In the rBeatz Studio with musician, Jason Scavone, and drummer, Jonathan Erickson

Hello, my name is Chelsea Walsh and I’m your host here at Local Music Somewhere. You were just listening to a song called Catastrophic Dreams by Jason Scavone and today, in the studio, I am honored to have both Jason and his drummer Jonathan Erickson right here, right now. Welcome, guys.

-Thanks for having us.

-Thank you.

You’re welcome. I’m gonna go ahead and warm up the audience and talk a little bit about who you are and all of that jazz, so let me dive in. Okay, I have written Jason and Jonathan. As a singer and songwriter and producer of North Carolina -based music, Jason and Jonathan have developed a unique sound that transcends genres, barriers, and blends the best of indie, pop, Americana, and rock.

Jason has been the frontman, songwriter for The Noise 10. He recorded My Repair with Brandy Carlisle and performed with American Authors, Plain White Tees, 30 seconds to Mars to name a few. Along with all these accolades, Jason and Jonathan’s approach to music has been nothing short of amazing.

Jonathan, we go back quite a few years and you’ve always been such an amazing drummer. I’m so honored to have you here today.

Thank you so much, Aunt Chelsea.

Let’s dive in, where did this all begin? Where did both of you- have you guys known each other your whole lives? I feel like you should.

– Since we were very young.

– You know, we went to the same elementary school. We didn’t know each other then.

So, you guys have history.

– Yeah, oh yeah.

– Our first band was, well, you guys started without me. He started playing in a band without me and then I think our parents were at a Super Bowl party together and Jonathan asked me at the party if I wanted to join the band.

– Well, I saw you were wearing Doc Martens and  I was like, “He’s cool”.

– Yeah.

– He passes the test.

– This kids got style, so.

And what year was this in? Like, was this high school? Was this like a garage band?

– No, junior high school.

– Middle school, yeah.

– ’92.

– I was in ninth grade and you were in seventh. I’m two years old, so you were in seventh grade.

– Yeah, so I think it was, would that be ’92? Something like that.

– Gosh, we’re that old. – Yeah.

– We’re all that old.

Okay, so you were like the cool middle school kid and you were a high schooler.

– I didn’t say that. I didn’t say he was the cool middle school. (laughs)

– We were both school together. So we were both still in middle school. We did play on the soccer team together too, at school. Well, I sat on the bench and he played.

– No, we would sneak in the woods and smoke cigarettes while the rest of the team were running laps. That’s what we did.

– Come here, over here.

– Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah.

Oh, very impressionable, very impressionable young kids. So were you always a singer, Jason?

– No, we played in the band together and we auditioned, which is funny to say, but like in middle school, we auditioned a bunch of singers, potential singers. And we just had all these people come over. And it was Jonathan and I and one of our other friends was from the neighborhood and we were like, we had this close unit and then we’d bring in these random people that were like, “I’ll sing, I’ll sing.” And nobody worked out. I think one of the guys was just punching you on the couch half the time.

– Yeah, he tried to beat me up.

– Yeah, and so I was like, “I’ll just sing.” And I remember being at another get together with my parents and I was singing “We’re in the Money” or something like that, like a show tune. And I heard a neighbor say, “He’s got a really nice voice.” And that stuck with me. So I was like, “I think I could do this. I’ll be the singer.” And we had no other options.

(laughing)

– I’ll be the latest one.

– It just kind of worked out, yeah.

So Jonathan, you being the drummer, when did you start playing the drums? How did that all begin?

I started pretty, fairly late. I think maybe the end of eighth grade, ninth grade, but my dad’s a drummer. And so as a kid, I was like, I’m not doing that. I’m not doing what my dad does. I wanted to be a bass player. But where we, our neighborhood where we grew up, whoever had the instrument, that’s what you played. So Jason already had a guitar. My neighbor had a bass and my dad had drums. I was like, well, I guess I’m playing this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah.

I think I heard from somewhere, and I could be wrong on this,

so correct me, but does your dad see music in colors? Maybe I’m maybe making this up.

– Maybe back when he was in college, he saw colors.

– He might have been under the influence.

