Scary Kids Scaring Kids: Fear Before The March Of Change

Posted by Rachel Lux on 11-Jan-08 @ 07:04 PM

Their sophomore album is a melodic departure from their screamo debut, and they're a constant (and popular) target for internet haters. But are SCARY KIDS SCARING KIDS setting themselves up for a fall from the top before they reach it?
Story: Tim Karan
Photos: Bill Sitzmann

Pouyan Afkary is worried. As he sits offstage during soundcheck at Station 4 in St. Paul, Minnesota, the wavering concern in his voice is unmistakable-even over the phone. Is it because Scary Kids Scaring Kids' bus has broken down for the second time in a week, causing last-second U-Haul rentals and uncomfortable rental-car rides? (After all, there are six members in the band.) Is it because Scary Kids are in the middle of a sonic shift away from the screamo stylings that brought them from the depths of basement shows in the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert to the brink of certified scene stardom?

Nope.

"I'm really kind of afraid that the Nintendo Wii will become so popular that it alters all the other video game systems [and they] stop making regular games."

As far as existential crises go, this one currently raging beneath Afkary's cascading and (we're not afraid to say) luxurious mane of dark brown hair isn't quite Nietzschian. But he's obviously not too concerned that Scary Kids' brave new direction will cost them fans.

"Kids who wanna talk shit because we didn't write the same album twice don't need to be our fans," says the keyboardist. "Those kids can go listen to the next band that sounds exactly like the last band."

And with that, the subject is closed. For a band that never expected to continue seriously after high school, there's no reason to start second-guessing their natural progression. After all, says Afkary, "It's gotten us this far."

It was a year or so ago when Tim Kinsella stopped through Arizona with guitarist Sam Zurick and their band Make Believe. Both were in the iconic Chicago indie outfit Cap'n Jazz, who a decade earlier, released a song called "Scary Kids Scaring Kids." "We were in Phoenix, where we always play the same small 100-capacity place to the same 40 people," Kinsella recalls. "But this time, we were on tour with mewithoutYOU, and suddenly we were playing to 600 or 700 people. We were like, 'This is crazy! What kind of Phoenix is this? Turns out that it was the place that Scary Kids Scaring Kids were playing. I remember saying to Sam, 'Isn't this crazy? That band that named themselves after one of our songs is playing to, like, 20 times more people than us.'" Ironically enough, Kinsella hadn't heard the band yet (and still hasn't), which put him in the minority in Phoenix at the time.

The buzz began growing almost immediately after the sextet formed in 2004 among a group of bored high school friends-vocalist and Canadian import Tyson Stevens, guitarist Chad Crawford, then-guitarist and current-bassist DJ Wilson, soon-to-be keyboardist Afkary (he took two years of lessons as the band progressed because he'd never played before) and former drummer Peter Costa. Stevens, Crawford and Costa had been in bands together previously, but during their junior year, the entire group came together as Scary Kids Scaring Kids-taking their name from a Google search stringing together random words. ("I don't think anyone had even heard Cap'n Jazz before that," recalls Afkary, truthfully.)

Within a few months, the band played their first gig in front of a frozen custard shop in nearby Mesa, Arizona, and quickly gained a cult following, largely due to their dangerous performances. "Back then, we didn't have to focus on our music sounding tight," says Afkary, whose manic stage repertoire at any time includes fire-breathing, an inordinate amount of chest pounding and/or impromptu stripping. "We would go dumpster diving before shows behind the grocery store near my house and find microwaves and lamps and ridiculous things to destroy onstage. We figured, 'What the hell? It'll be funny. Our friends will get the joke."

It wasn't long, however, before industry-types developed a similar sense of humor. Using part-time job earnings that Afkary was saving for a post-graduation trip to Europe and relying on the kindness of their parents, Scary Kids recorded the After Dark EP with local legend Bob Hoag (the Format, Recover), bought a van and began jumping on shows anywhere that Costa could snag a slot. Around this time, guitarist Steve Kirby (a year older than the other members and harboring a semester's worth of college credits) jumped aboard. After the last of the band had their high-school diplomas in hand, the touring went into overdrive and the buzz really kicked in.

