The Hotseat - Scotty of Nerdlinger

Fresh from supporting Good Riddance / Versus The World in Sydney, and MUTE in Japan, Sydney punk band Nerdlinger will now head out on a lengthy tour of their own to show off their latest release ‘Trend Setter‘ released earlier this month via MGM Distribution.

Grab a copy on CD or digitally via Bandcamp [Here].

Scotty from the band answered out Hotseat questions this week ahead of the tour. See all the dates below the interview.

LISTEN WHILE YOU READ

THE BASICS

Name : Scotty AKA Foghorn
Band : Nerdlinger
Job In Band : Singer / Bass
Website Address : Nerdlinger.bandcamp.com

HOME

Hometown : I grew up in Heathcote, home of the world famous Big Coat.
Hometown is best known for : Apart from the Big Coat, Heathcote has a road, that’s about it. Next door in Waterfall is where the real action happens; train crashes, RBTs… actually that’s about.
Best venue in your hometown : Studio Six in Sutherland, it’s great! It’s a nightclub turned a live music venue, which means it has sick strobes and crazy deep subs! Oh and occasionally strippers… yes, strippers.
Favourite show you’ve seen in your hometown : Bodyjar at Sutherland Entertainment Centre in 2005. It was one of the first gigs I ever went to and it was absolutely mental, crowd surfing complete with body boards and all.
Favourite show you’ve played in your hometown : Unpaid Debt at Carringbah Bizzo’s with my high school band Sketcher. We were on the bill with these cool older kids called Ebolagoldfish, our drummer Cannings was under 18 so they helped us sneak him into the venue inside his drum bag. We were all under 18, but he had a total baby face. The rest of us at least had facial hair. The crowd went absolutely mental.

THE BAND

How did the band first come to exist? I was wearing a Lagwagon shirt on my first day at Uni, Tim (guitar & vox) was sporting a NOFX shirt. We skipped our first class and went to Unibar instead… come to think of it that happened a lot. Probably a good indication for why a 3 year degree took 7 years to complete.
How long has the band been going? Nerdlinger has been together for around 3 years but we’ve all been drinking together for about 10. I first met Cannings (drums and such) in Highschool when I was 13, he’d made a singlet out of his high school t shirt and had a DIY Blink 182 tattoo. He pestered me to sack our good friend and original drummer Josh, we kept ignoring him but he wouldn’t shut up. We decided to humor him and give him a go so we could say “Oh sorry man, that’s just not what we’re looking for” but the kid was just too damn good! 12 years later and [email protected] is still kicking ass.
Is there an interesting story behind the name? We all used to live together, it kind of came up while we were watching Die Hard and playing scrabble on Christmas, as you do. There’s still much debate if it’s a 10 letter word score.
What’s your most recent release? Tell us a little about it… TREND SETTER (or TRENDSETTER, you be the judge) is an 8 track EP which took the best part of a year to make although some of the songs we’ve had floating around for yonks. TS (or T S, you decide) is wholeheartedly inspired by the 90’s music we grew up on so ironically sets no trends whatsoever.
Got a personal stand out achievement of your band to date? We just got back from a tour of Japan with MUTE (Canada) and Waterweed (Japan). It was insane. We played 9 shows in a row and didn’t suffer cardiac arrest.

OFF THE STAGE

What was your first introduction to music that made you think seriously about playing it? I stole a Frenzal Rhomb CD out of my sisters collection and thought fuck this is pretty cool. I was them about 2 months later at the 2002 Scout Jamboree and thought “wow, that looks fun, they’re some guy… I could be some guy!”
Any band, album, or song that you personally credit as a major influence? Anything with distortion in it. NOFX, Millencolin, Lagwagon etc.
Your first band name, and what style did you play? Eternal Simulation, we attempted to play punk rock but we weren’t good enough at our instruments, which is seriously saying something. We paid for our first recording with a Cadbury Fundraiser but the woman on the phone got the name wrong, I still get promotion letters addressed to Eternal Stimulation.
Most prized music related item you own? My girlfriend, she sings our songs better than I ever could.
When you’re not doing band related stuff, what are you usually found doing? Goat Simulator! I think I have a problem… if not that then it’s good old fashioned Dolphin Olympics II.
The thing you most look forward to just before a tour is… Filling up on food that isn’t dry 2 minute noodles. Also checking out the bands that we’re about to play with is always fun. We’ve been getting a lot of messages from bands saying they are stoked to be joining us on the tour, it’s a very humbling experience.
The thing you least look forward to before a tour is… Thinking about how broke, broken and malnourished I’ll be at the end of it. Totally worth it though.
Any item you seem to always forget to take on tour? I have a bigger problem remembering to take things home from tour. We’ve left our merch box in Canberra 4 times. We were so keen not to forget it last time that we left by bass, Tim left his bag, we almost left Cannings behind completely while Antix lost all respect for us.