– Yeah, he was doing some stuff.

– Maybe he was like drumming.

– He’d find a way to see music in colors.

– Yeah, yeah, yeah.

– And there’s pink, okay, yeah.

– I don’t think he does, I don’t know.

– Okay.

– I’ll ask him.

Okay, so we began in seventh and ninth grade. What was this band called?

We had a bunch of names. I think the first name was Solemn Dirge.

It was named what?

– You came up with that.

– Solemn Dirge.

– It was from the Doors, right? Was it from Jim Morrison or something? Wasn’t it?

– No, I think I just–

– It’s a sad burning funeral fire.

– I was really depressed.

– That’s the definition, right? It’s a sad burning funeral fire.

– Dirge is a walk, like the walk you make, I think.

– Oh, I thought it was like a funeral fire.

– A pyre, a funeral pyre is what you’re thinking of from The Doors. ♪ And our love becomes a funeral pyre ♪ ♪ Come on, baby ♪

– I stand corrected. You sound like my dad now. You sound like– like my dad correcting me.

– We’re driving, we get it.

– I probably heard that lyric and then somehow derived it.

– Maybe that’s what it is.

– Then we were called Red Mollie.

– Okay.

– Which is cooler.

– Yeah.

– Yeah, Red Mollie, which is actually–

– Now that is a drug story, but.

– Yeah, that is.

– It sounds like it.

– We won’t go into it though.

– We had a bunch of names. Ramora, remember Ramora was our first band name?

– Ramora was our first band name, yeah.

And who came up with these? Were you like, “All right, everybody.” put your name in the hat and then we’ll, or was it just like?

– We’d be sitting around and just throwing ideas out.

– Yeah.

– Yeah, I don’t remember who came up with.

And you guys all wrote your own music?

– We might, I think we played some spin doctors in our first gig.

– No, no, our very first gig, we were in junior high school and we played Two Princes, a Spin Doctor song, I think six times. That’s the only song we knew we booked a gig and we figured what booked a gig at a party at a friend’s party, but we did book a we did book gigs at venues. We booked a gig at a venue In the university area, and I don’t remember the name of the place But we showed up and the club owner didn’t know that we were all like getting dropped off by our parents. Except I think you had a license, and he’s like “well you guys can’t play here.” This is a bar bar, you know? And he ended up making a Sunday night, teen night. You remember that? So like every Sunday night they would host teenage bands, high school bands.

– Ardvarks.

– Ardvarks, yeah.

– Yeah, I remember that.

– And we played in high school, The Milestone, little coffee shops. I can’t remember what else there was. Seven Seeds Cafe, which is no longer here.

– Fat City.

– Fat City. Yeah, we were playing gigs from high school on.

– Wow.

– Yeah.

Wow, what would you tell anybody that wants to become a musician?

– Don’t.

– Don’t. (laughing)

– No.

– Stop.

– Play music, but maybe not professionally.

– Yeah.

– No, I’m just kidding.

– From two professional musicians.

– We did say we’d like it, we just do it, you know, we don’t know how to do anything else. No, I mean, it’s a cliche, just be patient. I mean, keep doing it, keep at it. I mean, I’m 46 and you’re 44. It’s like, we’ve been doing it since junior high school. We still love it, you know, but it’s–

So your advice would say, your advice would be, be patient?

Yeah, and maybe gauge your expectations, you know. I think it’s, I think if you want to play music because you enjoy playing music and it’s a passion and you’re a creative person, you feel like you have something to say that’s meaningful and that’s important to you for whatever the reason is. If it’s just therapeutic or it’s a legacy you want to leave behind I think that’s great but I think you know becoming a professional musician, there’s not a template for it. It’s not like other professions that you you know if I go to school for X and reviewers and I get this degree and this degree and I can look at what the job market’s like ahead of time and it’s just not like that that. It’s really about luck, catching lightning in a bottle and knowing the right people, being a cool person to hang out with sometimes, you know.

How has the landscape changed, do you think, from the time you were in seventh and ninth grade to now being 46 and 44?

