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Popcycle

Scott Peterson is the singer and main songwriter for the local pop band Popcycle. In this interview, Peterson talks about being raised by Kruddler, how a rotating cast of musicians helps keep the music fresh, and about their CD release shows at the Uptown on Saturday, July 26 and at the Turf on Thursday, July 31.

 

Scott Peterson: When I was about 14, I saw the Compleat Beatles video in a junior high general music class and I pretty much wanted a guitar immediately. So my Mom’s cousin had an old classical acoustic guitar, which she was nice enough to give to me. It wasn’t as easy to play as the tennis racket I’d been practicing in front of the mirror with, but my dad had learned how to play the bass line to Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line” from a buddy of his back in the Air Force and he taught it to me. It was just a few notes, but even just playing that was exciting to me. Then I took a couple actual lessons and when I learned how to play chords, I got a few Beatles chord books, then an electric guitar and a practice amp.

 

My friend across the street from the age of 3 was Tim Baumgart, who is now the drummer for Kruddler and Big Ditch Road. He played drums in band at school and was good, so I’d bring my guitar and some sheet music over to his place and we’d jam on Beatle tunes. Then I’d get to a bar chord and have to stop because I couldn’t play those yet—next song, flip the page. Eventually, we got our friend Shane Gallivan (Kruddler) to play with us and we’d practice in my garage until someone in the neighborhood would call the cops and we’d have to shut it down. Then we got permission to practice after school in the school auditorium and we’d be rocking out and the choir teacher would come in and hum pitches to us so we could tune our guitars.

 

Before too long, we got to play talent shows and school dances. At the talent shows, we’d string together as many songs as we could for maximum playing time. So we’d play medleys of like “Jailhouse Rock” and “You Really Got Me” mixed with the song “Cocaine” and The Bangles version of “Hazy Shade of Winter,” which didn’t really go together but they were songs we knew. Then we got our first actual gig for a friend’s Dad’s 40^th birthday party at a VFW. We played ‘50s and ‘60s covers, plus one or two originals and sang with British accents, sort of unintentionally, but the people there danced and we had a really good time.

 

Then in college, Tim and I had a band called the Rubberducks, where we played mostly original songs at such venues as Fernando’s on Lake and Valli Pizza in Dinkytown—don’t look for them, they’re not there anymore.

 

SP: Usually the first thing is I get one good line or rhyme or idea that I want to convey. Then, depending on what the mood of that line is, I try to come up with some chords on guitar or piano that fit the mood. I try not to overthink them too much, because then they tend to be too “clever” and then they’re just not as good or sincere. Once the song is finished, I have to practice it, because I usually can’t sing it well until I practice it and find the melody.

 

It’s changed a little bit lately, because now I’ve been able to work things out in GarageBand to get a better idea of how the song works. Then, if I think it’s good enough, I bring it to the band at rehearsal and I’ll play some of it, sort of sneakily, like during a break or something and if someone in the band says excitedly, “What’s that?” or “Is that the new one?” we’ll give it a try. If no one says anything, or they say “Are you playing a Big Star cover?” I either try to make it different/better or I stop playing it. Then after we’ve got the music down and everyone’s come up with something good to play, Mike Kittel our drummer and Ron Albert our guitar player/keyboardist will come up with harmonies—and they’ve both got great voices, so once they figure out what they’re doing with it vocally, it’ll pretty much be finished. 

 

 

SP: Well, Mike and I have been the constants since the start, about 1996. At first, me and my friend Dave Riggs shared songwriting responsibility in the band and Pete Hofmann, probably the most talented musician I know, was our bass player. Then, Pete went on to do his own thing and so did Dave. So we got Bryan Rosenau to take over on bass and Jeff Johnson (bassist for Chooglin’) to play lead guitar. Then we got Ron in the band as a multi-instrumentalist and Bryan left, so we brought in Eric Buckman of Blame on bass, then Jeff left. But, of course, those changes were all gradual, taking place over the course of 10 years.

 

For me, I like to play music with friends, so I’ve been lucky to have had friends who are also talented people to play with. In a band, there are just times when everybody’s not on the same page and if the music suffers because of that, it needs to be addressed and resolved. It’s always nerve-wracking when someone leaves, but it also gives you a new way of hearing things and working and it gives the band a different dynamic, which keeps it fresh. Usually, whenever the lineup changes, things get better.  

 

 

SP: Mainly, it changes when the lineup changes. I’ve kind of always just done what I do as far as how I write songs. I like to think I get better at it as time goes on, as long as I work hard at it. When Jeff joined, we really kicked things up a notch, because he’s such a good guitar player with a natural instinct for playing rock & roll. I learned a lot from him while he was in the band. And then when Ron came in, we could work with keyboards, so that kind of opened up our sound a lot, too. For now, we’re going for a two guitar, bass and drum “attack,” with three of us singing and occasionally, we’ll bring the keyboard out, too. I hope what sets us apart or makes us unique now is the vocal thing we’ve got going on. Also, over time, we’ve grown more at ease in the studio and we’ve been able to get closer to the sounds we want than when we first started and were just inexperienced in a recording studio. You know, the name’s Popcycle, so that really kind of says it right there, I guess. I try to keep it pretty basic. 

 

 

SP: I know this is kind of an obnoxious answer, but really, all of it. Overall, as the years have gone on, I’ve realized I’m writing about the same things over and over again in slightly different ways: getting through life, love, growth, death and maybe a bit of dark humor. And that’s really what all the songs on Yesterday’s Blast are about. So after we’d recorded seven of the songs, I came up with “So In Conclusion,” as the last song on the CD. It sort of sums up what I’ve been trying to do ever since I started writing songs. So now that I’ve done that, maybe the next project will be wildly experimental or political or spoken word. I haven’t decided yet.

 

 

SP: You’re going to see a great rock show, with a great line-up—Ol Yeller, Kruddler and The Hearers from KC—and a lot of people up on stage and in the crowd who are happy to be there. Of course, it’s going to be Ol’ Yeller’s last show, so that makes it a little bittersweet. Rich [Mattson] produced a couple of our albums and I respect him as a mentor and songwriter/musician, so I’m honored to be on the bill with them one last time. Also, we’ll be playing the songs off the new CD, some old favorites and maybe there’ll be a surprise or two—yikes, that sounds show-bizzy.

 

And since the fun we’re going to have can’t be contained in one night or in one city, we’re also having a CD release party on Thursday, July 31 at the Turf with Dan Israel and The Cultivators and Luke’s Angels, where we’ll probably have time to reach back into our catalog of songs a bit more. I can’t wait!

 

 

I just want to say the songs from the new album and other Popcycle songs are available for FREE on our Web site at www.popcycle.net Thanks!