On this month’s podcast we took questions through Instagram. We talked quickly about RSD and our 14th Anniversary. Questions ranged from why we opened a store in Wallingford to what music got us through this past year. Lots of like-minded questions came in so we generally just answered one of each of those so as to not repeat ourselves.
We also talk about what we’re listening to and there’s some music inserted along the way in the answers to a couple questions. Check it out!
You can pre-order the new Fiddlehead album with us now here:
https://redscrollrecords.bigcartel.com/product/pre-order-fiddlehead-between-the-richness-lp-amber-cloud-vinyl-ltd-to-1000-copies
The Amber Cloud color variant of the Fiddlehead “Between the Richness” LP on Run for Cover Records.
Release Date: May 21, 2021
Fiddlehead wasn’t supposed to make a second record. But, if we’re being totally honest, they weren’t supposed to make their first record either. Formed in what singer Pat Flynn describes as “a deeply, deeply, laughably depressing part of my life,” Fiddlehead was born with modest intentions. Flynn and his then-roommate, guitarist Alex Dow, decided to work on some songs, and with Basement having just broken up, guitarist Alex Henery entered the fold. Drummer Shawn Costa and bassist Adam Gonsalves—who has since been replaced by Casey Nealon—linked up with them and, all together, they wrote what would become the Out Of The Bloom EP. Those five songs established what Fiddlehead would be, a band that merged elements of post-hardcore, post-punk, and classic ‘80s emo into something that felt distinctly theirs.
After the release of their debut album Springtime & Blind, the band did some weekend-long tours, and saw that their music was hitting people harder than they ever expected. “Kids were singing along in a very desperate way and we realized it wasn’t just resonating with us, it was resonating with these people in a really meaningful way,” says Flynn. Springtime & Blind was a hit for many reasons, but chief among them was Flynn’s open-hearted exploration of his father’s passing, which saw him use his lyrics as a means of relating to and understanding his mother’s grief. So when it came time for Fiddlehead to work on a second record, people weren’t just curious what the songs would sound like, they were curious what they’d even be about.
Between The Richness effectively picks up where Springtime & Blind left off, as Flynn dives headfirst into that same subject. But astute listeners will notice a major difference this time: Flynn is singing about himself. “These massive things happened in my life between the first record and this record. It just so happened that I ended up getting married, I had a child, and it was around the 10-year anniversary of my father’s passing. So what if I want to write another record about how I feel about the loss of my father? Will people be like, ‘Pick another topic, dude.’ So, the opening track is called ‘Grief Motif’ because it’s the idea that this is an eternal struggle that will never go away. Take it or leave it, but it will be part of this dude as long as he’s got a pen in the hand.”
Between The Richness explodes with an energy that usurps that of Springtime & Blind. The guitar riffs of Dow and Henery are their most anthemic and combustive yet, making songs like “The Years,” “Get My Mind Right,” and “Down University” not just serve as the backbone for Flynn’s personal ruminations, but empathetic, emotional musical stabs that hit the listener just as hard. Meanwhile, Costa and Nealon give the songs a propulsive heft, allowing a track like “Million Times” to dart into unexpected territories without ever feeling alien.
But at the center if it all is Flynn. He’s a different person than he was on Springtime & Blind, because he’s now a father himself. And that experience colors the journey he goes on throughout the album. “My son’s name is Richard and my father’s name is Richard, so it’s literally between the two of them. But it’s also the richness of life and the richness of death. It was important for me to capture that perfectly paradoxical feeling,” says Flynn. “We started writing this record two weeks after my son was born, and it’s a really great way for him when he’s older—and when I’m gone—to say, ‘My father wrote this in the first year of my life. What does that mean?’” It’s an attempt to put words to that strange place we all exist in, that place between the richness.
Tracklist
• Grief Motif
• The Years
• Million Times
• Eternal You
• Loverman
• Down University
• Get My Mind Right
• Life Notice
• Joyboy
• Heart to Heart
Amnesiac’s Mahoney and Danny are our guests this month on the podcast. We talk about how much Danny worships the ground Maynard walks on and that’s pretty much it (this is sarcastic and you’ll get it when you listen). We talk about how Amnesiac came about as a band and what it’s like to be a band right now in the time of Covid 19. We, as usual, start it off by talking about the music we’re listening to!
We talk about Gene Simmons and Kiss and also Scorpions. Honestly, way too much talk about Puscifer, but it’s an entertaining episode so stop reading this and just listen.
Music on this episode
Intro:
Amnesiac “Insatiable Lust for the Destruction of Love” Our Death Will Be Grand
Rick:
Dkharmakhaoz “The Way With The Serpent Entwined” Proclamation ov the Black Suns (Iron Bonehead)
Pop Negatif Wastad “Helo Rhywbeth Newyd” Pop Negatif Wastad (Musique Plastique)
Legowelt “Prophet Vector Synth Dazzling in the Sun” Unconditional Contours (-OUS)
Josh:
John Carpenter “Weeping Ghost” Lost Themes III: Alive After Death (Sacred Bones)
Elori Saxl “Blue” The Blue of Distance (Western Vinyl)
Colossus “Miles Away” Colossus (Triple B Records)
Scorpions “Sails of Charon” Musikladen TV (16.01.1978)
Danny:
The God Machine “The Train Song” One Last Laugh In A Place Of Dying (Fiction Records, 1994)
Mahoney:
Dollhouse “Summer Love…” Demo (Toxic State Records)
Interview:
Ostraca “Waiting for the Crash” Ostraca (Skeletal Lightning)
Exit:
Amnesiac “Our Death Will Be Grand” Our Death Will Be Grand
The Redscroll Podcast is a monthly show (new episodes on the first of the month) that works as a companion to what we do at Redscroll Records in Wallingford, CT USA. We are a record store that has a heavy emphasis on the left of center / underground music of the world. Whether it be underappreciated or just has a niche audience, marginalized or just off the radar it’s all of interest to us. With the show we’ll generally have a localized focus. We’ll discuss what is in our personal rotation at the moment. We’ll talk to guests who have to do with all of the above. And we’ll talk about specific dealings with the store. If you have input you’re welcome to contact us through email (redscroll@gmail.com). Oh, and please do subscribe! New episodes on the first of every month! (Subscribe on Android)(Subscribe elsewhere just by searching for us please!)
On this episode of the podcast we talk to Randall (drums) and John (guitar) of Afghan Haze. We talk about their album they recently released and what it’s like doing that when you can’t play a show.
We delve into their musical history and proclivities and why they’re cool with releasing their music on their own without a label among various other areas of conversation.
Intro:
Afghan Haze “Faceless Dogs” Nihilistic Stoner Hymns (Zero Six Recordings) Continue reading RSR PC 040 Afghan Haze – Randall and John
Happy New Year!
On this episode we talk about our favorite releases of 2020. Josh and Rick talk amongst themselves including a list submitted by Caren. This is our first episode back in action since beginning our move and we glory in the reverb of the new big space!
Below you’ll find our lists. The show follows the lists in the order presented (Caren has some extra content shown here not mentioned on the show). The opening song is Space Camp song that plays a little more later on.
Beyond what we loved from other labels this year we also released 3 records this year that we’re still stoked on; the Space Camp, Landing / Headroom and Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean records all came out great and if you haven’t yet please do check them out! Available in our Big Cartel and in our Discogs shops.
