FOR FANS OF: Fall Out Boy, cleopatrick, deepsix
Get to know Azi Richman of Scarlet Magnum, a rock band from New Jersey. He tells us about his band, influences, and their upcoming EP - ghost stories and supernatural occurrences, which is set to be released on June 16th.
1) How did Scarlet Magnum come to be? What made you fall in love with music, and what drove you to create music of your own?
To start off, I first got exposed to real music by watching a Beatles DVD that my parents put on for me when I was a toddler. Let's just say I was hooked from then on. Soon after, my family exposed me to alternative acts like The Pixies and The Smithereens. In fifth grade, I started reengineering poems to fit my developing playing style. That developed into me composing my own riffs and lyrics.
Scarlet Magnum started life as a grunge project that never really got off the ground back in 2017. It wasn't until 2020 when I was chilling in my backyard when it occurred to me that I wanted to start the project again as a thoroughbred rock duo. I met our first drummer Nick Mohring online and he was the founding drummer of the band. He was a cool dude.
2) Who or what are your influences?
Easily our influences include early Royal Blood, cleopatrick, Cut Glass Kings, The Messenger Birds, QOTSA, Strange Bones, deepsix, etc.
3) How would you describe your sound?
If I had to dive deeper into what makes our sound unique to us, it would be a mixture of the melody and structure of Revolver Era Beatles with the instrumental aggression and lyrical angst of In Utero Era Nirvana.
4) What's the story behind your band name?
Scarlet Magnum was our way of mocking that Stone Temple Pilots and Guns-N-Roses amalgamation that critics like to call Velvet Revolver. It’s just that simple.
5) Top 3 favorite records.
A: My top three records in no particular order would be
Typhoons - Royal Blood
BUMMER - cleopatrick
Everything Has To Fall Apart Eventually - The Messenger Birds
6) If you could collaborate with any artist, living or dead, who would it be and why?
I would definitely collaborate with ZIG MENTALITY. Jig Dube is a musical genius. He was an integral influence behind the sound of our upcoming EP.
7) What's your favorite cover you've done so far?
A: One of our favorite covers that we did, when Nick was still in the band, was a song called “Antagonist” by a NJ punk band called Gravity Centered. It was Nick’s suggestion from the beginning and I think we supercharged it by tuning it down to Drop-C and adding many pitch shifters and harmonizers. We had the humbling opportunity of playing it in front of the band and they were nothing but supportive. We’d like to personally thank Dano, Trevor, Henry for giving us that opportunity.
8) NRM is obviously a big influence on you - what does NRM mean to you? What do you love about it?
The New Rock Mafia represents an inclusive community. Period. I can simply be myself in NRM and not have anyone judge or ridicule me for expressing my individuality. It has also given me the opportunity to expand my creative horizons and push the Scarlet Magnum sound forward.
9) Tell us about your upcoming EP, which is out later this month.
I'll give a synopsis of each song on the EP, which is entitled ghost stories and supernatural occurrences.
Track 1 is called “genuine fake”. It was written in May of 2020 in the early days of Scarlet Magnum. Back then, Nick and I were thinking of putting it on a record, but it never materialized. It was only until late March of 2021 that former drummer Tyler Melendez and I started the recording process for “ghost stories” and “genuine fake” was destined to be on the track list. The lyrical nature of the song is supposed to show that people can be faking genuinity and it can sting more than a murder hornet. Another theme present in the song is the lack of a generational anthem for Gen-Z, like “Teen Spirit” was for Gen-X and Gen-Y, “I have a generation in my hand, no songs to be sung.” The guitars clearly deliver the imagery of a chaotic and torn mind and the vocals are screaming for a change of pace. In my opinion, it is a very chilling way to open up the EP and it leaves you wanting more.
Track 2, “human divided”, was written just for fun in mid-2019. The riff and the “na na na’s” alone are an earworm. But behind the catchiness of the song is a character who is literally a human divided; divided between believing in his hopes for the future and the darkness of the present. The line, “I can’t stand on my own,” was inspired by President Abraham Lincoln’s Inaugural Address in which he stated “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. That quote resonated with me and I needed to write this song. It is truly a ripper that will get stuck in your head.
I wrote Track 3, “sinking stone”, in April of 2020, days before “genuine fake” was written. Lyrically, the song is split up into two main parts that coalesce into one main idea. The first part is how everything is connected. You’re skipping stones across the river, the river is “medicated” with oil, the oil being controlled by corporations; which leads to global warming. The world is a “sinking stone in the river”. The second part is existential in nature, and questions your creative aspirations. You’re skipping songs in your playlist because you’ve been listening to the same damn thing for ages. You realize that those songs made you numb to the outside world, like medication. You come to the conclusion that picking up music was a questionable decision, and then you think that there must be another thing to obsess about. However, your life is a “sinking stone in the river”. It’s a rather dark premise.
Track 4 is called “bought and souled” and is easily the most aggressive and angriest sounding song on the EP. It’s basically a song that says “screw you” to people who think you need to change to fit their vision. You were “bought” into this culture of cookie-cutter conformity and then it ripped your soul out because you weren’t able to think for yourself and express your individuality. After you escape this conformity, you are “set astray” and lost in the void. So you return to being a conformist and the cycle begins again. At this point in time, there needs to be a culture in which no one is shunned because of their ideology. Conformity is “getting old” and you must pursue your own unique path to shine.
Track 5, “the moments before” is a precursor to track 6, “a song for the mourning”. Both songs are a huge stylistic shift for us. We’ve embraced a more somber and atmospheric vibe that is very different from the stuff we’ve been putting out prior to this EP. You will need a box of tissues before listening to “a song for the mourning”. It is about a character’s final moments before he dies in a hospital with his family around him. He admits that he couldn’t drown out the feelings that have landed him in his deathbed and his last words are a message of hope and optimism in the face of bitter tragedy: “You are loved. You are cared for. Do not cry. I will be waving down from my home in the sky.” It’s a great way to cap off the EP.
10) What do you love about music?
Music is the greatest gift I have ever been given. It gives me an outlet to be vulnerable and share my struggles and victories with others who may be going through a tough time in their lives or need a release from the unnecessary brutality of the outside world. Music is a way for me to look at the world around me with a different set of lenses. I’m super grateful for this gift and I don’t know what I’d do without it. New Rock Mafia Forever.
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