"Our songs started going up on Mp3.com and getting lots of hits," says Kirby, barely audible on the phone as a piercingly loud synthesizer soundcheck shrieks in the background, "and then word got out about us on sites like AbsolutePunk.net, and that's when we started getting offers from Immortal and Fearless."

Signing with Immortal, the band sprinted into the studio to record The City Sleeps In Flames-an album that Kirby says never fully showcased what Scary Kids were capable of even though it's been almost entirely responsible for their national success. "It was really rushed," he says. "I don't think anyone expected us to sell more than 30,000 records, so it was a shock to see we could go so far just off that album alone. I mean, up until now, that's all we've gone off of."

However, everything hasn't always fallen so neatly into place for the band. After several years of constant touring with bands as diverse as Silverstein and Bullet For My Valentine and during the end of Scary Kids' tumultuous run on the 2006 Warped Tour (Note to aspiring Warped bands: Never lend your all-access passes to your friends), drummer Costa, who was becoming increasingly reclusive and spending most of his off-time reading The Book Of Mormon, revealed that he was embarking on a mission.

"We had no idea it was coming," says Kirby. "We already had another tour planned and we had to bust ass to find a replacement. It just never occurred to us that we'd stop. And Pete didn't want us to." The band enlisted Justin Salter as a replacement, but within the first year, he suffered a serious back injury while running. The band then took their third, hopefully final swing with former Yesterdays Rising drummer Jamie Etheridge, who once shared a van ride with a few of the Scary Kids during a tour both bands did together. If this sounds like the plot of a familiar movie, you've obviously got a DVD player-or Comedy Central. "We started to feel like we were in Spinal Tap," says Afkary, laughing. "I don't think the rest of us are worried something is going to happen to us. I mean, I've done some stupid shit-like jumping from the top of a club with high ceilings onto a crowd that wasn't giving any energy at all-and I've lived. I think as long as I stay away from the drum set, I should be fine."

That might be difficult for Afkary, whose manic onstage persona makes him the band's Wentzian figure-that is, a frontman who isn't technically the frontman. That role belongs to the soft-spoken Stevens, the band's primary songwriter who prefers speaking through his personal lyrics rather than the barrage of onstage banter Afkary provides. "I don't mind sharing the spotlight at all," says Stevens. "Sometimes Pouyan can be a little much for me, but we've all learned how to deal with each other. I put a lot of passion into our songs-writing mostly about family and friends and situations people can relate to."

But during planning for Scary Kids' self-titled sophomore release, the writing-musically, at least-began to shift. The hardcore screaming sections apparent on City Sleeps subsided, moving toward a more melodic, Vheissu-era Thrice approach, and possibly just as noticeably, opening the floodgates for internet cries of "WTF?." Although there are scattered traces of their past in visceral tracks like "Degenerates" and "Snake Devil," Scary Kids 2.0 tend to build songs around melodies and hooks, as opposed to the growling hardcore on City Sleeps. There are also a few spots that might catch fans off-guard, like a piano ballad ("Watch Me Bleed") and the occasional emo underpinning ("Goes Without Saying"). None of this however, doesn't bother the band in the least. "We're not rebelling against the screamo tag, but we're definitely moving away from it," says Stevens. "We just wanted our music to be more listenable and not specific to one genre. It doesn't really matter to us what kids might think. This is what came naturally." But the fact that Scary Kids recently signed an upstream deal with RCA (meaning if the new Immortal release sells a certain amount of copies, they'll be bumped to the major label), only adds fuel to those message board fires. Though, if this is selling out, Kirby says, the band haven't seen much of what would be the primary symptom-money. "We all still live at home and have been living off per diems for three years," he says with a laugh, mapping out the band's loose plan to soon move in together in San Diego. "My hope is that I'll one day be able to pay my own phone bill."

