Getting to Know: Masked Post-Hardcore act, Scientific Uppercut
In today’s Getting to Know, we meet Scientific Uppercut, a band of individuals that wears masks as a way to enhance and maintain their creative freedom. If you are in an up and coming band that would like to partake in a Getting to Know feature, contact editor@riffyou.com to receive the questionnaire and instructions. Thanks!
Band Name: Scientific Uppercut
Band Members: TeeG (vocals), TJ (guitar), Ian (guitar), Jimmy (bass), and Skull (drums).
Years Active: 5
City of Origin: Kansas City, MO. Currently located in Pensacola, FL
Who are you and what do you do?
“The band collectively is designated Scientific Uppercut. We’re a self-realizing entity of individuals fueled by the lack of desire to continue being a cog in the conglomerate machine. We’ve come together to peel our angst ridden skins from their twice-used hides, and display our creative intellectual mass to the world. Through screaming and various finger tips bleeding, the masses will hear, feel, and mosh to our music and be like, ‘Yeah man, I feel it. I can dig.’”
In 100 words or less, tell us how your band has gotten to this point.
“We have reached our current destination through unrelenting determination to continue creating at a level that makes us happy. We figure if it makes us happy, it might make others happy and thus worth sharing. TJ has a recording studio and the rest of the band is willing to put in the time and dedication he requires to make solid sounding music that we can enjoy.”
What is your latest release and how would you best describe it to someone who hasn’t heard your band?
“It’s a digital-only full-length album called Blue Blanket Disaster. It’s a post-hardcore, heavy metal album with influences ranging from – but not limited to – Glassjaw, Finch, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Incubus, and Mudvayne.”
When making an album, which aspect of the process do you put the most time into and why?
“It’s a mixed result of song writing and production. The band is a two-part system in that respect. Ian and TJ (the guitarists) come up with ideas and song structures, and then TJ uses his recording knowledge and skills to make a cognitive chunk of fluid and logical noise.”
What is the best part about your band and why?
“The best part about the band is the lack of outside interaction with the creative process. We make the music how we want without regard for standards and practices. It seems like what most of our favourite bands have done, and we’d like to continue that tradition.”
What makes your band unique from the rest?
“The style and smartness to the lyrics and music. We also enjoy the obscurity the masks allow. It gives us a certain amount of creative freedom to say and do whatever we want with little regard to feelings. That doesn’t mean we’re going to be rude or crass, but we can represent ideas instead of just being another pretty face.”
How does your band survive the challenges of touring/gigging?
“We survive by not touring. All of us have lives we are currently living, and all of have jobs we are doing. It’s not a lack of dedication to our craft, but that we all accept that to continue making music how we want, we have to be able to support ourselves as a band.”
Would you rather be critically-acclaimed; rich and famous; or an under-the-radar band with a dedicated fan base?
“Any of those would be fine. But with the over-saturation of the market due to ease of access and simplified methods of publication, the chances are slim at best. There is just so much out there, how and why would you pick and choose one group to represent everything you feel you are?”
If you’d have to compare your band to another one out there, living or dead, who would it be and why?
“We’d love to be compared to Glassjaw, but that would be sacrilegious.”
Which band/musician would you like to share many drinks with? What would you talk about?
“We’d love to pick the brains of HED PE. That band has got some great and heady thoughts going on. I bet they’d be a blast to get destroyed with too.”
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