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Scratching Post
Interview with Nicole Hughes
December, 2000
| Bob Mercer AKA Rocker For Life, recently had the opportunity to interview Nicole Huges, amazing front lady for for rockers, Scratching Post. Check out what she had to tell us about the band and then please visit the official web site for more information. |
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| RFL: ) Scratching Post has been around for how long? As a woman,
who & what were your inspirations? NH:This Scratching Post lineup has been together since the beginning on 1997. All band member like different types of music. Some of the members really like punk/hardcore while others like death metal. I like a lot of different stuff (ie. Voivod, In Flames, Thin Lizzy, and then some pop stuff like Weezer). |
| RFL: Because you've stuck at it so long, the band is now your baby.
You're the leader & focal point, but what role do the guys play? NH:I consider the band to be all 4 band member's baby! Mark, Phil and Jeff are an integral part of Scratching Post's sound! They lure the girls to the show and I lure the dudes! |
| RFL: ) Have you always played rhythm guitar? Have you ever played lead?
Would you like to? Is there a possibility of you & Mark doing a double lead solo on a song sometime? NH: Yes, I've always played rhythm. I don't really have any interest in playing lead. Singing and playing guitar is enough for me. I'm satisfied with being a good rhythm player! Double leads? Check out "m-bomb" on This Time It's Personal! I am such a sucker for harmonized guitar bits. I want to try and incorporate more of those into our music. When I went to see In Flames I got all teary-eyed when they started doing all their harmonies. I don't know what it is! Harmonies just evoke this intense emotion in me!! |
| RFL: What kind of guitar do you use? What's your dream guitar? NH:I'm currently playing a Gibson Les Paul. It's a nice guitar and I like it a lot. It's got a great tone. I added a mirrored pick guard so it blinds people in the audience. I think it looks really good. I think the next guitar I'll buy will be the Dean "baby" Dimebag. That guitar looks so good!! |
| RFL: You've just finished a cross-Canada tour & are soon going out again,
as openers for Corrosion Of Conformity and Clutch. How well do you think SP will go over? NH:We are so excited about going on tour with COC and Clutch! We're big fans of both bands!! I think we're going to go over really well. We intend on kicking a lot of ass….and yeah, we will TAKE NO PRISONERS. We're psyched! |
| RFL: You've now released 3 CDs, each one getting progressively heavier.
Was this a conscious decision, or did it just come naturally? I mean, I've seen Mark wearing an In Flames T-shirt
during shows NH: We like Metal….always have. I think the production just gets better and better. The metal has always been there but it just sounds a little different now than on our previous recordings. |
| RFL: Your fan base is nothing short of phenomenal. They seem to want to do
everything for you guys. I think this is because none of SP have a rock star-type of ego/attitude and the love affair
the fans have with the band is answered in kind by the bandmembers themselves. Would this be an accurate assessment?
How do you then remain so true to your roots when there's so much fan adoration? It's gotta be tough. NH: Our fans are amazing. They would kill for us. They are completely loyal and hell-bent on making us the HUGEST band on the planet. They created their own street team in order to spread the word about SP. I think the internet has been a very integral part of developing this fan base. I guess it's partially due to the fact that I personally do the website (scratchingpost.com) and update it every 5 seconds and communicate directly with the fans. It's the same with the live shows. After the show I will talk with every single person who's is waiting to talk with me. People like that. Then they tell a friend who tells a friend who tells a friend….etc! It's amazing. I truly consider fans to be the bossed of the industry and you have to treat them with the respect they deserve. They made you and they can also break you if you turn your back on them. |
| RFL: Your image, Nicole, especially the flaming red/orange hair certainly demands
attention. I've heard some people refer to you in reference to Milla Jovovich, the "perfect creation" from the Bruce Willis
flick, The Fifth Element. Do you get this a lot? How do you feel with being tagged not only as a super-nice, down-to-Earth
person, but as a metal babe as well? Is that a compliment? NH: Haha! Of course it's a compliment!! I'm blushing…Ummm….ummmm….thank you…umm…next? |
| RFL: Do you consider SP's music as "heavy metal"? After all, it's much more
traditional metal than the nu-metal of Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, and a host of others. Has the band been pressured to change
their sound? How would you describe SP's music? Do you see yourselves as on the cusp of breaking out huge, soon, in other
parts of the world? After all, right now, you're probably Canada's top best-kept secret rock band NH: We are metal. I don't know if we're traditional or nu….I just know it's metal. Some industry people tried to tell us that the melodic vocals and heavy music didn't work but we knew they were so wrong!!! Scratching Post's sound is something that hasn't been done before. When people try and tell us that it doesn't make sense, the more we believe that what we're doing makes perfect sense. |
| RFL: How is This Time It's Personal doing outside of Canada? Some people I know
from Metalflakes have picked up on SP from my constant raving about the band, and love what they're hearing. NH: We haven't released This Time It's Personal outside of Canada yet…we are planning a U.S release very soon. I think it's going to do really well in America. I think people will "get" us. |
| RFL: What will be the next single from This Time It's Personal? I'd go with "Keep
Looking My Way" if I was to choose. NH: "Keep Looking My Way" is a little too lite for my liking. I would probably want to go with "m-bomb" or "sleepwalking". I love those songs!! They feel so good to play live!! |
| RFL: You do most of the work in updating SP's website. What's been the general
reaction to the Naked Fan Fame section on the band's webpage? NH: It's been awesome!!! FINALLY, we've recruited some more chix for the naked fan fame page….it took a long while but within the last couple of weeks we've added 3 new girls to the site! This is a call for even more girls to send pictures in!! The only catch is that you must be 18yrs or older. I don't want to go to jail for kiddie porn.And, no, the band will NOT be contributing any nakedness to our site. We have to leave something to the imagination! |
| RFL: ) If you could choose ANY band or bands to tour with, who would they be
and why? NH: This COC/Clutch tour is exactly the tour I want to be on!!! COC are legendary….I mean, I never would have thought that we'd go on tour with them! Same with Clutch…never in a million years did I think it would actually happen!!! It's going to be amazing!!! |
| RFL: Pre-fab pop artists like Backstreet Boys, N'Sync & Britney Spears currently
dominate the music scene. Sum up what you think is the main problem with that (if any) for metal bands and what it means
for the future of metal. Do you foresee a real underground swell going on because people are sick & tired of preprocessed
pop? Is it a resurgence of the underground metal scene of the 80's? Where does SP fit into this? NH: I don't really feel there's a problem with pop bands. I think they're actually good for metal. It's going to end up making metal heavier and heavier. It's natural to want to SOOO do the opposite of the majority that I think it will just make metal even better than it is now. |
| RFL: Briefs or thongs? NH: Me: bikinis. Him: boxers. |
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