It’s refreshing in an industry of flavors of the week to see an artist come along that exudes true power and passion in their music. Joe Scorsone, also known as Flintface, is that particular artist. Although some may think that he is a new artist, that is far from the truth. He’s been battling in the musical trenches for over a decade and refuses to surrender, making him a beyond excellent choice for our Indie Band of the Week. Joe’s been through more than his share of hardships and difficulties, but those hardships, along with the Bible scripture Isaiah 50:7, have him more determined and focused to deliver his art to the masses. He’s armed with a new album appropriately entitled Hope and he’s eager to deliver it any and all who will listen. Joe called me from a rest-stop on his way to play a show so that we could talk about the album and it turned into an interview first for me.
Hey man! It’s great to talk to you and I’m sure you’re on a tight schedule, so we’ll knock this interview out as quickly as possible. Let’s talk a little bit or a lot, depending on you, about your new album Hope. Is this your first album or can you catch me up to speed if it isn’t?
I’ve been Flintface for 14 years and I’ve had a lot of EPs, but this is my first major album. I started as a two piece metal band with my little brother. I just left a radio conference in Boulder, Colorado and one of the things that I ended up talking to a lot of radio people about was the fact that sometimes you just have to allow people to tell you that your baby is ugly. You know, your song that you love so much just isn’t a great song and you have to take that criticism in and sometimes it just takes a couple of years to develop that sound. This album is the result of that; at least I hope it is, of getting my butt kicked. I probably re-wrote the lyrics to “On Your Feet Again” from scratch literally five times. I was sitting at the mall with my headphones in and coffee and I’m telling myself that these are terrible lyrics. When you have a message or something more positive, it’s really easy to get preachy or campy. The goal for this album is hope, it seems so literal of what the album’s about, but the truth is I’m not an optimist. I’m one of those people that see all the dark stuff first and then I find hope. Hope is always there, I believe that firmly, but sometimes you have to fight and dig deep to find it. It’s generally a very small thing in a very large abyss. This album went through a lot of critiquing production wise because I was trying to figure out my sound. I started as a metal band and it just took me a long time to figure out my place and where I settle in at. Ross Hogarth, the guy who produced this album, truly helped me articulate what I was trying to say musically and that was the hardest part. You know, that’s what a good producer does; he helps get those thoughts out of your head and in a way that everyone gets it. Ross is a friend and a mentor and he helped me make a killer album.
Was this the first time that you had worked with Ross?
I’m distributing the record through Sony/RED and I met him through CEN. I had recorded the album in 2012 in the Pocono Mountains and I took it to Sony/RED and they thought the music could be better and simpler. They sent the tracks to Ross, who they were friends with, and he flew me out to work with him. He muted all the music and only left once voice and one acoustic. He told me that if it’s not a good song there, no matter how much icing you put on it, it’ll never be a good song. He deleted all the music and he brought in some of his friends who are amazing musicians. He brought in Rami Jaffee with the Foo Fighters, Chris Chaney with Jane’s Addiction, Tim Pierce’s an amazing guitarist and the list goes on and on.
So, you and your younger brother started out Flintface as a metal band?
Yeah, we were a two piece metal band and then I became Flintface the solo guy. I was the drummer and lead singer and he played electric guitar. It was madness and chaos, but it was fun. He left the band about eight years ago to try and figure life out, but I decided to keep the project going. Isaiah 50:7 is where Flintface came from, but I’m not a Christian artist; I want to respect and love everybody equally. It says to set your face like a flint and don’t move and finding hope is that steadfastness. It’s not about gracefully standing like a rock and going through life because it’s usually ungraceful and sometimes sloppy and tearful. The point is that it’s about not giving up and for some people, including myself at one point; it’s about living and not giving up on life itself sometimes.
I had read about the scripture a few times and I was curious as to whether you found that scripture or did someone bring it to your attention?