– Yeah, I mean, when we were first coming up, everything was very, everything was physical, you know? So we would go to other shows, there was a band playing in town that we liked, or we knew might draw a similar crowd. We would go to the shows, and we would get little burned CDs of maybe three of our songs with a flyer handbill that had all of our upcoming shows and we would just put ’em on people’s windshields. So our thought was we always leave gigs and we see those little handbills on our cars, but you just throw those away. A lot of times. I mean, some people might look at ’em, but a lot of people might just throw it away. But if you have a free CD on your windshield, you’re at least maybe gonna listen to it on your ride home.

– Right.

– We were just kind of like boots to the ground, like go get it and word of mouth and I don’t know I feel like you can’t do that now in the same way. Nobody’s got a CD player. Everything’s digital and social media based and so  we’re learning that that sort of landscape now as older gentlemen

That kind of of brings me to my next question. What challenges are you faced with? Like that could be definitely one, just the keeping up with it.

– I think you’re always behind. Speaking for us, like we’re older, we’re now just trying to get better at like social networking and doing all this stuff, online stuff, which I’m totally ignorant on.

-Yeah. Just learning that is the process, and so we’re getting better at it. It’s interesting because artists who are aspiring to find a path in music, we’ve talked about this a lot, and the playing field has been leveled to some extent. If you have the same capacity to reach all the people that name whatever A, B, and C famous artists, right? All these people are going to the same platforms for music distribution or social media. But now the C is massive,

right? It’s like, when we were coming up, we could be the big fish in the small pond of Charlotte and then kind of exponentially grow from there. You’ve got to find ways to break through the noise at this point. So I still think it’s doable, but we’re learning the social media side of things. I mean, and we have kids and we’re older now. So our lens that we’re seeing being creative and creating music through is a lot different than it was when we were coming up.

You guys have something kind of new and exciting coming forth. Podcast, do you want to talk a little bit about it? It’s called For the Birds.

– That’s right.

– For the Birds, not Feed the Birds.

– Not Feed the Birds, but we’re For the Birds.

– Right, right.

– You want to tell them a little bit about it?

– Yeah, well I was trying to think about that earlier. How did we decide to do it? I don’t remember.

– You had been talking about, for a long time, let’s do a podcast. And then, not that I didn’t, I’ve always thought that was cool, but it’s like, everybody’s doing a podcast. Then this year, I was like, let’s do a podcast and he’s like I’ve been saying that for years. So we were like, well why not and it took a while for us to come up with a format. Because we had we threw out a bunch of ideas, but I think what we have is pretty cool and it’s music based. I mean it’s music based

Yeah, so it’s not like you’re going into business and “now I’m gonna talk about a business model.”

No, I mean our my original thought and we’ve kind of modified this, was let’s get people on and talk about music and it could be informative and educational and Johnson’s like yeah, but only certain people want to listen to people talk about music in that niche sort of way. Let’s figure out how to reach people beyond that and so we came up with this idea to talk to people in the music industry and outside of the music industry that have been impacted by music in some way. They come on the show and they bring three to five songs that are the cornerstones to the soundtrack of their lives.

What songs are meaningful to you?

If you’re a songwriter, it could be something you wrote, maybe it’s what launched your career or whatever. Whatever your field is, people have music that somehow has been in the backdrop of their lives or has been meaningful to them. And so we wanna talk about the music and analyze the music, but we also, more importantly, we wanna talk to people about just whatever. You know, it’s just a conversation. It’s just an opportunity to meet interesting people.

I think it’s my job to kinda steer ’em off track. Like they’ll say something about a song, and then it goes into talking about junior high school, or high school, or a car, or a girl, or a boy, or, yeah. Music leads to everything and it does with us so we’re hoping that the people that come on will go down the path with us.

I love that. Let me turn the tables. So, what are your five songs, like you were saying you know, we bring guests on and this is like our anthem for life or like maybe name a couple for each of you. What would yours be, Jason?

-Don’t do five, ’cause I can’t do five.

– No, I can’t do five.

– No, just two, two or three.

– One Too Many Mornings by Bob Dylan would be on there… You name your first one, then, and I’ll come back.

– The Boxer, Simon and Garfunkel.

