In the Kitchen with the 'Next' big thing

On the porch is more accurate. I met up with Oberlin's true rock and roll boys the other night, enjoying the eerie December warmth with sophomore Ben Arenburg, senior Nate Cavalieri, and juniors Tyler Kord and Jesse Woghin, all of them known collectively as Scenes from the Next. Yes, they used to be Shots from Behind, but don't call them that anymore, and definitely don't call them boyishly charming.

R: Why did you change your name?

N: In Oberlin, political correctness reigns supreme. (spits)

T: People just didn't understand it, and we were sick of explaining it.

R: Well, what did Shots from Behind mean?

J: It was a joke. It was something that we thought was funny.

T: It was a film thing, honestly.

R: What film?

T: I don't exactly remember the name of the film. It was a camera thing.

J: It was a reference to camera angle. It was a name that easily misconstrued and it was tiring to keep on explaining it and justifying it.

R: Do you believe in the concept of a front man?

T: Yes, that's why we put Jesse out front. Every time.

R: Is Jesse the cutest?

T: Yes.

N: Undoubtedly.

B: By far.

R: You write your own material. Do you ever do covers?

N: Usually our covers come up when Jesse breaks two or more strings.

R: Who writes the lyrics?

T: Nate and Jesse.

N: And Tyler.

T: I wrote a little bit. I write generic pop lyrics.

J: The way this band started really was a bunch of music that I was writing last year and now its turning into a more collective sort of thing. Like I didn't write the lyrics for the last two songs.

R: What kind of a band are you?

N: How about Art pop?

R: There's no such thing.

T: We just invented it.

J: It's like if Andy Warhol were a musician.

T: We're starting a new genre.

J: It's like if Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenberg, and Jasper Johns got together and decided to form a rock band. We're like the Velvet Underground of the 90s.

R: The Velvet Underground with a sense of humor?

N: And even tempos.

B: Rumaan, what's your interpretation of our music? How would you describe us?

R: Quintessential boy music.

T: I think we're more men than boys.

R: Who are your musical influences? Now here's where you decide whether you're going to be funny or serious.

T: Personally, I'm going to say Jesse B.Woghin and...

N: Tom Waits.

T: What about the Boss?

J: I think of the band as a modern incarnation of Journey. Seriously.

T: What about the Goo-Goo Dolls? They're a big influence on our work. I think we're a combination of Goo-Goo Dolls and Whitesnake.

R: So no female rock artists are your influences?

N: I wish that Liz Phair was one of our influences.

B: I think the further away from Journey we are, the better we are.

J: Whatever.

R: So there's dissent among your ranks?

N: Just omit from this interview anything about the band Journey.

J: Kim Gordon. Sonic Youth was a formative band for me. They were one of the first bands that was making stuff that you didn't hear other people doing. People like her and Debbie Harry who come on stage and captivate a room.

R: Do you strive for that?

J: No. The thing about Kim Gordon is that she was really unassuming in a way. I don't know. I think there's something to be said for making music that's important...that breaks a lot of ground.

R: Are you trying to do the same thing? What are you trying to do?

J: The point of this band is that there's not really a greater purpose to this band other than that it's fun.

N: I think there's a lot of really shitty indie rock and I would sort of like to separate ourselves from that.

R: If you guys were the Sex Pistols, who would be your Malcolm Maclaren?

T: Sex Pistols? I'm sorry. We're the Clash. I'm sorry. I don't want to talk about the Sex Pistols.

N: I would really like to say that we're not taking ourselves too seriously. When I say I'd like to separate ourselves from the body of college indie rock, we're not taking the venues we're playing, the music we're making, any of it, too seriously. We just want to make it as good as we can.

T: I think that, at Oberlin, it's all about taking yourself too seriously, as far as being in a band and just giving the kids what they want to hear. It's so sad to go to these parties and see the bands just trying so hard...

N: Can we have a little bit about the hippie bands?

J: There are like one or two other bands on campus, one of which is a cover band. I think it's nice in a way that we're doing something. If we weren't doing it, no one would be.

N: Just to go back to the hippie band thing: it's really not that hard, if you're halfway good on the guitar, to play the same funk beats and get some guys in dresses dancing.

T: Just like Jesus died for our sins, I mean, there's Phish. They did it. You know?

