It’s amazing the people you can hook up with through social media. Over the last year we’ve kept in touch with him through Facebook messenger and at last we saw he was playing in NYC at Otto’s Shrunken Head. We quickly messaged him to let him know of our plans to attend the show, and we were graciously surprised that he would be ecstatic to grant us a brief interview after his set. He invited us to sit with him before his set, and of course we were very happy to. We hung out and looked through his song book until it was time for him to go on. His set kicked ass! He even did “Lunchbox” and “Cake and Sodomy” and “Suicide Snowman” alone, just him and his guitar. We got a little teary eyed when he ended with a cover of Oasis’ “Wonderwall”. A great time was had by all that evening. Scott is a sweetheart, a super laid back cool person, as well as a bad ass musician and artist. After the set we took a table with “Beast of Burden” playing in the background and this is the conversation that was had!
Fantastic show! I had so much fucking fun I wanted to scream! Tell me a little bit about yourself.
I was born in LA, but I was adopted and I grew up in New Jersey. I started playing guitar literally as a sophomore in high school when I was 15. That’s my only formal training.
Wow! Incredible! What’s your favorite guitar?
Well, my favorite kind of guitar is Fender Stratocaster. I also play bass and keys and I do programming (Drum machine, synthesizer, sequencer. Stuff like that.)
When did you know you wanted to pursue music as a career?
(laughs) I think after about the fifth Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids show.
(laughs) Was it? That’s cool. So I know you were brought up Jewish. Do you still practice that religion?
No, I’m an Atheist. Judaism was my family’s religion.
How did your family feel about you pursuing music as a career?
I don’t think they ever took it seriously until the band took off. They’re not artists. My dad was a pharmacist and he just didn’t see how anybody made money on it.
A lot of people don’t make money on it.
True. I didn’t know how to tell them that all the artists you have ever heard of, they’re famous because they make money making music. I think they always worried about me too much about not doing something that would make money.
There’s not much better than being an artist in my opinion. I’m sure you know that you have written some of my most favorite songs ever. I wanted to know what are some of your favorite songs that you worked on when you were still in Marilyn Manson?
Our cover of “I Put a Spell on You”, “Wrapped in Plastic”, “Lunchbox”, “Organ Grinder”, “White Knuckles”, “Suicide Snowman”, “Thrift”, “Man You Fear”, “Tourniquet”, again I really don’t like to pick favorites.
You wrote a lot of music when you were in Manson. Did you also write any lyrics or were you mostly writing music?
No, I never wrote any lyrics, just music. I only write the lyrics for my own songs, like in like Three Ton Gate.
How old were you when started in Marilyn Manson and The Spooky Kids?
I was 21.
Drinking age! Where were your favorite places to play back then?
Well, we had two clubs that hosted us all the time that did really well for us and we did really well for them. It was the reunion room where I met Brian Warner and Squeeze. Where by 1992 we could play there any time and we made the most money and got the biggest draw and that’s where we hung out. But the reunion room was the first place we played our music in a club.
Yeah OK. This is a silly question but who came up with the “meat piñata” and the girl wrapped in plastic on the cross? Who came up with those ideas?
I think it was Stephen Madonna Wayne Gacey (Pogo) that came up with the meat piñata. Oh no. I’m not really sure it might have been Brad. It might have been Gidget.
Oh cool. It might have been Gidget?
Yeah, maybe. I think so, but I know Brian came up with the girl wrapped in plastic on the cross because it was his girlfriend, Missy.
Did you ever come up with any of those crazy ideas on stage? Were those your ideas?
I don’t really remember off the top of my head. I’d have to look at videos and really think back. I came up with some design element but I don’t remember right now.
When did you know that Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids were going to make it fucking big? Making lots of money, having girls all over the place showing their tits, and things like that?
Actually when we started touring with Nine Inch Nails. yeah We had people like parent’s groups and Christian groups come out and protest the shows giving us lots of free publicity. I think by the time we started touring. We actually started before Portrait came out. We had some label problems at the time, but I was still confident that Portrait would come out. When people were picketing us and I mean we were only opening for Nine Inch Nails and “we” were in the headlines every morning. When people were picketing “us” opening for Nine Inch Nails, that’s when I knew. The protestors never realized that they would end up promoting us. That’s when I knew it was gonna be bigger than I ever anticipated. Initially, I never thought people would ever be into us. I thought it was way too weird and it was too fun and there were no rules and no limits. It was just too fun and too weird. I thought nobody would be into it.
Oh man you were so wrong if you thought that! We are the weirdos! We love you guys! When did you first meet Trent Reznor?
Brian and I first met Trent Reznor early in 1990 because Brian worked for a magazine called Twenty Fifth Parallel and he was a writer so he interviewed Trent. It was Nine Inch Nails with their first show in Florida. He interviewed him and kept in touch with him and the next time he contacted him he had a demo tape that I recorded for us. We wound up opening for him at the same place Club Nu were we saw him and where Brian interviewed him. That was July 1990. So I think maybe January or February was when Brian interviewed Trent and just happened to keep in touch with him. So the beginning of 1990. By July Trent had gotten our first demo tape that Brian sent him.
First demo tape of what?
Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids. It was just demos, just songs. Just individual songs like “White Knuckles”, “Cake and Sodomy”, “Dogma” and “Son of Man”. Did you ever hear the demo? The first Demo? It is drastically different.
After Marilyn Manson you went to Three Ton Gate, Stuck on Evil and the only other thing I know of is with Justin Symbol. Were there any other musical interests or other projects were you were playing guitar or music?
I’ve done some sound track work for independent films.
Any you would like to name?
Well nothing that has a soundtrack out: Fetish Films and a horror film. I honestly forget what they are called but if you research enough you can find them.
So I just know of the one song you’ve done with Justin Symbol. Justin seems pretty cool. Did you like working with him?
Yeah Justin was very easy to work with. I think he’s got a lot of potential.
I do too! Are there any other band interests that I haven’t mentioned?
I’m starting a band called West Ghost with my friend Remy Holwick. It’s going to be tropic goth. You will know it when you hear it!
Sounds interesting! I wanted to know about your art work. How did you get into that?
I didn’t get into it. I’ve been making visual art ever since I was a kid. I’ve been doing music and visual art all my life. Just going back in forth.
Scott, it has been a pleasure! Thank you so much for a moment of your time!
Interview by Jenn McManson, RockRevolt Contributor and Resident Manson Aficionado
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