Hiya Lee, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today. I see you brought coffee. Take a seat. Introduce yourself and tell us how you got into music.
Thanks for having me. I’m Lee Scrivner. I was born in Canada to parents from the US. We lived in Philadelphia when I was very young, but after about the age of seven I grew up in Las Vegas.
What was that like?
It’s not like I was raised in the casinos! (laughs) I was raised in what used to be the outskirts of town, which was little different than any other late 20th century American suburb. Strip malls and 7-Elevens. It was a very artificial environment in some ways, but the mountains surrounding the town kind of beckoned me and made me think that there was more to life than just Jiffy Lube.
How’d you get into music?
When I was about five years old (in Philly) my parents had a modest turntable and some vinyl records. I remember my mom distinctly telling me that I was not allowed to play these records on my own. I was only five years old, after all. But one day when my parents were not paying attention, I put on The Beatles’ “Abbey Road.” I was entranced by the subtle groove of “Come Together” and the melancholy of “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).” These were so much more interesting to me than the Sesame Street songs I had been accustomed to! My dad also had some Joan Baez records of old English folk songs—like “Silver Dagger,” which I found similarly haunting. So, at a young age I was already convinced that music had a profound mystery to it, and I just wanted to know more. I got spanked for playing the records, but it was well worth it!
But I didn’t really start playing music until I was about fourteen. My friends Kevin Brewer and Brandon Meyer and I missed the afternoon bus from Cashman Junior High School, so we walked home. This took about an hour, and in that hour the three of us decided to form a band. At first, we just wanted to write silly punk songs. We wrote one song called “Killer Vacuums” and made a video for it in which we wrestled a vacuum cleaner with all the showy antics of a Hulk Hogan WrestleMania event. Ha!
Then Brandon’s mom came home from work and was like “WTF are you guys doing to my vacuum cleaner?!” It was silly, adolescent stuff. Anyway… In high school, I got more serious and tried to write actual, serious songs. And I’ve never stopped, really. Inviolet Row was formed in the early 2000s in Las Vegas during an exciting time in that city’s music scene, when lot of bands were sharing membership incestuously. I used to be in a band called Captain Go with Marty Crandall, who later joined The Shins. Inviolet Row also jammed with drummer Ronnie Vannucci before he joined The Killers. Inviolet Row’s first drummer, Abe Millett, went on to play bass for Third Eye Blind – so a lot of moving around. It was an exciting time.
What’s the live music scene like in Vegas right now?
The music scene in Vegas was really booming in the 2000s, obviously with the breakthroughs of The Killers and Imagine Dragons and Neon Trees and others. The fact that things have settled down somewhat is not really an indicator of the creative energies of the town but it’s more of a consequence of factors that are global in nature.
What do you mean?
In my opinion, local music scenes in general are being decimated by the advent of the smartphone and social media. Nothing really feels local anymore if everything is instantly shareable on a global scale. I’m not saying this is all a bad thing, but it’s definitely been a mixed blessing.
Yeah. I’ve seen a lot of people struggling for support recently online. What’s your view on the industry?
That’s what I’m talking about. I really feel that people are over stimulated now, and it’s so easy to be entertained on your smartphone with TikTok videos and YouTube shorts and video games that it’s really a challenge to get people to put down their phones and come out and do something in the real world. Lol.
Where do you feel you currently sit within the music industry?
To be honest it feels a bit like we are like Don Quixote chasing windmills and pretending we are living in the past where bands get signed. We are not under any illusion that we will get signed in this environment. It seems unlikely. But for a long time we resisted the streaming Spotify playlist-promoting game. And we only recently started playing this game, somewhat reluctantly. But it’s really the only game in town. And that is freaking sad. But it’s not all bad news! We have been writing some great songs these days, and that makes all the difference.
Tell us two truths and a lie about you.
I know some Top Secret info from my work on the [REDACTED] floor of the US Embassy in Moscow. Heather Graham kissed me once. I am a space alien from the supernova constellation Cassiopeia.
Do you ever worry about people taking things the wrong way or cancel culture?
Yes! This has definitely changed in our culture. When I was a kid you could literally say anything and no one would care. “Sticks and stones” as the saying goes. People have been trained to be easily offended. But I actually think that “taking offense” is itself a somewhat hostile act. “When we take offence, we go on the offense”—as a very smart person once told me. I mean, I try to be polite, but if I say something in a well-meaning way and someone takes offense, then I feel like I’m being attacked. It just adds to the overall chilling of discourse. No one says what they really think anymore and everyone is walking on egg shells.
Do you sign up to any conspiracy theories? If not why not?
Well, there’s hardly any conspiracy theories left anymore because they’re all coming true! lol! But, seriously, this is too big of a question to deal with here! But I do believe we actually went to the moon, for what it’s worth.
What was your best experience on stage?
I love being onstage. I’ve never had a particularly bad experience, so I guess it’s all been good. I once sang onstage with Yoko Ono. That was in London in 2008. That was a trip.
What was your worst experience on stage?
Probably singing with Yoko Ono in London in 2008! (laughs) I’m kidding. But the song was ostensibly terrible. Sorry, Yoko!
I hear you have a new single out, what can you tell us about it?
Yes. Our song Alpha Male. It’s a kind of tongue-in-cheek, space-age disco song. The song is about a girl becoming romantically involved with an AI companion / sex bot that is designed and programmed to look and act like a superstar celebrity – instead of a real person.
What was the recording process like?
Ha! It was quite a process. The song was sketched out in a studio in Vegas. Then I moved to Moscow, where I proceeded to build the song remotely. Band members would Dropbox performances and mixes back and forth because we were spread out all over the world. We’re a very international band. Like an international terrori$t organization. (Just kidding, FBI!)
Would you change anything now that it’s finished?
No. This song took way too long to write, record, and mix already. No going back!
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
Get out and touch grass. Go see a local band and get your face out of screens. We just had a show a few nights ago in Vegas with a band called Scroseph, which was great. It’s Joe Brailsford’s band. He’s an old school Vegas performer with great lyricist with great stage presence. Maybe check him out.
PRESAVE HERE // FOLLOW HIM HERE
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