ifitbeyourwill Podcast
“ifitbeyourwill" Podcasts is on a mission to talk to amazing indie artists from around the world! Join us for cozy, conversational episodes where you'll hear from talented and charismatic singer-songwriters, bands from all walks of life talk about their musical process & journey. Let's celebrate being music lovers!
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ifitbeyourwill Podcast
ifitbeyourwill S05E19 • Super XX Man
When does a musical project truly end? Scott Garred of Super XX Man thought he had written the final chapter when he crafted an obituary for his 30-year-old band. Yet somehow, what began as a nostalgic blog post excavating old flyers and cassettes transformed into an unexpected resurrection.
The creative spark reignited when longtime collaborator Allie Wesley reached out after seeing Scott's posts. "It'd be so fun to do something together again," she wrote, not knowing those words would breathe new life into a project Scott had considered complete. That simple connection opened the floodgates to what Scott describes as "the community that was Super XX Man." Soon, songs that had been sitting in limbo found their way to Portland producer Adam Seltzer, forming the foundation of "Rusted Hues" - the first Super XX Man album in a decade.
Throughout our conversation, Scott shares fascinating insights into his creative process, describing how he immerses himself in music daily as both a music therapist and a perpetual student of the craft. "I play music every day," he explains, detailing how creativity generates more creativity once he begins recording. We journey back to his formative musical moments, from the friend who taught him two simple guitar chords that "changed my musical life right then and there" to his first experiences with home recording on a four-track that made songwriting feel accessible.
Most movingly, Scott reflects on what performing means after three decades of making music. "I don't think it's bravery," he says about sharing deeply personal songs. "It's a privilege to be able to go play a show and stand in front of one person, two people, a thousand people." Whether playing in a church basement in Wisconsin or to hundreds in Japan, the feeling remains the same: "When I'm really singing, and it's resonating in my own heart - there's nothing like it." Join us for this intimate look at musical resurrection, creative persistence, and finding renewed purpose in artistic community.
I do declare that the world, it's just not fair. And I saw the world with its broken wing, and now I sing, and now I sing.
colleyc:Here we are another episode of ifitbeyourwill with Podcast. What a treat I have for you people today Super XX Man, previous Silver Scooter. I mean, I've been a longtime fan of Scott, so I was just thrilled and we've put all this together within a day or so because I was excited and I hope that, scott, you'll be excited too at the end.
colleyc:Yeah, so great to have you here. I'm glad we you together fast too, because I think that when there's excitement about a project, you may as well just do everything you can to. You know, make lightning strike.
colleyc:There we go. So, scott, you've got this new record that came out in May Rusted Hues and we were just talking before we hopped on here about it and just the the beauty of it and how it came together. We're going to share all that with you guys. So don't worry, but, scott, my, my, my jive usually is to start to rewind in time a little bit now, just to to let everybody, all the listeners out there.
colleyc:This record marks 30 years that Scott's been creating music, and beautiful music, I will add on top of that. So he has a huge catalog and there's a lot of stuff that's in shelves and drawers that comes out now and then, which is a real pleasure for fans like me to get these little nuggets, me to get these little nuggets. Um, but what we're going to look at is how this record came to be, because, scott, you had mentioned that you had written an obituary for super double x-man. Um, how, what was the transition of resurrecting this project that you've been doing for so long? Um, like, what was the? What was the reason behind? Kind of, all right, I'm, I'm kind of reached my goals with what I want to do with this. I'm going to put it to bed. And then what changed in you to to want to resurrect it back up?
