SCOTT ROSE
Rikets vocalist
www.rikets.com

(Fall 2005) by George Dionne

Rikets was spawned out of the Cleveland underground earlier this year. It was originally conceived as a studio project, but soon mutated to a full blown band. The group released their debut EP Anything for the Devil (read CD review) through Corporate Punishment Records in the summer of 2005. With only five tracks, Rikets managed to produce an EP chock full of catchy, devastating riffs and hardcore, angry vocals that have just the right amount of melody. Just as the group was mounting a tour in support of the release, several members left mastermind Scott Rose behind as they formed a group of their own. Determined to keep Rikets going, Rose has assembled a gang of new members and moved forward with the writing of their first full-length album.

RIL: If I knew absolutely nothing about Rikets, how would you describe the bands music to me?
SR: Unadulterated madness. There are no boundaries. A lot of bands are afraid to talk about certain things, and do certain things, afraid to abide by the business industry, afraid to do what they wanted to do. With this band, pretty much do what we want to do and say whatever the hell we want. Nobody can stop us from doing that. I think that’s the problem with a lot of bands, they get stuck in a rut and they worrying about what everybody else is going to think and how is the industry going to accept this. That’s just not what this band is. Its so punk rock in its attitude it’s ridiculous.

RIL: You released an EP, Anything for the Devil, about a month ago, but just last week you announced a lineup change. What happened?
SR: Well, it was just some personal and business issues. Not really business, but personal. It was just some musical differences that had just spun way out of control. I had to kind of jump back and grab the reigns and say, this is how it’s going down, if nobody wants to get with the program, then I’m going to go my way. You guys go your own way. We all still love each other. We all left on very good terms. We all left upset and hugging and crying and telling jokes, but at the same time Rikets is a business. Rikets actually started as a studio project with me and Ben [Schigel], and due to the overwhelming response to the music, it was forced into becoming a natural band.

RIL: Do you think a lineup change this early on is going to put a dent in the progress of Rikets?
SR: You know what? It might, but the thing is, it’s about the music. You know what I mean? You have to keep in mind that Rikets itself is always going to write tunes, it’s never going to stop. It’s always going to provide a product that I think people are going to connect with and there’s….. I can’t, as a business man, be apologetic to the fact that the other members of the band just didn’t want to do it anymore. It was just not something they wanted to do, so I can’t be upset at them for that.

RIL: In addition to your new EP you also have a new track on your MySpace page entitled “The Murder.” Was that track done with the old lineup or was it done in the studio with just you and Ben?
SR: Yeah, it was done pretty much with me and Ben playing drums on it. Brad played guitar and Josh, the previous bass player, plays bass on it. It’s pretty much just a manifestation of me and Ben. I had originally written this tune about three months ago, and I brought it to Ben, and he just helped me bring it to life.

RIL: You’re actually working on a full-length that you’ve already titled God Among Insects. Are you going to rework the Rikets EP with new versions with the new band, or is it just going to be all new material?
SR: No, it’s all new material. There are about fifteen different ideas for songs flying around that we’re just going to crank out and get done.

RIL: Do you have a target date for that release?
SR: No we don’t. It won’t be to far from here. We are going to start it in December and just get it all tracked, and get behind it looking what were dealing with.

RIL: Will the new album sound similar to the industrial sounding EP or will you be mixing up the sound a little more?
SR: It’s actually going to go more industrial like “The Murder” layout. It will have more of a grindcore feel. Over the past year, I’ve always been an angry individual. I’ve just gotten more and more angry within my writing and everything like that. It’s just pure hatred, you know? I got a lot of things to say, and unfortunately those people that kept me down for the Devil record…I was kind of stifled into the kinds of things I could say and the things I was not allowed to say. That’s one thing that’s going to reflect on this record; I won’t be stifled in any way. I came to a conclusion that we need to just do this record and get out out what’s actually growing inside of me, what’s growing inside of this new band and its members, and just get it out.

It’s going to be retarded, you know what I mean? People have to keep in mind that we lost a very important pivotal musical figure with Dimebag [Darrell]. I think people are starting to forget what Pantera and [Dimebag] were doing. When you listened to Far Beyond Driven for the first time, you were just blown away. I think the staleness of music, where you have all these bands out there that are just trying to jump on the bandwagon, it’s like everything else out there. They’re pretty much creating there own demise. The thing about this band is; there are no boundaries. I can’t say it’s going to sound like this or that, its just going to be very angry, very intense, and more industrial.

RIL: Well let me ask you this…you’ve virtually answered the next question by saying you’re not afraid to do or say anything, and you’re not going to hold yourself to boundaries, but don’t you think the popularity of industrial music has faded drastically over the last couple of years?
SR: Well, a lot of industrial artist just can’t right songs. It’s unfortunate because there are a bunch of good industrial artist out there, and good live performers likewise, but at the same time the music is not getting the attention. So the mass appeal for it is kinda starting to fade away. At the same time you’ve got to look at where music is going and where it hasn’t been yet. Industrial metal has never really been dug. You have bands like Static X, that were doing metal, but it was pretty much metal based. It wasn’t industrial based.

