connect with those that would be a fan of your music.
Scarecrow · Led Zeppelin – Kashmir (Scarecrow Remix)
Question 4: If you describe your music to someone without using music/genre-based words; how would you do it? Be creative!
Answer 4: That’s very tough but I’ll try: High Energy, Heavy, Hard, Intense, Powerful, and a lot of crows cawing in the background.
Scarecrow · Surprise
Question 5: Without spoiling any good news, what are you currently working on that you can talk about?
Answer 5: At the time of this interview, I have 2 singles poised for release this summer. The first release is a dark future bass remix of a classic song that I believe captures how everyone is feeling about this year. The other is a heavy dubstep song called IMPACT, which marks the official beginning of the #CrowWar.
Question 6: As the world turns, we have been literally shit on this year (2020). How have you been keeping busy and remaining sane through-out the plethora of unfortunate news we seem to be given daily?
Answer 6: The world really has gone mad. I think we were stretched to the limit facing a pandemic and it set the stage for what was already going to be a grinding election year. When the protests started, I was glued to what I was seeing on Twitter. After a while, I couldn’t bear to watch it anymore – I hit my limit. I keep current with major events still, but focusing on producing music has been a major refuge for my sanity.
Scarecrow · Unfinished Business
Question 7: What new and exciting projects are you able to talk about? We are curious!
Answer 7: I think I have already given what I can as far as my upcoming releases go. I have a number of collabs in the works too, one of them is a Halloween release I’m excited about…
What I’m most excited about lately is the amount of festival streams that are coming my way. In the past month or two I’ve played on 3 different twitch festivals and one Minecraft festival. Live performance is what its all about, getting everyone in the same place listening to the same thing and vibing together. Music is awesome
Question 8: What sort of tech do you utilize in the studio? Walk us through the Scarecrow Inventory in your studio!
Answer 8: First and foremost I have a very powerful production laptop, which is probably my most important piece of equipment. Next, I have Presonus E4.5 studio monitors. I got them before I started producing or knew what made a good studio monitor, they have a clear enough response – the high end is a little pronunciated – but they have a good flat response in the low end. I’ve got a novation launch key to input midi. A Universal Audio Apollo Twin audio interface, which is excellent and helps me record guitar. Speaking of guitar, I have two of them. One of them is a 7 string, the other is a 6 string (I could go on for a very long time about them but this is a dance music blog lol). I’ve also got a Subpac that vibrates my chair to the music. Before I knew how to properly read a Spectrum Analyzer it was very helpful for determining if the subs were hitting properly. Now I mostly use it for enjoying music. I also suggest a mouse with macro keys and a second monitor – that will speed up your workflow by a lot.
As far as software goes I’m a big fan of Serum and Ableton – those are my main tools alongside the Flux session studio analyzer.
Serum is great because its highly visual, which makes it easy to pick up – its also a powerful synth. A few months ago I taught myself how to make custom skins for Serum and started making them for other artists. Soon, I’ll be releasing a pack of skins. This one is called Night Vision
Question 9: Are you an advocate of eating/drinking before a set? Or, are you a “no food, no drink” type of producer before hitting the decks?
Answer 9: I don’t like to be intoxicated before a set, but I will occasionally have a beer or two before I go on stage – maybe a little weed – but nothing crazy. I probably have more in common with the “no food, no drink” type producer than the guy getting wasted before his show. The way I look at it, you have a responsibility when you’re up there on stage. But it is a party, after all, and having a drink or two helps me relax and connect with the crowd. I’ve never considered no food before – I figure as long as I don’t load up on cheese before I go up there I should be fine hahaha.
Scarecrow · Krampus Mix Vol. 1
Question 10: Who do you believe deserves more spotlight and recognition in their up n’ coming music journey? Give them a shoutout to show some love!
Answer 10: There’s honestly too many to name. The Prophet Collective is a great place to start, lots of talented up ‘n comers that are committed to this journey.
Also, artists like Sleeper Cell, Martyr, VLCN, and Tephra come to mind. Their SoundClouds speak volumes, these guys are more than ready for some spotlight.