Scott Garrand:um, it's a great question. I I'm always writing and creating music and recording and I was getting close to feeling like I might have an album here, but I'm honestly not sure if I even like the songs and to just kind of keep reminding people that my music projects exist, I'll get onto a blog project or something, and so I was. I have kind of a time capsule bomb waiting to go off in the garage of just old flyers and t-shirts and stickers and cassette tapes and I was just starting to go through them and posting on my blog about them. And I got an email back from Allie Wesley, who has been a longtime participant in Super XX man, and she just said oh God, you're just taking me down this rabbit hole of nostalgia and I just love it. It'd be so fun to do something together again. Like well, I have all these songs and honestly I'm kind of stuck with them. Allie, I don't know. I don't know if they're good enough to finish. I don't know what to do with them. If you want to collaborate, let's do it. And she and I set out on kind of an ambitious project to maybe rewrite some stuff, create some stuff from scratch. She's a super busy and super creative person, so it seemed like as as quick as we were getting the project off the ground. It was like, whoa, maybe, maybe this is too much to take on, but but what that did was that sort of cracked open the idea of the community. That was Super Double X-Man. Because I said, well, ali, what would we even call it? I wrote an obituary, just call it Super Double X-Man, you can do whatever you want. And I'm like, ok, let's do it. And then I just had some fun with resurrecting Super XX man. I wrote a blog post around Halloween and leaned heavily on chat GPT to write me a really stupid Hardy Boys mystery type Scooby-Doo, grave robbery post. Scooby-doo, brave Robbery Post.
Scott Garrand:And then I shared all the songs with Adam Seltzer, who is a Portland music producer and a great songwriter, great individual, whom I've known for the last 20 years or so, ever since I moved to Portland in 2002, but we were never like uh, close or best of friends or anything. We were just, we just knew of each other and respected each other. And so to to hand them off to him first. First I thought, well, I probably won't be able to afford it and it's hard for me to justify putting money into a project. But, um, the more adam and I talked, the more I thought, well, I think this is doable, I think we should do it. And so, handing a bunch of songs to ally, a bunch of songs to adam, we were able to go through about 19 tunes and and say, let's, let's focus on these and call it an album.
Scott Garrand:And it just came together and the community and, and then I thought kind of rambling here, but in 30 years there's been a lot of people who have played with the group Totally. Um, and super double X man is a group, it's a community, it's, it's a project. It started out as just me, but, um, but it's always been whoever's been close in my circle of friends, uh, ever since the beginning, and it was just great to reach out to. Uh, I was a little disappointed because some people that I reached out to just they were hard to get in touch with or didn't write back or whatever.
Scott Garrand:But I was like, okay, I want to try to get as many people who have contributed all the hot guitar licks and keyboard stuff to play on this album somehow. And so, um, we put the finishing touches on it at adam seltzer's studio in portland and I got adam mack, who was the last drummer that played with super double x man, uh ally to sing and play flute. Tony moreno, who was in the live the last portland-based live band of super XXX man, and he's also played on a couple albums, just all to come together in Adam's studio and we put the finishing touches on 12 songs, including re-recording. Rusted Hues Beautiful song, beautiful song.
Scott Garrand:It just all came together.
colleyc:Kind of a reunion of sorts. Hey, scott, like, yeah, um, did that evolve? Like, was that um? Like the more that you started to think about, okay, I'm gonna go ahead with this project. Like, hey, why don't I? Or was that at the forefront when you were thinking about 30 years of super double x-men that you wanted to have that kind of because it's? It's curious too, because most of the double x, uh, super double x-men records are volumes. Right, you have volume one all the way up to what is it volume?
Scott Garrand:I think I stopped at volume, I don't know 15 or 16 yeah, sort of heavy metal is that was that's volume 12, and then there were a couple after that. Okay, okay.
colleyc:But those were kind of later on, right Like earlier on. I should say. Like how long has it been since a super double X man release that you put out before rested Hughes?
Scott Garrand:It's been, at least it's been exactly 10 years, wow. So so 30 years of music with 10 years of, you know, dormancy, I guess Right, and in those 10 years were you still productive?
colleyc:Like does music have to be a part of your daily existence? Like do you find yourself needing it At certain times in your life? Experiences happen, days roll by, that there's a need still inside you to write songs.
Scott Garrand:Yes, if people listening could look at my face as I was listening to you answer that question. I just wanted to say yes, really fast. I play music every day. Really fast. I play music every day. I work as a music therapist so I engage with others through music every day. Separate from writing songs, I study jazz piano. During COVID I experimented with building drum sets out of suitcases.