That’s a good question and no one has ever asked me that. It was something that I just came across and it really spoke to me. I was at a point in my life that I was struggling with depression, suicide issues and other issues from the past. I know that everybody has problems and as a side note, I didn’t want this record to be about my life and my sad story; it’s about everyone’s story. I want people to interpret these songs the way that they hear them and apply to their life. At that point, in my life, it wasn’t about me having a hard time, it was about sometimes living on a minute by minute basis because some days it was really hard to go on. I kept reading that scripture about setting your face like a flint and not moving, just don’t move; that was all I could focus on. I kept repeating that to myself, over and over again. There were some days that I didn’t have any answers as to how to get through the day, so I would tell myself just don’t move. It spoke to me and it stuck with me and became part of who I am. So, just call me Flintface; even though I’m not cool like Seal or anything (laughs).
The new album Hope came out in July and I was wondering what type of feedback you’ve been receiving on it?
It’s been really good and we’ve been selling CDs really well wherever we are physically. This is our first tour out and we’re going to try and tour like crazy over the next year to get Hope out there. I’m very candid, just to let you know, and I knew that some people would compare it to things that they listen to, if that makes sense. In general, even if they aren’t into the style, they do love the mix, the musicianship, they love the lyrics and the feedback has been very positive across the board. I haven’t gotten anything negative yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I did because not everybody loves chocolate; you know what I mean? It’s very easy for me to accept that not everybody in the world is going to love me (laughs).
Let’s go back a bit and find out what it was that got you into music.
I started playing drums in my dad’s church in Philadelphia when I was eight years old. I had this little Jewish drum teacher, Mrs. Watts, and she used to hit me on my head with her drumsticks whenever I would mess up. They said I had too much energy as a kid and that percussion would be a good thing for me to look into. I grew up playing gospel music in church in the inner city of Philly. I had the typical teenage angst and I was listening to a lot of death metal and I started writing music. I honestly thought that I was going to be a preacher and I was licensed as a minister and I did a lot of work in that field because I thought that was where I was going to be. I noticed that music was such a good vehicle to reach people and I wanted to reach people other than just church people. I wanted to reach anyone and I didn’t want anyone to be excluded from a message or speech. Even if I’m not giving the Tony the Tiger speech to anyone, that’s not my goal, I just really love people. Yes, I’m just like anyone else and they do irritate me when I’m driving. I’m just a regular guy and at the end of the day, music is the best vehicle for me to reach people and that’s my motivation; it sure hasn’t been money or fame (laughs).
FLINTFACE ARMY OF REJECTS OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
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Can we talk a little bit about your video for “Army of Rejects?” Was that the first video that you’ve ever shot?
I’ve done some stuff in the past, but “Army of Rejects” is definitely something that I’m super proud of. It was cool because it was shot by Jako and David Claessen, who are both incredibly talented guys, but it wasn’t about making this some type of shiny video. I didn’t want the band lip-syncing and rocking out to one of our own songs. Again, it’s about people and the “Army of Rejects” is all of us. The title is kind of a negative connotation with the word reject, but what it really means is embracing and empowering that part of each of us that other people might not like or reject; it’s what makes us what we are. So, those two guys just walked around New York City for four days and shot people just standing there doing their thing. We also got a lot of them to sign my guitar, which was an honor to me. A while back, I had someone ask me for an autograph and I felt so cheesy, like a total tool doing it so I told them that I would if they gave me theirs. It turned into thousands of autographs and it’s posture that there are no rockstars; we are all equal.
Well, after seeing quite a few divas in my musical travels, that’s a refreshing attitude to have. Well, I know you guys need to be getting back on the road. I’ll let you do your own sign-off to the fans if you want to wrap this up.
Please grab the record Hope because it helps us to continue doing what we do. We want to keep going because it’s tough doing what we do and all musicians need support like that. We’re going to be starting up an Army of Rejects stream team pretty soon, so be on the look-out for that. Also, ask your radio stations to play us; there are a lot of stations already playing us but we need a lot more.
