Interview Mike Milford Scars of Tomorrow

THICK AS THIEVES TOUR Atreyu Unearth Norma Jean SCARS OF TOMORROW 3/13/05 HOB Interviewer: Sharita Lumpkin Photos: Karma E. Omowale

Lineup: Mike Milford - Vox Carlos Garcia - Guitar Bob Bradley - Bass Dave Rodriguez - Guitar Chris Warner - Drums

"I mean, we’re well into the tour now and we have that confidence, hey these kids are gonna like us."

Mike Milford from Scars of Tomorrow was commenting on the reaction at the shows on the Thick As Thieves Tour. Scars hasn't been around long, but they come from the buzzing west coast hardcore scene alongside heavy hitters Atreyu and Eighteen Visions. Mr. Milford wears many hats, as he's the vocalist for Scars, serves as the band's tour manager, and designs t-shirts for bands like Unearth, Acacia Strain, and All That Remains. He also relays that if the music thing didn't pan out he would be sitting behind a desk utilizing his degree he holds in electronic engineering. Read on to find out the history of Scars, Mike's thoughts on the Industry as well as how the band came up with their album title...

Sharita: Tell me a little background on the band?

Mike: We've been around for about 5 years now, we started in Orange County, CA. We grew up around bands like Atreyu, Bleeding Through, Eighteen Visions and Throwdown. There are a lot of bands that come from that area. We've been together about 2 years now, and we’re on Victory records. We put out an album last year, and this is our first major tour [in support] of that album.

Sharita: Ok, great. What’s the metal scene like in Orange County?

Mike: It’s enormously huge right now. Like I said, both us and Atreyu started out when the scene there was really small. I mean, we would play shows together with about 50 kids in the school café. Then all of a sudden, the scene just kind of blew up. Bands were starting to get really huge there and it kind of helped all the other bands in that area get bigger and it started to draw a lot more [fans]. It’s a well known area for this type of music.

Sharita: How has this tour been so far?

Mike: This tour has been awesome. A lot of the bands have been telling us that most opening bands don’t get the reaction that we get. We’ve been selling tons of CDs and merch on the road, [I guess because] the kids had never seen nor heard of us before. They really seem to be catching on to us as soon as we start our sets, you know? It’s awesome and a good feeling that we’re able to come out there and knock em’ [dead]. I mean, we’re well into the tour now and we have that confidence, hey these kids are gonna like us.  There's a couple of shows where we didn’t know how we were gonna do on this tour and we ended up playing to like 1000+ kids every night that have never heard us. Seeing how it exploded right away and the kids accepted us [so quickly], it has been an awesome experience for us.

Sharita: As far as the album title, Rope Tied To A Trigger, who came up with that?

Mike: The name is something that drummer (Chris Warner) came up with. It kind of means you never know... he had this imagery in his head and he came up with you never know when your life is gonna be taken away from you. The vision was this dude sitting in a room and if the door opens, bam he’s gone…dead. You never know what’s going to happen to you so you should embrace things like now when you have the chance instead of waiting.

Sharita: With your songwriting, is there anything in particular that inspires you?

Mike: Yes and no. I mean, we know what we want to do musically but a lot of times, certain instances or things that [occur] in life [move] you to write darker songs or a song that is more important. We've also gone through a lot of hardships with this tour and as soon as [it's over] we'll be going in to record the new album, so we've been doing a lot of writing. The amounts of work that we've put into this has really showed us a new type of hardship that is worth striving for and made us a better band. We're definitely [counting] on this tour to help us out. As far as the writing, we will have an idea for the song emotion wise and I'll let them write the music for it and I'll draw words from the music [they wrote].

Sharita: Well tell me about the direction that you're going into with the new album?

Mike: It's definitely elements of it that are different from the last album. Most people think the natural progression for a band is to go softer and softer, but that's not us at all, we just stepped up the intensity a lot. We have a lot of people expecting us to do that, people on Victory are looking for marketable bands. We definitely want to have some catchy stuff but the intensity on the new album is tenfold what the last album was. We want the kids to relate to it, you know?

