Machete Avenue Inspirational Songs
Scotty Scheid Talks to Suite101 in the Second Part of Our Interview
With the new album The Art of Carving due for imminent release, Scotty Scheid of Canadian indie band Machete Avenue discusses the depth of their songs and the new album.
- Genre: acoustic / ambient / folk
- Chad Michael Stewart (vocals / guitar), Scotty Scheid (piano / keyboards)
- Sounds like: Runrig / Sigur Ros
- Home: London, Ontarion, Canada
- Machete Avenue
The Power Of Standing Out
When Machete Avenue first hit the scene just over 2 years ago, people initially wondered what to make of them. After all, in an age where guitars traded with bass to see what could be the loudest, here were 2 guys with just an acoustic guitar and a keyboard and a collection of songs that defied the love (at that time) for bombastic indie rock. Yet it's Machete Avenue's very sound that people are now clamouring for.
Here, in the concluding part of our special interview, keyboardist Scotty tells Suite101 how he believes it's the band's unique sound that is now making them stand out amidst a sea of me-too bands and clones, and how the new album is even richer than the debut.
Scotty Scheid Interview Part 2: Inspirational Songs
Suite: Do you feel that this is a good time to be a Canadian indie musician, what with bands like Arcade Fire, Billy Talent, The Salads, etc, all receiving acclaim?
Scotty: Yes, I think that lots of great bands have surfaced over the past 5 years. A lot of them have obtained commercial success as well, and it's great to see all their hard work finally paying off. There are many other great up-and-coming bands now that I think will do well in the years to come too! I'll be honest and say that I don't listen to a lot of new bands too often, but I definitely respect every band and musician I see out there giving it their all. My only real criticism for the music today is that a lot of the bands sound the same. What really makes a band stand out to me is their originality - if I want to hear Alexisonfire, I'll go check out Alexisonfire, I don't want to see a carbon copy band. Then again though, I'd be happy to see a thousand Machete Avenue clones pop up some day (laughs)!
Suite: Your lyrics are more intellectual and in-depth than your usual boy meets girl type – where do you find your inspiration?
Scotty: I find my inspiration in Chad; he's the lyric man of this band. When Chad was in Blue Skies At War, I didn't really know him, and I wasn't really into the kind of music, but I remember the first time I went and saw them. Besides great songs, the singer really stood out to me. His voice wasn't the same as everyone else's, and his lyrics had a poetic feel to them unlike, as you say, the typical boy meets girl type. Needless to say, a couple years later when he asked me to join Machete Avenue, I was honoured. I had already heard some of the tracks and had noticed that he had become even more poetic with his lyrics. I know that Chad's thing is that he wants everyone to interpret a song personally against their own experiences. I remember shortly after we started jamming, I asked him about the lyrics to The Capsule and told him what they meant to me. It was amazing to hear from him that they were about something totally different, but it made sense in both situations. I'll go on record to say that the best vocalist in the world is in my band. It's one thing to have a great voice; it's another thing to tell a great story.
Suite: How is the new album (The Art of Carving) coming along?
Scotty: The Art of Carving has been an extremely long process. I think in total we did demos for about 34 songs, and in the end we had to cut it down to around 12 for the album. All of the songs will surface somewhere at some point [some already have on their MySpace profile] but I think in the end the ones we went with are delivering the best 45 minutes of music we could give to our fans. The recording process is done, and mixing is pretty much complete. Once we have the album mixed and mastered to the highest expectations we will announce a release date. For now, the best way to hear these songs is to catch us live. We pride ourselves on our live show, and I think that you can really get a feeling of the songs when you see us perform them.
Suite: And finally, if you were to describe Machete Avenue as a fruit, what would it be?
Scotty: I'd say a pomegranate (laughs). There is a lot of different music out there. There are a lot of different people giving their opinions on music. Hell, even I sometimes am very opinionated about bands. But with Machete Avenue, you can pick it apart into pieces, you can say it sounds like this and it sounds like that, but in the end it's Machete Avenue. Much like the pomegranate - you can break it down and eat those sweet little red seed things inside, but it's still a pomagrante in the end. One fruit there to serve its purpose. Machete Avenue is one band there to serve its purpose - give good songs to our fans!!
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