Ixion: How long have you been playing out with the boys from Scars of Life?
Jason: We first got together and started playing out in the middle of 2000. We had just disbanded as Confined and just ended right back together as Scars of Life - except we didn't have a name until the next year.
Ixion: The majority of the band was also in Confined. Who all was involved with Confined, and what made the band form Scars of Life?
Jason: That's a long story. When we were Confined, it was me on drums, Anthony on guitar and vocals, Joe on guitar, and Kyle on vocals and bass. We had put our heart and souls into that band for nearly 4 years, but the time just came for something new. We just had no desire for the type of music we were writing anymore. So, we started playing around with our setup a bit, like moving Kyle to vocals full time for instance. Over the next couple of months we jammed with some new material we had, and Kyle tried clean singing for the first time. What came out was totally different than before. For the first time we felt completely comfortable with our style. It flowed more naturally from us. The rest is history.
Ixion: Give us a rundown of the current line-up of Scars of Life, and what they play?
Jason: Of course, I play drums. Anthony Parrinello and Joe Raio are both on the guitar, Mike Kennedy is on bass, and Kyle Shapiro is on vocals.
Ixion: How many years of experience do you have with your instrument, and what equipment do you use?
Jason: Lets see.. gotta dust off the brain cells for that one. I began playing drums in the basement of my house when I was 13, and I'm 26 now. I fell in love with Yamaha drums right off the bat, and stuck with them to this day. I use an 7 piece Yamaha stage custom set, with a pearl deep brass floating snare drum. I mix up my cymbals between zildians and paiste's.
Ixion: How would you define the sound of Scars of Life?
Jason: To me, its a controlled release of emotions ranging from anger to sadness.. We stick somewhat close to our roots with the heavy ass guitar riffs and pounding drums, but transition seamlessly with nice melodies and groove parts. The vocals have quite a dynamic range too, with a touch of heavy screaming, and a lot of strong clean vocals.
Ixion: You somewhat recently released Mute; do you have a favorite track off the album?
Jason: Everyone in the band has a different answer to this question, by my personal favorite is the title track, Mute.
Ixion: How can one acquire the Mute EP?
Jason: We have them on sale on our website at www.scarsoflife.com, and at all of our shows in south Florida.
Ixion: Is the release Silence EP by Confined still available?
Jason: Yes it is. We needed the cash to help our promotion, and we still have plenty of them to go around.
Ixion: Since the release of the album, have you been working on any new material?
Jason: Actually, the album was recorded over a year ago, in January of 2001. We have nearly enough new material for a new CD right now. Unfortunately it took us forever to get the CD to market, and it will be a little while before we can afford to get back in the studio to record the new stuff.
Ixion: How is the music scene in Florida?
Jason: To most bands down here, they don't think its all that great. But, the scene has exploded with a lot of new acts, and the crowds have been growing. I think its a healthy scene, especially since South Florida has produced some pretty good bands Endo, Darwin's waiting Room and Nonpoint.
Ixion: On February 23rd, you're playing the Poison the Well CD release party correct?
Jason: Yes. We gotta give thanks to the Orbit for hooking us up. Its great to see another S. Florida band doing so well.
Ixion: How excited are you about that? Have you played out with PTW before?
Jason: We are all very excited to do this show. We have never played with them before, we have not really been part of the hardcore scene since we were Confined. But, its all good. There are 20 bands coming together from a ton of different genres to do this show. It good to see that kind of unity in the local scene.
Ixion: What other bands do you usually play out with? Any national acts?
Jason: This will be our first show with a national act. We have a pretty large circle of other bands that we play a lot with like Wallop, Eversinceeve, Releese, Saline, Xeon-Switch, Simplekill, Twice the Sun, the Groovenics, Arrant Cypher, just to name a few..
Ixion: What is SOL's current label status?
Jason: That's kind of a touchy subject. We were dealing with an indie label for a while which promised us the world and never came through. We learned the hard way that we need to do a lot of stuff ourselves. We have had some contact with major labels, and plenty of positive feedback from a lot of A&R reps. We are hoping something materializes in the near future.
Ixion: What would you say was your best experience playing out?
Jason: That would have to be our CD release party. What a night... We put together an 11 band show on 2 stages at Orbit in West Palm beach.. It was a long night and a lot of work, but the show went off great, and we gained a lot of new fans that night. We went away from that show feeling like a million bucks.
Ixion: If you could tour with any 3 bands, who would they be and why?
Jason: I'm a big fan of Systematic.. I really dig their style. P.O.D. and Staind would be great to tour with since I can appreciate what they do. I would love to learn as much as I could from them.
Ixion: Are there any promising acts in the Florida music scene that people should definitely check out?
Jason: There are a few up and coming acts that need to be noticed like Twice the Sun and Releese. Those are two names that you will probably hear from again.
Ixion: Anything else that you'd like to add?
Jason: Yeah, to all other local acts - beware of indie labels. Make sure you know who they are and where they have been. You can never be too careful. There's nothing worse that being taken advantage of just because you don't know better. To top it off, thanks to all S.O.L. fans wherever you are.. keep spreading the scars.
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