When you go back to Marylin Manson in 1990 or Nine Inch Nails, nobody’s going to deny the fact that those people sold millions of records and had millions of people dying for those bands. That’s pretty much like Rikets, we fall into that category of, you know there’s that huge industrial feel, but at the same time we’re still a metal band. Adding that aspect, the industrial aspect, is a fresh breath of air thrown into actual, real metal. You know, the guitar leads and the sick-ass double bass drum; all that shit is coming with this new record. I’ve been writing this record for the last year pretty much on my own. You get in a rotten phase and you just do it.

RIL: I think it’s more of an issue for U.S. audiences anyway. They pretty much take what the industry puts in front of them. European audiences probably droll over the stuff you do.
SR: That’s the horrible thing about it, [the U.S.] is a good culture, but it’s being run by an administration that doesn’t have any idea what to do. It’s suffering and it’s twisting down all the other entertainment industries and trying to make it be like a third world country where people are afraid to go out and do something new and do something that will be controversial, because there going to get the backlash from the administration, or it’s not going to be accepted because the industry doesn’t want something crazy and retarded, and someone telling them that their bible is completely wrong. Its very, very frustrating that this country is trying to stifle a lot of the music, and when it comes to music like this, it’s also trying to force people to hear what they want them to hear by giving them the happy music and psychologically putting them in a way they feel happy.

Imagine if heavy metal and industrial music was just a little more fun. A lot of angry people would be pissed. That’s why you have all these bullshit artists like Britney Spears and all these non-talent heavy people. They’re out there shitting on a record and getting away with it because this company has fifty million dollars to put into it and make you like it. There’s no song writing either. These artists aren’t out there writing their songs. They hire a song writing company and they hire a production company to help them write their songs. It’s not something I want to be a part of. I rather just get out there and be me, and be real about it, rather than over fabricate something and try to come off that way.

RIL: Have you ever had the chance to jump from the underground to a major label?
SR: Yes I did.

RIL: What was the situation there?
SR: I did it with a band called Erase the Grey. It was on Universal Records, and I hated it. I hated the fact that I had actually given up on my, my, my…just the way that I view everything. I went into a radio band and I was stifled; stifled in writing and stifled in my presence. I was forced to cut my hair, forced to cover up my tattoos, and forced to put a smile on my face all the time. That’s not something I wanted to do. I’m not saying that Rikets won’t ever go to a major label. I won’t say that Rikets isn’t talking with major labels right now either. The thing is; if I go ahead and agree with one of these major label offers, then I want to still be able to do it my way.

RIL: Who inspired you to become a musician?
SR: All kinds of people. Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee was a big one. I met Tommy Lee when I was nine years old at an L.A. Kings game. My babysitter was actually hanging out with the guy and introduced me to him. From there I was like, wow look at these dudes; they look, the presence they have…I want that! I want to be able to do that. I started out as a drummer. I’ve been a drummer for twenty years of my life, and I’m twenty eight years old now. The only reason I stopped playing drums full-time was because my body was going to hell for it. I also ride dirt bikes.

RIL: You mentioned Motley Crue as an influence; they’ve had some crazy touring stories. Do you have any touring stories that you think would rival Motley Crue?
SR: There are a lot of them.

RIL: Pick a good one!
SR: One show in Cleveland, there was a fan that wanted to meet me so bad that she went up to the merchandise girl and said, ‘look, what can I do to meet Scott?’ I was doing an interview inside the club and really couldn’t be bothered at the time. The merchandise girl, she liked girls, you know what I’m saying? So she told her if you make out with me, I’ll let you meet him. So right there at the merch booth they start going at it. The girl ended up down stairs meeting me. I’m really not the groupie type guy, so I ended up signing her t-shirt and everything like that. I bought her a drink and sat with her for about a half-hour. Then she attempted to kiss me, that’s when I said, ‘look this is not me, I don’t do these types of things.’

I told her I would like it if she just stayed a fan and I would like to just see her out in front of the stage screaming her lungs off, rather than try and get into my pants. Another good one was; we were in Florida last summer and had just got done with a show. We stopped to fill up with at this gas station. Some fool in an eighteen wheeler comes trucking down the road which is like a forty-five miles an hour road, but he’s doing like eighty miles an hour, full blazing on fire, cab on fire, smoke coming out of it, flames coming out from underneath it, and cops chasing it. The dude was not stopping. That was pretty crazy to see. I felt like I was in [Grand Theft Auto] Vice City, so I turned to Brad and I said. ‘hey man give me a gun (laughs).’

RIL: The whole thing was probably caught on World’s Wildest Police Chases.
SR: I don’t know what the hell happened, but it was an unmarked rig. There was no tags on it, just a plain white trailer and this guy was on a mission. He either jacked that truck, was trying to get somewhere with it, or he was a full on, fire blazing idiot.

RIL: What is it about the Cleveland metal scene that causes the bands to cover up there face with makeup or masks?
SR: You know I don’t think its just the Cleveland metal scene. If you look back to how the eighties were, you had guys that were actually putting on a show, their hair was all teased and everything, and was almost like on a feminine level. You had people having a good time, there was good music on the radio, and there was people having positive attitudes. You went to see the show and there’s a whole show there. As far as the makeup, with this band, it’s just the music and attitude of the band. It’s dirty and aggressive, with prettiness about it. We just focus on a different persona.

RIL: Are you planning a theatrical aspect to the show?
SR: The band has always had a theatrical show. Rikets has always been putting on a good show with an awesome light show, a drummer on a ten foot riser, and trying to bring that arena rock show back.

Previous Page