Interview with musician Scott Damn
Tonight our guest is Scott Damn from Las Vegas, NV. He studied Jazz guitar at an art school here in Las Vegas, from there he found his love for RnB and Hip Hop. He started Scott Damn with inspiration from Lido, Flume, Circa Survive, and generally pop/punk and RnB music. We have conducted an interview with him.
When did you first found your love for RnB and Hip Hop music?
In high school, I studied jazz for four years. My conductor claimed that Hiphop wasn't a real music genre because it typically doesn't have harmony. I couldn't imagine a more ridiculous thing to say so I started searching for some of the most musical and creative hiphop/RnB. From there I was listening to Chance the Rapper, D'angelo, Bad Rabbits, Blackbear, R Kelly, Schoolboy Q, etc..
What is your musical background?
I started playing guitar when I was 7, wanting to be more like my brother and hopefully be in a band with him one day. I started studying Jazz in middle school then got into a performing arts school for Jazz Guitar. I was playing Jazz gigs almost 4 days every week, and performing in numerous RnB bands. I also started messing around Ableton live when I was younger, so I've been producing electronic/hiphop music for some time now.
Where did you study music and which instrument did you choose to specialize in?
I studied music at my Performing Arts high school, and I specialize in Guitar. I was able to learn many different instruments in high school and thoroughly studied Jazz Music theory.
For your first release did you think it should be a remix?
I saw a remix contest for the Phantogram song Same Old Blues, a band that was and still is a great inspiration to me both live and in the box. I decided to try a remix because I've always found it more challenging than writing an original song. When I was able to finish the remix in about five hours and decided to post it because why not? It got a pretty cool reception and that was a neat start to the project!
Who is your greatest inspiration? How were you inspired, what did you produce?
My greatest inspiration to start the project was for sure Flume. I played a festival last year called Life Is Beautiful in Las Vegas. Flume was the last artist playing that I went to see, and was blown away by the energy of his live set. So I decided to create a project the next week! Some other notable mentions are Lido, Banks, Mura Masa, NAO, Sosupersam, Soulection, and Gallant.
Please share with us your music creation and writing style.
As of now, I make sure I can get the bones of the song down first. Before I would take too much time making good synths or choosing the right kick drums. I typically write my harmony around the kick drum patterns, from there I can create interesting rhythmic chordal patterns.
More info:
Website: http://www.scottdamn.com/Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/scottdamn
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scott_damn_music/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/scott_damn_