Sharita: Lookin' forward to it. The video for "Suffocating Words" is very interesting. Is there a story behind it?

Mike: I'm not sure there was an actual meaning, the video turned out to be exactly what the song was about. There's a girl, panicking and running away. It's about someone close to them that's dying and they don't know what they're going to do with the rest of their life. The girl in the video doesn't realize that she's gone and she's panicking. The concept really turned out to be awesome. I heard a couple of magazines were voting it to be in the top 10 videos for Headbangers Ball. Everybody has been calling us and congratulating us on it. (laughs) Darren really did an awesome job of bringing what the song was about [out in the video]. We wanted it to look chaotic and spooky in a way and he did exactly what we wanted. We will definitely use him again for the new album. Actually, that story happened to a close friend of mine and that's why I wrote the song.

Sharita: Ok, cool. I just talked to Travis from Atreyu about fans who feel their favorite band is selling out if they have videos on MTV or if they play Ozzfest, how do you feel about that?

Mike: I've seen that happen, but I think bands, even some of the hardcore bands are doing videos now. I think now it's more [acceptable] for bands to have videos now. I think there are lots of bands that the kids are gung-ho about and they won't turn their back on them because it is a, quote on quote, normal thing in the music industry now. A lot of the guys that are doing these videos now are doing them cheaply, but the quality is amazing because they're going to school and they want to build their portfolios. Chris Simms who did the Eighteen Visions video, has been doing it a while now but he's definitely built his portfolio doing awesome work for bands like Eighteen Visions. I think it's widely accepted for bands to do videos now. I don't see it as selling out, I feel that more bands will lose if they don't make a video.

Sharita: I agree, we talked about Headbangers Ball did you watch it when you were younger?

Mike: I used to always watch it. I remember watching it on Spanish MTV too, I used to love it. Today's HBB, definitely is not as cool as it used to be, but it's awesome that they're doing it again; it can only get better. I think a lot of people have been tuning in and [from that came] the HBB tour and that tour draws a lot of people. So, HBB has definitely had a big impact on metal music.

Sharita: Cool. What do you think about the way critics and fans try to put different kinds of bands and music into genres and subgenres? I mean, I have always been of the opinion that if its got a heavy guitar and kick ass lyrics it's metal. What do you think?

Mike: I agree, metal can't sound the same way it used to 'cause if it did, probably not that many people would like it. In metal,  it's like any type of art form, where people try to be creative and do better than the last. Everyone will always say that the classics are the best but we watch 16-17 year old kids in metal now and it's like wow, how did they get so good? Everything is categorized in a million genres, you go to the record store and see death metal, black metal...

Sharita: Metalcore...

Mike: ...grunge metal, hardcore, metal fuse. It's all metal! There's always aggressive music.  It's awesome that there are different varieties, I like them all.

Sharita: Yeah, cool. A lot of people feel that metal is in the beginning of a resurgence like it was in the early to mid eighties where it was accepted by the mainstream and becoming very commercialized. What do you think?

Mike: Well, you walk into Hot Topic and find some cool stuff to pick up in there.

Sharita: I forgot to ask Travis [Miguel] from Atreyu about that. (laughs)

Mike: (Laughs) It's definitely cool some of the things you can get in there, I love going in there. They always have the CD's you want to get but you always see kids walking out with new Iron Maiden shirts that aren't faded, unfaded Slayer shirts and it's like I wish there were more of those kids back in the day. Our CD's being there means that the kids will go there and not go to the local metal indie store and check out bands. Anyway to get our music out there, I'm down. I mean, we have our stuff in Hot Topic, we did a photo shoot for Hot Topic, Music Choice is helping and so is HBB, all those things help the band.

Sharita: Yeah, we too are big fans of Music Choice at FourteenG. Let's talk about downloading for a second, do you think it helps or hurts bands sales wise?

