Conversation with Scott: Dream Come True
I asked Scott Klopfenstein if I could interview him as it’s been a dream of mine for a long time. When he agreed, I knew I wanted it to be special. I thought about maybe asking to do it live on his Twitch stream, or recording it for Facebook or Instagram. But when I was there at the Last Exit Live show in Phoenix and he was right in front of me, I realized I didn’t want the pressure of performance to be a part of it. I just wanted to talk to him like we were friends. That was the experience I wanted more than an in-depth or entertaining interview. And I felt that it would be more of an experience that he would want, too.
He sat across from me in a high backed grass green armchair. I asked the obvious question – it was the last day of the tour, were they relieved to be done? Ready to go home, sure. But everyone agreed what they would miss most would be the inside jokes. Prichard chimed in that none of their friends back home would get any of their jokes now.
In his white t-shirt, high water purple slacks, new balance sneakers and ever present beanie, Scott looked very comfy. I didn’t ask about the wardrobe choice but wondered if it was deliberate styling or if it was just comfortable. Considering Scott’s recent Lyme Disease diagnosis, I would have been in favor of anything that made him a bit more comfortable or made the symptoms easier to cope with. He spoke about the medicinal regime he needs to adhere to to manage the disease and it is involved. On top of that, upon arriving in Phoenix, a dental implant chose to uproot itself and so necessitated an emergency visit to the dentist. He was very complimentary of the dentist office he visited in Chandler, though the name of the place escapes me. Apparently it was a gorgeous place to visit.
I wanted to ask what was, to me, a kind of silly question. When stressed, as a musician, does he prefer to play music or listen to music? But coping with stress isn’t really a silly topic at the heart of it. Scott said that when he’s stressed the problem he often has is that he’s unable to follow something to completion, so he needs peace, stillness, at those moments. We talked about better ways of coping with stress. Scott likes meditation, he walks 6 miles daily. We talked a lot about the mind-body connection, the emotional impact physical activity can have on your body. He talked about the emotional release that can happen in pilates and how his former acupuncturist could tell what was going on in his life just from where his body was holding on to tension. He spoke as a person very familiar with the effects stress can have on your body and the best ways he’d found to address it.
The band had just completed a two day drive from Austin, TX. I asked after what, to me, seemed like a pretty intense tour schedule: 9 shows in 14 days, driven through several states by bus. No one was complaining, though, and there were smiles all around. I felt at ease immediately back there in the green room. I was worried I was encroaching on personal space as we hung out before the show, but I couldn’t settle on that feeling. Everyone was conversational and welcoming, despite most of them probably having no idea who I was.
Scott asked me if I was there with anyone and when I told him I wasn’t – one friend couldn’t make it, another lived far too far away, among other issues – he told me I would be with them, then. Tonight, I would be part of the band. This is what it’s like talking to Scott – if you’re feeling alone, friendless, he’s there to reassure you that you are absolutely none of those things.
I asked him about performing at SPI, the Ska Punk International Fest, that had happened in Austin. They played on a bill with several other prominent ska and punk bands. He said they got there pretty late, but the crowd was good. Though the Littlest Man Band has all the elements of a ska band, their music isn’t quite in that genre. Though watching their performance of It’s You at Last Exit that night, it definitely felt like a more punkified version than I’d seen before, with an intense drum and horn section driving the energy.
I was curious about what Scott thought about musical genre as identity, how conscious he was of trying to adhere to a genre. I asked about the song writing in Reel Big Fish, for example, and how much they tried to stick to just one style of music. He reminded me that not all Reel Big Fish songs are ska songs (and upon reflection, I remembered this, too: Where Have You Been, the cover of New York, New York, are just two examples) but that Aaron really loved that kind of music. It was what he wanted to write and play, it was who he was.
And Scott is a well known member of the ska/punk community, and has expressed gratitude for that acknowledgement in the past and did so again to me. I asked if he had ever worried that his ska fans from Reel Big Fish might not follow his music in its different direction. He reminded me that he had released music with PAL during his time with RBF that had been received well, and that the reaction to Drunk Again and Average Man, when they were first released, had been positive, too. It made him feel like he could pursue his music and still be able to find an audience, whether they were new to him or not.
I mentioned that in both Reel Big Fish and PAL he shared vocal duties, but in The Littlest Man Band he is the lone frontman. Was this always his ambition? His answer was low and quick when he told me, No, he never wanted to be a frontman. He is a sidekick, he said. That is how he still considers himself even within The Littlest Man Band. I smiled at the word because it is the reason Scott has always seemed so approachable to me. As a self-identifying weird quiet girl, I found the goofy loveable sidekick role easy to play and it made it easier to fit in, too. And I saw it in Scott in his performance persona with Reel Big Fish. It made me feel a kinship with the trumpet player. Hearing him admit to the sidekick identity was validating, in a way.
Being a sidekick necessitates a group and Scott enjoys the collaborative element of creating music. So, I had to ask if he ever said no to a collaboration and he admitted that he has at times had to say no. I asked how he determines who he can collaborate with. He said that he needs to know that whoever he works with can understand him and follow him down any creative path he may take, while also not being afraid to call him out when he’s not going anywhere. He spoke tenderly of his creative partner, Catya, and how she knows when to tell him he’s off track and when to tell him he’s got gold. It was apparent how important their relationship is when he celebrated her upcoming creative projects as well, and the pride was completely obvious on his face and in his voice. The trust is real and necessary for it to work.
He said when meeting a new potential collaborator, he’s more interested in doing something like visiting a museum together rather than taking a traditional meeting. I get the impression that he loves being part of a creative community and that it’s important newcomers are as willing to be there as he is. I get this impression from his online communities as well – be there for the serious talent, but also be there for the absurdist silliness. Scott is both, and you can’t really understand what he does unless you can be there for both.
The Littlest Man Band’s new single continues Scott’s unique genre identity. He admitted he doesn’t really think about genre or try to limit himself that way. He has songs he wants to create and for them to turn out the way he envisions them, he’ll be the frontman and go where the music takes him. He recently spoke about the story that inspired Sidle Up: a magical realism fantasy about a planet with identical cities on opposite sides of the globe. Every six months the inhabitants of one city find they’ve woken up on the other side of the world. Their only clue that this has happened is their sand filled homes; the result of an unceasing sandstorm that circles the planet every six months.
But that isn’t what the song is about. The song is about a relationship coping with generational trauma, with sweeping concerns under a rug along with the ever present sand. It’s about the pain and strain in a relationship when important things get pushed aside and unaddressed in the name of keeping the peace until they fester. I asked how often he uses this technique to write a song – creating a fantasy first. He admitted he does it all the time. He likes to come up with a story, and then pull the human element out of it, the relationships that must exist in those contexts, and his song will tell that story.
I was a little surprised when Scott then asked after how I was doing. The same way I am always a little surprised that Scott knows my name. This is more a reflection on my star-struckness when talking to him than it is on his ability to remember who I am. After nearly three years of somewhat continuous conversation through his weekly Twitch stream, it would be kind of weird for him not to know me. But he’s Scott Klopfenstein, and I’ve been a fan since 1998 when something like having a two hour long conversation with him was still purely a dream activity.
But I found myself confiding in him, trusting his kind face and easy smile. Just like always. Scott is the one celebrity I always felt could be a friend and it really felt that way as we talked. When I told him about my son’s delight over my trumpet playing, I could tell his smile matched my own. And when he shared his pride about his eldest daughter’s drawing, I felt another kind of kinship. The smiles of parents taking real joy in the joys of our children.
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