Press

The Onion AV Twin Cities
July 27, 2006

Scott Peterson of Popcycle
One good thing about being a songwriter is that even your worst days can be salvaged, or at least made a little less sharp, when turned into music. That’s the case with Popcycle leader Scott Peterson, who transformed a recent dark period into pleasant, soul-searching pop-rock on a new seven-song EP, Major Changes/Minor Chords. Popcycle plays a CD-release show 10 p.m. on July 28 at Bryant-Lake Bowl (tickets are $10), and the kickoff for the Minnesota Fringe Festival on August 4 at the Varsity Theater. The songs from Major Changes/Minor Chords are also downloadable at popcycle.net.

The A.V. Club: The title Major Changes/Minor Chords suggests the theme of the record, getting through hard times. Was it a conscious choice to explore darker material than on your last disc, Welcome To the World?

Scott Peterson: It definitely fell together that way. It was kind of an intense period. I was thinking of doing a full-length record, but the few songs that I’ve written since didn’t seem to fit. I didn’t want to just throw some poppy songs into the mix with those seven songs, because thematically they all do kind of fit together. I was going to call it something like Black Cat Sees Me and Crosses the Street, because for awhile there it was like, “Man, what’s my curse?” But things are better now.

AVC: So the next album will be more upbeat?

SP: Everything’s Okay Now will probably be the name of that one.

AVC: Your songwriting has always leaned toward the confessional and autobiographical, but that tendency seemed particularly intense on Minor Chords.

SP: I couldn’t write about anything else because I couldn’t think about anything else. That was all that would come out. I was nervous about it, because it’s gloomy and I didn’t want it to be too maudlin. But at the same time, I’m really big on trying to make things sincere and trying to get away from being sarcastic and cynical. Most of the stuff was written fairly recently and in a short span. My son was born last July, and then in early September, my dad had a massive heart attack. The day after he got home from the hospital, I was laid off from work. Most of what’s on the CD comes from that period. A few of the songs I didn’t really play for many people, because it was just more me having to get something out by writing about it. In particular, “Go Daddy Go,” a couple people were like, “Isn’t that a little too personal?”

AVC: Is it difficult to get on stage and play a song about such a painful, personal experience?

SP: I don’t know. I haven’t performed that song for anybody. I’m really looking forward to having an intimate show, close to crowd, to play some of those quieter songs. It’s difficult to carry off songs like that live the right way—a slow, quiet song at a loud bar doesn’t really translate. But that show will be a good opportunity to see how it goes over. It’s real heavy, and I feel heavy because I don’t play it a lot. I wrote it, but it’s hard to keep doing over and over again. But if it’s emotional and if it’s real when we play it live, that will be great.

AVC: “Mr. Rock & Roll” poses a question that comes up for a lot of creative people—probably most, since very few are lucky enough for their art to be self supporting—namely, is anyone actually paying attention?

SP: [Laughs.] It’s a fine line. It might sound whiny, and I did not want that at all. I wanted it to have a little bite. But it’s about how you convince yourself to keep going, and whether it’s worth it. The hook is posing that question to the listener: Should I keep it up? Should I quit? What should I do? What would you do? I think everybody has been in a situation where they wonder, “Is this working?” A relationship, their job, or their dream, whatever—what do you do? When do you decide that it’s not working out and you quit? The good thing about writing a song like that or “Go Daddy Go” is you get to take the time to word it exactly the way you want to. You can really work out your thoughts. What I do about it afterwards is a different story, but when I was focusing on writing that song, I said exactly what I wanted to say. And that’s literally true: I wish I was Mr. Rock & Roll. I’m not a rock ‘n’ roll kind of guy. I know a lot of them, a lot of them are my friends—a couple are in the band. But that’s not really who I am, even if when I was younger I tried to tell myself that’s who I was.—Christopher Bahn

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More reviews for Major Changes / Minor Chords

The Pulse Twin Cities: pulsetc.com

Perfect Porridge: perfectporridge.com

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