How has your creative process evolved over the years?
Charming Scars is a relatively new band, which started in August 2024, and there is definitely a different approach from a songwriting perspective with this band compared to previous bands. Probably the biggest difference was that there was a goal to be able to play every song from front to back on acoustic where it didn’t sound odd from missing other instruments. This was a huge focal point for sure. In previous bands, the music was more opened-up; for example, a bass line is driving a section of the song and the guitar is bouncing the melody and riff off of the bass line. While that is a cool sound and approach, the guitar riff doesn’t make much sense without the bass, so it can become a scenario where each instrument is so reliant on other instruments to make it even playable. I definitely did not want to deal with that, because band members can quit or not be present for a rehearsal or maybe you just want to show a song on acoustic to a friend. These are punk songs we are talking about, so it def took some adjusting to find a way for them sound natural acoustically, but I learned a lot from doing this. Also, in the past I was in bands where a bandmate would bring a riff or some idea to rehearsal and then the band would jam it out and hope to find some spark. Again, while that approach definitely works and can lead to some cool material, it can also be a very slow way of creating songs. Not saying we don’t still do this in Charming Scars, but there is no reliance to that way of writing. The great majority of the songs and parts of the songs are done on the acoustic with the vocal melodies fully worked out, before presenting the song to the band. The idea being that if it sounds good before adding other instruments, then it should sound better once the other instruments are applied. Lastly, something that has evolved over time with me is that I write more in my head now, before ever picking up a guitar or singing. I quit just randomly trying stuff and really think in my head now with the question asking myself what do I really want to hear. Once the melodies and/or guitar riffs are in my head, then I pick up the guitar and just use that instrument and my voice to find what it is that is repeating in my mind.
How do you handle creative blocks or self-doubt?
For self-doubt, be honest with yourself and answer the question…are you truly playing what you want to hear? As long as you are doing that, then you should be fine. If you aren’t fully satisfied that the music you are doing is exactly what you would want to hear say like if that music was being played by some imaginary band, then tell yourself you are going to fix that issue and go to work. The worst thing you can do is start wondering if other people will like it, because it will put creative barriers on your music because you will begin conforming to what you think someone else wants to hear. For musicians that think about what people want to hear and don’t get a lot of response, of course self-doubt will set in and he or she won’t know if it is even valid or not. For creative blocks, I tend to write more with my mind and less with my hands or voice. Meaning, I spend more time brainstorming and developing a feel of what I really want to hear before singing and playing guitar.
What’s a piece of advice you wish you had received earlier in your career?
Who are some of your favorite bands…if you are not writing better music than those bands, you are doing a disservice to those great bands by not trying to push past them and you are also doing yourself a disservice as well as the audience. The listener deserves more than a watered down mixed-up version of your favorite bands. This is not an act of being arrogant or self-absorbed, rather you owe it to your audience and all of your heroes to add to the music collage by pushing those boundaries. If you are going to do it, do it big and quit being safe, because that is boring and nobody wants to hear that. What am I getting at is that I wish someone would have told me years ago to set the bar super high and meet those standards, because again, it is wasting everyone’s time to not do so.