N: And not only did they do it, but what makes people dance is the watered down remnants of what Phish might have done when they were like thirteen or so. I don't know what that exactly has to do with us but I think as far as our stage demeanor that's not us.

T: Something that bothers me about this campus is that people will dance and they won't actually listen, and I don't feel like it matters who the hippie band is.

N: And the last goal of this band, forever, and the last goal of any band I've ever played in, is to make people dance.

T: But we put on a show.

N: Jesse stands on the fucking bass drum.

J: We're definitely a band to watch.

T: I don't necessarily want to use the word cockstars, but there it is, really.

J: I think the point is to go out and play and sort of the way we get into the music, I think it's obvious we're having a good time.

N: But some of our music is serious too.

J: I wrote some of the lyrics, and I didn't write those songs to be taken as a joke, but I don't think it matters.

T: Every time we play, somebody comes up to me and says, "what are you trying to do, being in a serious band?" I'm sick of it. I have a sensitive side. Just because we're not a band that's about making fun of every other band on campus, people seem to think I'm betraying my...

J: Your Vegan Eaters roots?

N: All right. Can I say I think the way we approach a lot of our shows is with a certain degree of cynicism in terms of what people want to see in a rock band, what people want to see at a party.

B: For me, the cynicism is just a good way for me to be more comfortable with playing in front of lots of people. When we do things that are humorous, it relaxes me. I wonder if our cynicism is just our cover.

R: That's good. I think that almost all art at Oberlin takes itself way too seriously.

N: Just check out a new music concert. Go to one. Our music would be just as legitimate there as anything you'll hear there. I think the way you have to approach any kind of performance, any kind of art, in an environment like this, is that if you don't take yourselves with a grain of salt, you make the wrong statement.

B: We're the convergence of post-modernity and...

T: I'd say post-maternity. Let's talk about that. That's amazing. We are all cesarean section births, and I think that affects our music quite honestly.

B: There's an underlying stress in each song.

R: This is kind of interesting statistically. They're called cesarean births because of Caesar. Are you all like Caesar?

J: Tyler has a Caesar cut.

N: I like Caesar salad.

T: The thing is though, I think the fact that we didn't come out in a very natural way, I think.

N: Can I cite Morrissey as an influence?

R: Please do.

J: Tyler hates Morrissey.

R: Who hates Morrissey?

T: I don't hate him, it's just that I had a big sister who used to subject me to a lot of Morrissey early in the morning.

J: My sister used to subject me to Led Zeppelin.

R: That's far worse.

T: My first CD ever was Led Zeppelin.

R: That's a really good question. What was your first CD ever?

N: Record?

R: No, CD. This is the nineties.

N: Dire Straits, Money for Nothing.

B: Uh, Guns and Roses, Use Your Illusion, I think.

J: My first CD was the Happy Mondays.

T: We should mention our show in Cleveland. Not that we don't love Oberlin. This is still our favorite campus to play. It's time though for us to expand our audience a little.

B: Well, we're recording a record.

T: Pending Winter Term sponsorship.

N: I think one nice thing would be if we could play some more shows around Oberlin, with some more rock bands.

T: I'd be impressed if there were more rock bands in Oberlin. There really just aren't.

N: Instead of those "funk" bands.

T: Can we talk about Rumaan for a little while?

J: You're our Malcolm Maclaren.

T: Should we address our debut in the Oberlin Review? We can get away with anything because of our boyish charm?

J: It was upsetting because it was our first time in print and it didn't say anything about our music.

R: Well, now's your chance.

J: Well, I always wish this at Oberlin. I wish people would come clean and be honest about things. For a campus that considers itself so open to discourse and things... talk about our music, not our boyish charm.

R: Is your boyish charm your curse?

N: I think it tends to be a drag to be put under those umbrella titles.

R: So make up your own umbrella title.

B: It's almost as lame to say that we wouldn't classify our music as it is to classify it.

J: We're post-funk I think. We're late capitalist, pre-millennial, post-hippie jam. If we're not-we're rock, and we're rock for you.

Rockstars or "Cockstars"?: The boys in the band, from left to right, Jesse Woghin, Tyler Kord, Nate Cavalieri, and Ben Arenburg. No longer Shots from Behind, ladies and gentlemen, they are Scenes from the Next, Oberlin's homegrown rock and roll band. (photo by Heidi Good)