WATCH

ON THE STAGE

When on offer, what’s your one must have item on the rider? Towels for the front three rows. It’s more of a court order from Health and Safety NSW than a personal preference. Otherwise free booze is always nice.
Got a favourite place you’ve toured… and why? Japan and Perth are personal favourite, everyone is just out to have a good time and they totally get off on live music.
Got a favourite venue you’ve played… and why? I grew up watching bands like Lagwagon and Less Than Jake play at the Manning Bar, so to take the stage there was a huge honor.
Any embarrassing on stage moments come to mind? Oh man, if this bass could talk. How many pages do we have? The cake taker was probably when we met a guy at the pub across the road from Studio Six. He ended up coming to the show that night and in the first song in he got on stage in his undies and started dancing. Six songs later he was still shaking his groove box with no end in site. We were friends with the bouncers who thought it was hilarious, so they let it go on. I decided to fight fire with fire and took off all of my clothes but unfortunately this resulted in more naked guys getting up on stage, quite the opposite of what I was trying to achieve. It was one hell of an encore though.
Any pre-show rituals? The standard is usually a Jager Bomb or a Vodka Redbull. I’ve also recently added warming up my voice to the routine.
What do you find is the hardest aspect of touring in a band today? The balance from wanting people to hear your music and covering your costs. It’s expensive to record an album but we keep getting drunk and giving them away.

RIGHT NOW

Last song you listened to? Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by WHAM! It’s my alarm tone.
Last album you picked up? Pennywise, About Time. So stoked for their tour!
Which band or album is currently on high rotation? Thunderblast by MUTE and not just because it came with a bottle of chili hot sauce.
Tell us an up and coming band or artist you think we should go and listen to right now? The Great Awake, they’re about to release an album, keep your ears perked up and your women away from your iPod.
What’s on the cards for the next few months for the band? We are kicking off our Trend Setter National Tour around Australia for the next few months.

IF ONLY…

You can pick any one album for your band to cover in full, what would it be and why? Life On A Plate by Millencolin, not just because we already learnt it for the Schooner or Later cruse but because we’re also terrible at learning new things.
You can pick any one band / artist to cover one of your albums in full, what would it be, and why? Probably MUTE, mainly because I’d like to see them sit back and play something simple for once.
One band you wish you were able to see live but never had the chance? GG Allin although even if I had the opportunity I probably wouldn’t take it.
One venue you have yet to play that you would love to? The old Valve Bar in Tempe now they have strippers.
The chance comes up to fill in for a member of a band for one tour, which band would it be, and why? Dividers, I’d like to feel like a real musician for once.
A headline tour overseas comes up, tell us two bands you’d take along to support your band. Raised as Wolves from Ulladulla. They’ve barely hit puberty but my god do they love punk rock. Other favourites are definitely old pals Revellers from Canberra, always a good time listening to those guys.

PLUG TIME

Got any final words? We’re so stoked to be touring ‘Trendsetter’ in August. If you want to earn some cheap karma buy yourself a copy and you’ll be helping 4 broke punk rockers eat…

TOUR DATES

NERDLINGER
AUGUST
28th – Magpies, Canberra [Lic/AA]
29th – Dicey Riley’s, Wollongong [18+]
SEPTEMBER
12th – Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle [18+]
18th – Crowbar, Brisbane [18+]
19th – Sol Bar, Sunshine Coast [18+]
24th – Riot Riot Riot, Fitzroy [18+]
25th – Bar 303, Northcote [18+]
26th – Brunswick Hotel, Melbourne [18+]
OCTOBER
2nd – Damage. Hobart [18+]
3rd – Club 54, Launceston [18+]
9th – Enigma Bar, Adelaide [18+]
18th – Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney [18+]
NOVEMBER
27th – Amplifier Bar, Perth [18+]
28th – Camel Bar, Geralton [18+]
29th – Bar 459, North Perth [18+]
—> Tickets available at the door.
—> For more information, visit [Here].