Scott Garrand:I'm constantly tinkering with music in some way. I don't stress about writing songs. I'm not someone who gets writer's block who gets writer's block. I just accept that. Oh, I'm not really creating or writing music right now, but I'm. But I'm playing music and pursuing it, and the recording process is such a long, drawn out thing sometimes that like, oh, I'll sit down for an hour and just listen to this song to see if I can make it sound good. That might be the day's music pursuit. Or I'm really learning this. I want to learn this Duke Ellington tune on the piano and see if I can get my you know brain and heart to go through my fingers and make the piano do something.
colleyc:And Scott, what's your process for writing songs? Like, when do you feel like you have you're on to something that you might, you know, see on an album or in a record, like, what's that? What's your process like? And then how do you come to either saying this I, I'm on to something, or yeah, I'll show that one um for a later date. Like, how do you go about? Like you said that you do it like quite regularly, is this something? I mean, if you're focusing just on songwriting, how do you, how does that process go about for you?
Scott Garrand:I've got snippets of lyrics, um, that I might write down in notebooks, um, I've got probably hours of voice notes on my phone of something that once upon a time I thought was a good idea.
Scott Garrand:If I'm sitting at a traffic light and I've been like the news wasn't engaging or something I might be singing an idea, I'll just say I kind of like this melody. I'll just make a voice note really quick and come back to it, but then once, once making an album starts happening, or once setting up a microphone in my studio at home, creativity tends to steamroll into more creativity. So I might I might be excited about three songs, but those three songs might make me sit down and write a song in one day. That turns out to be better than the three songs I was working on, and when I say better, it just like make me feel better, like, oh, this song resonates to me in a way that I thought, working hard on these three other songs, I thought those three other songs were resonating with me, but now those three songs led to this one song. That's like really resonating with me.
Scott Garrand:And it's just you know, know, music just creates more music yeah, yeah, I love that, I love that but it's taken.
Scott Garrand:You know, having a family and a career and um, I've had to really carve out time in my life. I'm sitting in a room right now that I share with one of my kids when they're living with my wife and I, and this house belongs to my wife and she was like just 100 percent full on just set it up as a music studio and so it's it's almost a total square room room, so it doesn't sound great, but it's a space that I have and I've worked really hard to make it what it is and I'm just, I'm lucky. I'm very thankful that that I have, um the space and there's not always time to do it.
colleyc:So throughout the years, I've always just kept my um recording environment as simple as I can, so it's always like ready to go Right Um and Scott, if we were to kind of rewind in time a little bit to your early days of starting to become a musician, to coming into that what I mean. I know a lot about Silver Scooter because I was obsessed. But how did you, how did that transition happen from, um, you know, being a person in the world to identifying that music was something that had to be a part of what you did. What, what were some of those early moments or those turning points in your early life that opened this door of 30 years of writing songs?
Scott Garrand:Yeah, I mean, I've played music since I was 11. So 41 years and counting.
Scott Garrand:And counting so 41 years and counting and counting, and, and when I was younger, um, I knew I wanted to play music. I didn't know to what extent I was also, you know, like, like we all are when we're young, we're so impressionable and I thought that I needed to be like a brooding. I've always been a melancholy person, but, you know, I thought that I needed to be like don't talk to people, just consume magazines and listen to music. That's so far left of the dial, that, um, you know. But but what I realized when, before silver scooter, before super double X man, I learned how, um, I mean the moment that I realized that I wanted to make music was.
Scott Garrand:I went over to a friend's house who played drums and another friend of mine who played bass and he was working on a jazz chart that he had to do for community college, and I played guitar in the jazz band and, and I played through the chart with him and that went really fast. He just wanted to see if it worked as an exercise. And then I was seriously thinking about selling my guitar to buy another camera lens or something, because I was really into photography, and he taught me how to play D and g on my electric guitar and then solo on the g string with the d string ringing out and it was like what we could like. That it felt amazing. Uh, probably changed.