While many internet gossip mongers might claim the band's metamorphosis is an attempt to crossover into fleeting mainstream stardom, Afkary says they couldn't be more off-base. The new album isn't a dash for cash; it's the beginning of what they hope will be a long career.

"Bands like Brand New and Thrice who have been able to grow and play what they love regardless of what fans believe... Those are true musicians," he says. "If you regurgitate your last album, you're going to be short-lived. But if you stay true to yourself and have your audience grow with you, that's when you're in a real, actual band." ALT

NO USE FOR A (COMPLETELY ORIGINAL) NAME
Scary Kids Scaring Kids aren't the first dudes to commandeer their name from another band (Cap'n Jazz, take a bow). You'd think that with all the words in the English language, musicians would want to string a few together in a way that's never been done before to name the vehicle of their personal artistic expression. There are obvious references: Hit The Lights (a song on Metallica's Kill 'Em All) and Paint It Black (which is one of the most covered Rolling Stones songs ever); and patently obscure ones: Stars Of Track And Field (from Belle And Sebastian's If You're Feeling Sinister) and Funeral For A Friend (track three on Planes Mistaken For Stars' Fuck With Fire). Given this obvious trend in pop culture recycling, we figured we'd give the members of Scary Kids Scaring Kids another shot at naming their band after a song title, ya know, just in case. Here's their short list of contenders:

SEXYBACK
SOURCE: Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds
CHOSEN BY: DJ Wilson (bass)
REASONING: "Because of the impressive and eloquent manner in which Mr. Timberlake articulated such a musical masterpiece which, in my modest opinion, certainly brought sexy back into my life. I've also recently been incorporating his fresh, cutting-edge dance moves into my live performance."
VERDICT: This might work. Damn you, Timberlake. Damn you and your infinite, sassy wisdom. (We also would've accepted Dick In A Box or My Dick In A Box.)

DIDDLE MY SKITTLE
SOURCE: Peaches' The Teaches Of Peaches
CHOSEN BY: Steve Kirby (guitar)
REASONING: "Those who know me well know I'm obsessed with Wild Berry Skittles in the purple package. This song really captures that love for me!"
VERDICT: There will likely be copyright infringement suits brought on by Mars, Inc., but, hey, if they didn't go after the foul-mouthed Peaches, then...

TONIGHT I'M GONNA ROCK YOU TONIGHT
SOURCE: Spinal Tap's This Is Spinal Tap
CHOSEN BY: Pouyan Afkary (keyboard)
REASONING: "Sometimes you just need to party!"
VERDICT: Sure, this raucously redundant song is from This Is Spinal Tap, but Afkary-an admitted gaming enthusiast/addict-likely came in close contact with the title thanks to its presence on Guitar Hero II.

BUDSMOKERS ONLY
SOURCE: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's E 1999 Eternal
CHOSEN BY: Chad Crawford (guitar)
REASONING: "Hopefully, it needs no formal explanation."
VERDICT: This could be genius. You open yourself up to a whole generation of Phish fans looking for a place to sway incoherently.

EAGLEHEART
SOURCE: Stratovarius' Elements, Pt. 1
CHOSEN BY: Kirby
REASONING: "Love can fly high, higher than the clouds."
VERDICT: If you're going to steal your name from a Finnish power-metal band, there's really no one else besides Stratovarius. If you're gonna steal your name from Stratovarius, there's really nowhere to go besides Elements, Pt. 1.

COLOR ME BLOOD RED
SOURCE: Converge's Petitioning The Empty Sky
CHOSEN BY: Crawford
REASONING: "Sometimes you just need to shred."
VERDICT: Yeah, yeah. We know this is a Converge song. But as a band name, it's a little too close to Color Me Badd for comfort. [TJK]