Mike: Both, honestly because it's hard to get money from a lot of metal kids these days and even for adults because they've got responsibilities and things going on. They're not gonna want to take a chance and spend $16 or $18 dollars or whatever it is on a CD and have it suck. A lot of the bands aren't on the radio and you don't know what they sound like so I think they need to have some downloadable songs, so that bands get out there. We've had a lot of kids come up to us and tell us 'you know what, we've downloaded your CD but now we're gonna go buy it or buy a T-shirt. So it definitely helps because it makes the live shows bigger and they'll go buy it because they want the artwork.

That's what happens with most mainstream bands these days too, I mean there are very few bands that will pull off a totally awesome album. I mean, every band needs those downloads so that they can get the music out. Some of the record companies have those media players where you'll get to hear the album and not download it but at least you can hear it online.  I think that's awesome because a lot of people have high speed internet now, and if they like it they'll buy it.

Sharita: Very true, I agree. What about future tour plans?

Mike: Well our album is actually is one of the older ones on Victory and it's hard to get in stores right now. After we finish this tour we honestly want to focus on the new album so there is another push for us and it will be close to the [end] of this tour so that we these fans remember our name. So quickly a band can get lost in the mix with all these new bands coming out so we're focusing on finishing that. We're gonna do 1 tour in June, tomorrow we will be actually figuring out a lineup for that and then the album will be out at the end of the summer. With all those big tours going on in the summer it's hard to find something solid, there's Sounds Of The Underground, Warped, Ozzfest, the summer is gonna be huge for this type of music. After this summer, I see metal and hardcore being bigger than it already is. A lot of people think it is at its peak right now and I don't think so.

Sharita: Great, is there anything that you would like to see change in the music industry?

(Voice from the background, someone in Norma Jean)  Yes, everything!

Sharita: Ohhkay...(laughs)

Mike: (Name inaudible) He says everything. (laughs) One thing is that more record stores need to have listening stations and there needs to be more opportunities for hard music to be heard. Victory Records usually has people at shows passing things out to hundreds of fans. We've been actually passing out things on this tour for our band and Comeback Kid, whose another band on the label, and it's just cool that more bands and labels are giving away free stuff like samples. A lot of them are just now catching on to that, I wish that a lot more would do that too. Victory has done an awesome job with it. Another thing that you really can't complain about is that record labels have been doing a good job when the band is on tour.  I mean, some people only mention certain labels but others have been stepping up when it comes to cash like, to get a van so it doesn't break down. There's a lot of positive things that they've been doing, I don't know much about the negative because I dunno a lot about the industry, everyday I'm learning more and more.

Sharita: I agree with what you said about more ways to get the music out to the fans, that would be awesome. Finally, what would you do if you weren't doing music?

Mike: If I wasn't playing music, I guess I would work a 9-5 because I already have my degree in electrical engineering. So I guess I'd be in the office doing that. Actually, I went ahead and did that, then I had this opportunity to start touring for the last 2 years and it's been an awesome experience playing to a bunch of kids. It would suck if I was still in my office job, building computers all day long. (laughs) 

Sharita: Are you still working while you're on tour?

Mike: I have been doing some artwork, like I was into digital graphics and stuff. I been doing T-shirts for bands like All That Remains and The Acacia Strain and I'm doing some stuff for Unearth right now. So that's what I do on the side while we're on tour, but I'm also the tour manager and everything...

Sharita: Have you thought about producing?

Mike: I've always helped out with our of stuff, but I can't play any instruments. I don't know how to play guitar but I know the sound; I just dunno how to physically play it. I know tone and I know if the music sounds good. I would like to produce and stay in the music industry. It's really hard because so many people want to be in the music industry, but If I wasn't in Scars of Tomorrow I'd probably be back at my desk doing the engineering.

Sharita: Alright, well thanks so much Mike for talking to me.

Mike: You're welcome.


Thanks to Mike and to Victory Records for setting it up.

Click here for live photos of the band on the

Dirty Black Summer Tour