Scott Garrand:Probably changed my musical life right then and there right and we would get together every couple weeks and just play those same three chords. And then when I got to college and I met some of the guys that I eventually started Silver Scooter with Tom Hudson and Sean Camp another friend of mine, jeff Albertson we sort of just started bands. My buddy, jeff, bought a four track in 93 or 94. And that was just a huge moment where, like, oh, I can do, I can write a song myself, I can write the verse, the chorus, the guitar solo. So it's like the world of making music isn't so unreachable anymore. Right.
Scott Garrand:And then groups like Porta, static and Sebato and um later I would learn, even Bruce Springsteen made a record on a four track in his house, um one of my favorites amazing record like so foundational to like um I am amazed that you're, you're, you're mentioning that. So it's like it's like well, I want to do this too, and I was empowered by that.
colleyc:It was great yeah totally, and what was actually the first song you ever wrote that eventually made it onto a release of some kind? Do you remember those early songs that you started to write?
Scott Garrand:Yeah, I don't remember what it was called. It wasn't on the first Super Double X-Man cassette, although some of the songs that I first started recording on a four-track became part of that first cassette in 1995. I remember the chord progression but I don't remember the name of the song. But it was the first thing I recorded on a four track and by the time it became a band song I was in a little trio that we jokingly called Krogan. We wanted to call it the Billy Corgan Four as kind of making fun of the Smashing Pumpkins, but somehow it got, I don't know, changed to Krogan, which is goofy. But somewhere in my garage there's a cassette.
colleyc:Right and like what did it feel? Like, like, how do you? How do you, how does it make you feel when you know you're onto something with a song? Like you know to shelve it or keep it, like, is it just that it feels good for you? Um, like yeah, what are those feelings that you could put words to that, when you know, like yeah, like this is, this is gonna work?
Scott Garrand:yeah, I think the only way to really describe it is you're going down this path of creating something. Um, the lyrics that match up with the melody that comes up, like, like, evokes something, resonates with something maybe that I've observed in the world or observed in myself, and, of course, on the songs were very, very like, always emotionally driven, but like, more like personal and selfish kind of Sure, you know, because I'm like 19 or 20. Sure, yeah, it happens, for sure, yeah, but it just feels good, and so the process of making the music happen becomes the most important thing in that moment, I think, and so it's easy to not think about anything else except creating that song.
colleyc:That's, that's when I know okay, well, this is a good song to finish, right, yeah, so cool, so cool and like I interview, like many artists and recently I've interviewed a couple of just beginning artists, you know, just starting their careers, young, similar to what you're just describing yourself, as you know. I mean they tend to be very internalized about themselves and working through stuff, you know, and they often say I do songwriting so I can get it out of me. You know, I got to get these feelings out.
colleyc:You know I got to get these feelings out. What kind of advice do you give those starting musicians, kind of like having that experience of the years that you've been doing this and kind of taking into account we're in 2025 right now. Things have changed so much in the music industry over these 30 years. What are some of those words that you could offer to these starting up musicians that you know have a four track or I guess it's garage band?
colleyc:now and you know, or, like I, I want to do this um. What insight could you share with us?
Scott Garrand:well, I think, like making anything these days, satisfy yourself through the process of making music or art, make it feel good to you, try not to do any harm with it to others and just make yourself feel good, like if you heard a young songwriter say say, I just got to get it out of me. Yeah, get it out of you right and keep yourself healthy. Um and I like that and don't don't forget why you're doing it in that moment.
colleyc:You know, yeah, yeah and, as you, you know, evolve and like this record that you've just put out, like, are you going to go through the same process that you go through every record you know like once it's kind of done. So I have this, you know, artifact that I've created. Has your process for putting it out in the world and shows or podcasts, interviews, like whatever it might be? Has that evolved over time for you?
Scott Garrand:yeah, because because every, every album is a learning experience and I'm a slow learner, which is maybe why I have so many albums, like there's a lot to learn. So I got more albums to make. So every album, I mean the game has changed. I mean, when I first started, you know, we were putting up flyers on telephone poles and getting the word out to get people to come out. There wasn't Instagram, even when Silver Scooter was touring. We didn't have social media, we had telephone poles. We had telephone poles.
colleyc:We had telephone poles and newspapers and yeah, we're like why?
