Interview with Beth Balousek

Autumn is upon us and I have a variety of chemicals to make my rotting tooth bearable. You may or may not have noticed the distinct lack of Wednesday yesterday, but we will chalk it up to ridiculous levels of pain. I'm sure you'll understand.
Tonight I have for you the long awaited interview with Beth Balousek of Scarecrow.

Casket Case: The NY area seems to have been darkly fertile in the early 80s. What was your wildest experience in the scene?

Beth Balousek: 80's on the Lower east side were a BLAST - seems as if everyone was 18-25 years old, all of us high school rejects (or at least, none of us were the homecoming king/queen.....) wildly artistic. Felt like we were running the show for a while - the uptown-ers would come downtown to check out our art/music/clothing. Great fun. Not just that, but we helped each other out - supported each other's art, had rent parties...we had phone hot lines that could rally up hundreds of people for everything from Victor Bruno's renegade parties to instant demonstrations to help keep the building squatters safe from the police. Safety in numbers -

CC: How was your relationship with the guys in the band?

BB: Still talk to Joe and Ron - known Ron since 1980 - met him in Ann Arbor. We had a band then - used to play the Detroit/Ann Arbor scene before we moved to NYC. Had even crazier times in Michigan - hanging out with Niagra/Ron Ashton/Mike Davis - Destroy All Monsters and entourage.

CC: Who were your biggest influences at the time, and how has your opinion of their music changed over the years?

BB: Big influences - Siouxsie, Patti Smith...Iggy. I am a Detroit girl. Give me a fast car and a stack of Marshalls....yep, still.

CC: What is you opinion of the current goth/deathrock revival?

BB: Like hearing that the old stuff is still getting played...funny that folks think goth is some new thang -

CC: I've made out a good deal of your lyrics and it's obvious that you neither skimp out on the startling imagery nor go for the easy rhyme(a personal pet peeve). Being a poet, how important do you feel lyrics are in a song? What role do they play in the music in the context of personal expression as well as the 'public consumption'?

BB: Lyrics? Gawd! Can't sing without them!

CC: What is the writing process like for you?

BB: Writing process is very bumpy. Sometimes it comes. Sometimes , not. Right now I'm in a "not" phase and hating it.

CC: Your thoughts on the business aspect of music?

BB: Must say, I don't think I've ever had any thoughts on the biz end of music - being on stage was always more a matter of performance art, not a job.
Was in a couple bands before Scarecrow and before that I was a performance artist on my own. It's always been about the mood a performer can set. the image on stage and the twists that image makes. Don't know if that's gonna make much sense...

So, the words/poesy/lyrics play into the performing/persona

That's that kids. Hope you enjoyed it.