April 17th, 2007
Interview with Jared Grabb from Scouts Honor
Scouts Honor’s Jared Grabb was kind enough to answer these questions about his band, the music industry, and his thoughts on the future of music sales. Taken from the band’s site, the band explains:
SCOUTS HONOR is a traveling three-piece rock’n'roll explosion. They sing about what they know specifically; that is the Midwest and the Farms, Friends, and Family that populate it. SCOUTS HONOR has shared the stage with such great performers as Against All Authority, Leftover Crack, Planes Mistaken For Stars, Minus The Bear, The Velvet Teen, These Arms Are Snakes, Spitalfield, Aloha, Examination Of The…, Ten Grand, and Denison Witmer. The have been on tour all year and have a new album, “I AM THE DUST”, out on No Idea Records.
Although I don’t know Scouts Honor very well, I know that Gared of Planes is good buddies with them and any friend of his is a friend of mine. Planes were based in the same home town that Scouts Honor call home, Peoria, Illinois, and it seems as though Scouts Honor draw from similar inspirations that Planes do.
Thanks Jared for taking the time to do this interview. Everyone stop by their Myspace page and check out a few tracks.
IndieHQ: When did your band start? Where is your band based? What label is your band on? Do you do the band full time? What don’t most people know about you/your band?
ScoutsHonor: Scouts Honor started in 2002 and is based out of Peoria, IL. We are associated with several record labels including No Idea Records, Smith 7 Records, Thinker Thought Records and Armada In Flames. We have been doing the band close to full-time (about 7 months/year on tour) for two years now. Most people don’t know that we’re famous celebrities. WAY famous.
IndieHQ: Where can people sample your music? Myspace url? Website? What is your latest album? What is your best selling release? How many has it sold?
ScoutsHonor: The websites http://www.myspace.com/scoutshonor and http://www.purevolume.com/scoutshonor are a good start. Our band site is http://www.scouts-honor.net. Our latest album is “I Am The Dust” on No Idea Records, although we have a 7″ coming out this month (April 2007) on Smith 7 Records. Our best selling release is “I Am The Dust” at a little over 1000 copies sold.
IndieHQ: What do you look for in a label? How did you hook up with your label? Would you ever consider signing to a major label? What advice do you have for bands attempting to get a label’s attention?
ScoutsHonor: We’re looking for as much support from a label as possible. If they’re into it and we know they’ll push it hard and help us to financially get by, that is what we’re looking for. Scouts Honor hooked up with No Idea Records because we were fans of the label and sent them music over the years. They eventually wrote back and told us they like it. As for a major label, we would consider an offer put on the table. It sure would be nice to make music and get paid. All I can say to bands trying to get signed is tour a lot, make friends, conquer myspace and any other promotional tool you find, and be persistent.
IndieHQ: I run a label and attempting to sell music in the post-file-sharing, post-Tower Records retail landscape is more difficult than ever. Do you feel that file-sharing/copying has helped or hurt your band? How??
ScoutsHonor: Honestly, I feel that for every loss from file-sharing, we’ve also gained. More people know about us but the record sales are about the same as I would expect if this weren’t the current industry climate.
IndieHQ: Do you have a booking agent? Who? Do you have a manager? Who? How important is it to your band that you have a booking agent and manager on your team?
ScoutsHonor: I (Jared) book all of Scouts Honor’s tours and manage us. It would be swell to have a competent booking agent and/or manager, but at this point I can do the booking better than most and would only accept an experienced agent and/or manager.
IndieHQ: As music sales continue to decrease and music distribution changes, there has been lots of talk about a new label business model where labels will need to start taking a share of the band’s merchandise, publishing, and ticket sales. How do you feel about this idea?
ScoutsHonor: I think labels should keep their hands out of all of those things. Bands are poor as is. The only reason we survive on tour is from merchandise, publishing, and ticket sales. Labels need to dig somewhere where there is actually money to be had. Bands aren’t that place.
IndieHQ: If you were forced to describe your band to someone by mentioning the 3 bands that most influenced your songwriting, which bands would you mention?
ScoutsHonor: Cursive, Johnny Cash, Planes Mistaken for Stars
IndieHQ: What do you see as the future of music sales?
ScoutsHonor: Digital music distribution is the way of the future. Compact discs will be as good as vinyl in a few years. Those who like liner notes and art will pick them up, but the wide majority of future sales lie in digital distribution.
IndieHQ: What 5 albums are you currently listening to most?
1. The Melvins “Stoner Witch”
2. Nas “Hip Hop Is Dead”
3. Regina Spektor “Begin To Hope”
4. Hank Williiams III “Straight to Hell”
5. Rescue “Paranoid”
IndieHQ: If you could get everyone in the world to listen to one song by your band, which one would it be? Why? Is it on your Myspace page?
ScoutsHonor: If I could get everyone to listen to one Scouts Honor song, it would be “Prison Bars”. This song sums up most of my life and a lot of the lives of people I know and/or meet on the road. It basically talks about hating your hometown for its limitations and at the same time appreciating that it is home. Everywhere we go on tour, kids complain about their hometowns. Nowhere is perfect. And, yes, “Prison Bars” is on our myspace page.
Written by Virgil Dickerson
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