Scott Garrand:why is nobody coming to our show? Oh well, modest mouse was here last night playing in the same club, so everybody like came out for that. Like, oh, okay, so that's okay. We learned that we want a tour when bands like modest mouse and death cap for cutie aren't also playing the night before. Um, you know, every opportunity to learn something is amazing. And now with this album, I'm kind of like well, I don't have a record label. I'm glad I don't have a record label, because I answer only to myself. Yep, um, I'm not even crowdfunding anymore, asking people to pay for things in advance. I'm just like well, nowadays you can make 100 LPs. I work, I have a good job, I can front the money for that and I want to just do enough to get the word out that maybe I get that investment back. Other than that, I don't have huge expectations for it. This is great. I'm doing a podcast with you right now. This is cool. This is the coolest thing happening in my life today.
colleyc:Me too. I just I'm loving your stories and all of these. I just I'm loving your stories and all of these. Before we hopped on here too, I was kind of nerding out a bit on or fanning out on your production and stuff and it's just been really enjoyable to kind of see the history behind these songs that have become iconic in my life. Like I told you before, that Japanese live record that you would put out where you played counting rocks and the the bangers, the super double x bangers, and just that simple record that you put out influenced me so much in in my life, in in what I wanted to do, because it touched me so so much. And I guess my question to you is you said that you were kind of, you know, you didn't like talking and you were kind of like, you know, in in your space. How do you go from that to standing in front of thousands of people?
colleyc:or I've never stood in front of thousands of people or whoever many doesn't matter, but to to talk about something, to sing these songs because they are so personal and we were talking about. Hold on to me a song at the end of this record. That's come, that's that's out. Uh, as of may. Um, how do you, how do you get that bravery to to open your heart up to the world and let them interpret something that was very close to you and personal, um, and kind of have to let it go a bit?
Scott Garrand:well. I mean, it's a privilege to be able to go play a show and stand in front of one person, two people, a thousand people. I don't think it's bravery, I think it's just I want to. I want to satisfy this urge to do it. I there's. There's nothing like singing and getting the sense that your voice is out there, like filling up a room and like when I'm really singing, and I feel like I'm like singing, singing well, and it's resonating in my own heart. It's like there's nothing like it. So, um, I don't even play shows that much anymore, but I feel like what few shows I have lined up for the summer. I feel like it's a world tour. I'm really looking forward to it playing.
Scott Garrand:I heard about your world tour, playing in hannleton, playing in moscow, idaho, and playing in my own backyard, and might go out to lexington, kentucky, um, later on this year. But it's singing in front of people, it's, it's a total privilege, it's and it's and it's um, it doesn't matter how many people there are. I I'll share a really quick story. Silver Scooter was on their first tour.
Scott Garrand:We were playing in Racine, wisconsin, in the basement of a Lutheran church and there were, I think, seven people, and a few of them might have had their parents with them, and I remember turning around and talking to Tom who was sitting at the drums, and I was tuning my guitar and I think, honestly, because it was our first tour and one of our first shows of the tour, we were just kind of like, wow, basement of this Lutheran church and Racine Wisconsin, and there's really nobody here. And then we're halfway through the set and this kid raises his hand and asks a question Can, can you play cup and string? And it's like, yeah, and it's like, from that moment on, I didn't care if I was playing for the toilet in the back room, or seven kids in Racine Wisconsin or 500 people in Japan, it's a privilege, it right, that's amazing. It's a privilege, it's great.
Scott Garrand:It feels. It feels amazing.
colleyc:Yeah, yeah. And and did it always feel that way, even at the start, like even those first shows? Like? Did it always like? Did that feeling always exist? Every show that you you performed, you just felt like it was a privilege to be able to fill the room with your voice, as you say.
