Jim: You have a unique stage presence. You look like Alice Cooper and Gene Simmons possessed. What’s going on in your head while you’re playing on stage? Jim: What makes it all worth it being in Skidrow? Jim:Do you play any other instruments besides guitar? Jim: What are some of the newer bands that you like? Jim: Have you heard the cover of Slave To The Grind that Halestorm recorded? Jim: What do you do to warm up for a show? Jim: Your last studio effort, Revolutions Per Minute, it was a great album. Do you guys have any plans on putting a new studio album out soon? Jim: I remember when you guys put out the Besides Ourselves album, that must have been a lot of fun, cause you got to pick out songs you really liked that you wanted to cover. Did you guys ever think about doing something like that again for fun? Jim: Do you guys ever think about putting a live album out? Jim: Your new drummer, Rob Hammersmith, how did you find him? Jim: Thanks for taking the time to do the interview. Related Links: Back to Interviews Directory If you do not see a menu on the left click here to launch BeyondReflection (main page) in a new window.
Scotti: I describe it like this. It’s all the stuff you carry around with you during the day, little things that piss you off, It all comes out onstage. I’m a ham and I admit it. Most people when they meet me backstage are surprised to find out I’m pretty normal, as normal as any musician can be. When I get up there I’ll admit it, I’m a bad ass mother fucker. I enjoy what I do man. I like to get attention and I like to give people there’s money’s worth, If they took the time to come sit in front of me. I’m gonna give them something to watch!
Scotti: I’m proud of the bands history and all that. Just aside from the fact that it’s Skidrow, Just the fact of being in any band for almost 30 years is quite an accomplishment. Basically, what you’re doing is taking five dysfunctional people, and throwing them together in this bizarre marriage, weird band brotherhood and all that, so to be able to sustain that, for so long, is an accomplishment in it’s self, and being a part of Skidrow, it’s just been a part of my life, acutally, for more than half my life, so I really don’t know much different. It’s a brotherhood, a pride thing, we take it seriously. We want to be the best band we can, so it’s mega macho rock n roll brotherhood.
Scotti: Well, I recently became a dad.
Jim: Congratulations!
Scotti: Thank you man, Thanks. My wife and I had our first child. Marshal was born 3 1/2 months ago, so I’ve been playing the ukulele for him. I play the ukulele; I play a little banjo, some lap steel guitar, mostly string instruments. I don’t play any keyboard or wind instruments, but I’ve been enjoying the ukulele, and my son certainly enjoys it. He always smiles when I play it. Much like on stage, I put on a show for my boy too, and my wife, always entertaining.
Scotti: I wish I could tell you, but I haven’t found anything that really excites me. Snake and I had this conversation last week. Every once in a while, we bounce ideas off each other, “Have you guys heard this”? we all have similar tastes in music, and I find myself rediscovering older music, more often than discovering new music, and I’ve never really listened to a lot of music around the house. I listen to it maybe when I travel, on headphones, and all that, but other than that, I haven’t really heard anything recently, that excites me, so it’s a little disappointing, actually, I’d really like to find something, It’s always good to hear something that puts fire under your ass, or gives you inspiration, and all that, but not recently.
Scotti: I think it’s great.
Jim: They’re a great band.
Scotti: Yeah, they are, and I was really impressed with the cover, and her vocals. Fierce, it’s really, really, good, and flattering as well. It’s always flattering when somebody covers your stuff, and that’s a really kick ass cover.
Scotti: I do a little guitar warm up, to just warm my fingers up, a little bit. Do a little bit of stretching, stretch my neck a little bit. Depending on how I feel. It can get really physical, depending on the size of the stage. Probably hold back a little bit tonight, maybe, this place is very strange, strange room to play, but we’ve been coming here for a while now, and we’re used to it. The first time we played here I was like, “this is weird” but the pre-show thing is usually very quiet in the dressing room, everyone is kinda doing their own thing, stretching fingers, all that, and then when I get out there, it’s like, boom, explosion, you know, it’s just a flip of the switch, comes on, and I’m just a different guy.
Scotti: We are working on it, there are actually songs written already. We’ve demoed a few things already. We’ll be going to Atlanta in I’m thinking, about a month from now. We have a few things to do, including a photo shoot; record some demos, rehearse some of the new stuff, and maybe write a few more. I couldn’t give you an exact date of when it’s coming out, but we are working on it, we’ve been a little slow in the past making our records, but there not done, till there done. We have to make sure everything is right, everything needs to be written, needs to be recorded, and demoed. We you can hear a song in your head, think it’s the greatest thing ever, but when your band plays it, that’s when you really know. So you hash it all out, throw away the garbage and keep the good stuff, hopefully.
Scotti: No, we’ll throw a cover in the set every here, and there, but we haven’t really discussed doing another cover album, but your right, it was a lot of fun to do. When we recorded that we were on the road with Guns n Roses. On our day off we’d go in the studio and put down some tracks. It was about four or five sessions in various studios. It was a good time. It was a fun way to do a record, very spontaneous, but no immediate plans to do another one. We’d rather do the original music and perhaps throw a cover in there. We like to do that from time to time.
Scotti: We’ve talked about that as well, but we just have to get the recording rig and start recording this stuff. I would like to do a live record, being thatwe do fly dates, so we fly in, for example I flew into Providence, RI this morning, then drove up here, and I’ll fly home tomorrow. It’s a little harder cause you’re not playing on your own gear, Rob is not playing on his own drums, he’s playing on drums that are to his specs , but it would be more producing to do a live record on our own gear, out on tour where we’re playing every night, the band is super tight.
Scotti: He’s from Atlanta, Rachel lives in Atlanta. He was in a band called Rockets To Ruin, that Rachel had been producing, and they were friends. We were acquainted with Rob. When it was time to find somebody he was obvious. The first thing I said was, “how about Rob?” That’s what we all said, “how about Rob” He was way into it. He’s a rock n roller form way back. Grew up listening to our shit, A couple of years younger than us. He’s a great fit for the band. From the first days, he’s brought a nice breath of fresh air in here. Not to take anything away from anybody else. He’s very driven, very musicianship to the max, really professional, and made me want to be better, made Snake want to be better, made us want to be better as a band, really just tightened up the whole thing. I could hear the difference immediately.
Scotti: Thanks, anytime, anytime brother.
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