– Yeah, I would say… say maybe something by the Beatles, I mean, I don’t know, or maybe a John Lennon song, maybe, I don’t know.

I’m really putting you guys on the spot.

This is too difficult.

One in one is great. Unless you have another one, Jonathan.

– I like Yesterday by the Beatles. – Yeah.

– I think that was voted the number one song ever written, somewhere. I just made that up, I don’t know.

– No, you didn’t.

– It might be the best. It might be the best pop song ever written, so.

– Yeah, it’s pretty amazing. It’s got everything,

so.

For those of you that are just listening, Jonathan has sleeves. He’s like pretty much covered in tattoos. I want to ask you a little bit about them. them. I love body art, I think it’s so cool. Tell me about the one on your arm that has a bunch of words. What does it say?

It says, “Love is a funny thing, something you cannot see. Some it hits, some it misses, but it knocked the breath out of me.” My grandmother wrote that.

That’s amazing. That’s a beautiful note. Who did she write it to?

She just wrote it for herself. She was kind of like a pack rat. Not I wouldn’t say hoarder, but she would write down Bible verses or just thoughts or poems. And when she passed, my mom and my sister went over to her house to clean out the closet and they found a box full of these little scraps of paper. And this was written on it. And I have it framed in my house.

And it is such a beautiful thing.

Thank you.

It’s gorgeous. Do you ever draw inspiration? Have you ever written a song from any of her (writing)?

– No, but that’s a good idea. That would take a lot of weight off of me.

– I think so, honestly, just saying.

– I have to go back in that shoe box and see what I can find.

– Yeah, do you still have it?

– No, I don’t. I think my mom, maybe my sister has it.

– Yeah, Shelley.

Oh, wow. For those of you that are just, you know, listening, you can’t see it, but they’re very cool.

– I’ll take my shirt off if you want me to.

– No.

– Head to toes, man, it’s covered.

– The man is covered from head to toe. What about you, do you have a–

– I just have a couple little guys here, you know, nothing impressive.

Nothing as cool as Jonathan.

– Oh, I don’t know about that. I have a lot of bad tattoos as well, so.

– Well, this is gonna– Oh, funny story about this.

– I picked that one out when we were, sorry, I’m off the mic. I picked that one out on his 18th birthday for him.

– That is not great.

– No, it’s not.

– What is it?

– It’s an angry man. I don’t know.

– I don’t know what the hell it is. I have no clue. I was 18.

– It was one of the, you know–

– Just flash art.

– There was a flash art on the wall and I was like, “Get that one.” He said, “All right, cool.”

What’s next for you guys? Do you have any new music coming out? Tell me a little bit about it.

Yeah, so we put out “Catastrophic Dreams” last year and we wanted to follow it up with a bunch of music. So we just did a cover of, “I Wanna Be Sedated” by the Ramones, which is like a stripped down acoustic version. And we have another song coming out on April 12th, I believe, called “Surrender,” a new song. So we’ve got a bunch of new material, but we’re just releasing singles right now.

Very cool. How do we find it, Jason?

– Everything is on all the streaming platforms.

– Everywhere.

– So bottom line, Apple Music all over, so.

All right, perfect. We are gonna take a short break, and when we come back, Jonathan and Jason and I are gonna play a game called Name That Tune.

Welcome back we are here and we are about to jump into a game that I created called Name That Tune, now it is not a original, I get it, but we are gonna go ahead. We have five songs, okay? So the premise of this game, guys, is I’m gonna play a few seconds of each song. If you get the song correct, meaning you name the artist and the title, you will hear this sound. Cue it, Johnny. (audience gasps) And if you get it wrong, you’re gonna–

– Was that a race car?

– I don’t know.

– What then? It was like a gas?

– Oh, a gas?

And then if you get it wrong, Johnny.

(Slap sound)

– I know that sound.

– It’s like a whip. It’s like, you got it wrong.

– Yeah, okay.

– Far too familiar with that sound.

– How?

Okay, so are you guys ready to play this game?

We’ll see.

I hope that you get at least one right. I think you are. Okay, so, Johnny, let’s go ahead and play the first sound.