Scott Garrand:I think it's only like getting older that I would look back and call it a privilege. When I was doing it earlier, I didn't recognize it as a privilege, but the feeling was there. Um, but the feeling was there. I maybe didn't know what the feeling was, how to label that, yet Right, yeah, yeah, it takes some time.
colleyc:So, as we come to a wrap here, scott, thanks so much for this.
colleyc:I mean, I I talking with you, I know why you're a songwriter because you're such a good storyteller and you, you, you can lace a few sentences together that are very powerful and make sense um, thanks, um, what do you look forward to? So you're going to do a world tour. You have, the record is out. These songs were assembled throughout a chunk of time, do they go way back? And then some are more modern. Like, could you kind of age the record of the songs, the 12 songs that you have on here?
Scott Garrand:Well, the songs are all new and that they're not released. Most of them were written in the last two years, with the exception of three songs on the album were from my. I call it my carnation album because I recorded it while house sitting for my cousin in carnation, washington. And two of those songs are on the album as as I recorded them 10 years ago in my cousin's place, and one of them is redone because I've just always loved the song and it's just kind of grown and expanded. And funny, allie and I recorded it as a duet on the album and it was like months later, after the album was finished. I'm like that song's missing a verse. How did that happen? And I'm like, well, okay, whatever, I guess I guess the song got edited and I didn't even realize it.
Scott Garrand:The songs in the live shows this summer and of course we're jokingly calling it a world tour, although if you're out there and you want to hear some super double X-Men music, reach out, I'll find a way to come to your living room and do it Cool. The songs will all be up to 20, 25 years old. So I think we broke the set into two halves. Maybe eight or nine songs in each set, two halves, maybe eight or nine songs in each set and one set is heavily um populated by the new album. So 10 years of music right there. And then the other set is kind of like, uh, classics I'm holding up my fingers in quotes um classic that go back to at least volume four Totally.
colleyc:Yeah, I mean, I think that some of these songs will outlive us and they'll be listened to by our grandkids. You know, like I really think that they have such this timely, they'll always feel relevant, you know, because what you talk about is human stuff and humans tend to not change. Technology changes and our house might change and the weather changes, but humans feel basic feelings and I think that you have this art of tapping into those and putting words to them that describe these feelings and and through storytelling or direct, you know, simile and illusion metaphor. But I really it's been such a privilege to talk with you, scott, today.
Scott Garrand:Hey, the privilege is mutual. I really appreciate everything that you just said and I don't want to say too much after that because that was a. That was a nice compliment. Appreciate it.
colleyc:Well, I appreciate you and thanks for putting this record out um people go check it out. Catch scott on his world tour um at a spot near you and get this record, people.
colleyc:um, you'll listen to it once and you'll start it right over again, and then you'll listen to it once, and you'll start it right over again, and then you'll listen to it again and again. So it's it's well worth the listen. Um, all the best. I hope one day our paths cross again. Um, if ever you want to come and just continue in this conversation, I think we could just talk for hours and hours. It's just been a real treat.
Scott Garrand:So, thank you, yeah, yeah, this is stuff I can talk about music and how it makes us feel.
colleyc:Tell them living in the dirt. Have a good day and thank God that you resurrected Super XX man. No more obituaries for maybe a little bit more time and a couple more records.
Super XX Man:That sounds good. Thank you very much. What's wrong? Why are you doing that to me? Why you doing that to me? What's wrong with me? What's right? How am I supposed to be? How the hell am I supposed to be? What's right? I wanna go home, where I wanna be. I wanna see what's right. What's right, what's right With me Hold on. Hold on to me. Hold on to me so I can see All the parts of me. You need to see To be believed. Hold on, hold on.
Speaker 4:Hold on to me. Ooh, I wanna see to me, ooh, I wanna see, ooh.
Super XX Man:I wanna be. Ooh, I wanna see, wanna see. Hold on to me, hold on to me, hold on to me, hold on to me, hold on to me, hold on to me, hold on to me. Hold on to me Inside. Hold on to me Inside. Protect me from the walls I built. Accept me for the things I willed, for, the things I need to be inside this world For me to see, for me to feel, for me to be. Accept me for the things I will, for me, the things I need See the world I need. Accept me for the things I need to be inside this world for me to see, for me to feel for me to be, for me to be, for me to be, for me to be, for me to be.
