Welcome to In Conversation, a special interview column on the site where we sit down with artists and dive deep into everything music. This week, Joe sat down with Logan of Scarlett O’Hara to discuss their recent single “Talk To Me“, the inspiration behind the video and heading into festival season.
Joe: How are you feeling going into the third single this year?
Logan: We are feeling really good about the new single, it’s been building up with our previous two releases and we are really excited to finally get this one out. In “Talk To Me“, we kind of blended the vibes from both “Friction” and “Obsessive” to create a track that still had the Scarlett feel but with a heavy dose of experimental sounds and things typically not used in our scene. This release has been a long time in the making, we have had it for a few months now but we have been working behind the scenes and teaming up with really amazing people to get it out to the listeners ears.
Joe: Do you feel as if you’re now building momentum going into “Talk to Me?”
Logan: Absolutely! The response we received from the two previous singles has been literally a dream come true and was the most significant in our career. Shortly after “Friction” was released, it got picked up by SXMOctane on satellite radio and that started a snowball effect for us. We’d ultimately land two amazing top 40 billboard chart positions for “Friction” and “Obsessive” and the opportunity to play 2021 Welcome to Rockville. Before the most recent singles, we didn’t really see opportunity’s like that on the horizon, so we are so grateful to all the listeners who have been streaming the tracks every day, adding it to their playlists and connecting with us at shows and online.
Joe: What was the inspiration behind the sci-fi video?
Logan: The video for “Talk to Me” has been our most ambitious and difficult to pull off to date, but I think we nailed it and encourage everyone to go check it out. I’m a HUGE sci-fi guy, anything having to do with space travel is right up my alley and 9 times out of 10 I’m watching some space-related show on Tv. The video for “Talk to Me” is actually part of a larger overarching plotline we’ve been developing in our music videos and acts as a pre-qual to the “Friction” music video. Sort of like how Marvel uses the end credits and previous movies to further their own cinematic universe and set the stage for a future film, we have done the same starting from friction and when watched all together, will form a cohesive mini Space Epic movie.
Joe: How was it seeing the response to “Obsessive”?
Logan: The response to “Obsessive” was amazing and validated our thoughts regarding the new modernized sound we have been building. Coming off of a high-octane energy song like “Friction“, “Obsessive” is way more chill than all the previously released songs and features things we’ve never attempted before. Finding out it charted at #17 on the billboard rock charts for 7 weeks was amazing and propelled us to continue working towards the direction we are currently on with “Talk To Me“.
Joe: How do you feel you’ve adjusted and evolved your sound in these recent tracks?
Logan: The most recent tracks feature almost exclusively Moises’s clean vocals while not relying on screaming as much, that is probably the biggest factor. Previously we were writing really long intricately structured songs where as now the is a definite format we are going for. We also use a lot more samples and FX driven sounds as opposed to just two guitars and the bass. It’s fun being able to work with new programs like DAMAGE, so once we find something that sounds cool, we just add it in and continue building.
Joe: Heading into festival season, are you looking forward to playing these new tracks live?
Logan: 100% yes! Our live set is going to consist of mainly the new and future tracks and I’m super excited to play them live. We also have finalized our backline and optimized it for festival performances so it’ll sound amazing as well.
Joe: With the recent re-issue of Welcome Back To The Brodeo, what are your reflections on that record nearly four years later?
Logan: Welcome Back To the Brodeo is an album I’m proud of and still listen to today. It was always meant to act as a sequel and book end to our Rise Records debut, Lost in Existence, even featuring a play on track names from the 2010 release. It was an album we always wanted to write, but weren’t given the opportunity just due to how life is and everything. That whole album was written by Alek and myself one summer just to stay busy and it turned into a full fledged release. We learned a lot regarding our personal playing style from that album and a crash course in song structuring, so I think everything we gained from that was able to be applied to the current batch of releases.
Joe: What can we expect from Scarlett O’Hara in the remainder of 2022?
Logan: A whole bunch of releases and great music videos! We’ve been working since before the pandemic started on all this new material and will be releasing it throughout 2022. We really wanted to stock pile a good amount of material so we could consistently release it and not face any down time. Now that the ball is rolling, expect to see more singles in the upcoming months, new show and festival announcements, and the end to our Sci-fi Space Odyssey saga within the videos.
Many thanks to Logan for sitting down for a chat with us, and make sure to check out “Talk To Me” here.