– I’m on a trip to Carolina.

– That’s James Taylor.

Love it. Do you know any facts about this little song here? ‘Cause I just pulled a bunch. 

On this one, I actually saw, I know facts about fire and rain, but I don’t know any facts about this.

I know he wrote this song in England when he was recording a label with Apple Apple records, and it was reflecting his feelings on being homesick

-Makes sense.

You guys are like one for one already. That’s pretty good, right? Yeah,

can we maybe do a little more challenging? I don’t know if these are are gonna be, these might just be too easy. Johnny, let’s cue up the second soundbite.

Country Roads?

Yes

(incorrect sound plays)

Wait, did we get that sound the first time?

No, we get two now. Johnny, play two.

– Oh, come on. Play it again.

(Correct sound plays)

– Thank you.

There you go. All right, very good guys. Maybe I made these a little too easy. Do you know anything about the song or like its origin?

I think he wrote it while walking down a country road.

How’d you come up with that?

I don’t know.

How did you know that?

That is bizarre.

That is so original.

– Wow.

– No, I have no idea.

(Next songs plays)

I Want to Hold Your Hand

You got it. Okay, very good guys. I think we should all just like start a band together. Let’s do it.

Okay.

Do you know how many weeks this song was on the top charts in the UK?

– I’m gonna say it’s between one and 30.

– Let’s say 24 weeks.

Ooh, very, very close, Jason.

27.

Lower, Jonathan.

– 19.

– We’re gonna say 21.

I’ll give it to ya. After three guesses. We have two more. songs Do you want to go ahead and play the next sound bite?

-That’s all we get? What the hell was that?

-It’s just a drone

All right, we’ll give you five more seconds.

-Okay five more seconds. I have no clue. I’m stumped I don’t know.

It makes me want to meditate. Wait a minute. That’s Journey. Is that Sarah by Journey?

It is not.

– Oh, spank it.

– Man.

– What was that? 

This was “Copperline” by James Taylor.

– Oh, God, okay.

– There’s no way I would have gotten that.

– I’m just gonna guess James Taylor on the next one.

– James Taylor, yeah.

No, don’t, don’t, don’t.

– Yeah, can you believe that? It’s a tough one. I’m glad that I at least got you on one of these.

– You stumped us. That’s good.

Good, and you guys have been musicians your whole life. So it’s like for me to get one and you do get three. That’s pretty good. Okay, and here’s the next and the last final sound bite we’re gonna play for you right now.

– Okay, you wanna say it?

– The Beatles.

– Yeah, All You Need is Love.

You got it! It’s so funny ’cause when I was pulling out the sound bites, I was like, this is a national anthem of some kind. And I was like, this is gonna be too hard. So the first, the Copperline one, I thought that was very hard.

It was like, is it Enya, you know, but anyways.

Yes, you got it, All You Need is Love. We all need a little love here, right?

Absolutely.

That song is probably, honestly, if I had an anthem, that would be it. Remember we were talking about our song. I think that would be mine.

It’s a good one.

It is, right?

Yep.

It’s just got such a good message. I’m so excited. So next, we are going to actually listen to one of your original songs.

It’s called “Old Friend” and you guys are gonna perform it after we take this short little break and you’re gonna get all set up. And for the first time in the rBeatz radio station, we are going to have a drummer in the studio, which is so exciting. I mean, Jonathan is the drummer, but he’s actually gonna play the drums. So tune on in, we’ll be right back.

Did everybody get their refill on the popcorn? Because I did. And now that my stomach is full of that popcorn, we’re gonna go ahead and listen to this song, an original piece by Jason Scavone, and Jonathan will be on the drums called “Old Friend.”

*Jason and Jonathan perform Old Friend

Thank you guys so much for coming into the studio today. It was such a pleasure and honor and I cannot wait to see what comes and what comes to this new podcast so anyways it thank you for having us.

Thank you very much.

It’s been so awesome. Thank you so much. All right, this is it for rBeatz Radio on Local Music Somewhere. I’m your host, Chelsea Walsh. I hope you have a blessed day. Thank you.