Scott Radway - New album and Why I Hate him
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention an artist I’ve worked with multiple times and under various circumstances, i.e., engineer, mixing, mastering, guitar player, and occasional backing vocals. His name is Scott Radway.
I started to work with Scott a few years ago for a soundtrack project he was working on. He needed a place to cut some live band stuff and then mix the results. I was immediately intrigued by his songwriting and musicianship. Scott’s influences are all over the place and yet he has a distinct vibe to his creations. He is one of those guys that are musical to the core. There’s no nonsense, pretension, or airs about how he plays and writes. He’s a pretty mellow dude too… maybe he’s faking that though? He’s probably insane. I know he’s always making music, which is insanely like me.
He came into the studio late last year and wanted to record two albums! This was after he recording another entire album and toured with a band! In a few days he and I cut drums to TWO albums worth of material that he had never played before. We set up two drums kits and he bounced back and forth between them – dependent on the vibe he was looking for. Oh, did I mention Scott kicks ass on the drums…. and the keys…. and the guitar and the bass? I think he plays horns and other things too, but I can’t get him to admit it. He also sings and understands the fine art of arranging and writing music (actual musical notation). Sometimes I hate people like this because I don’t “write” music and can’t play drums. I think I’m just jealous or hiding behind anger for my inadequacies. To add to my hatred for Scott Radway is his ability to just play stuff after hearing it once. I’m pretty good with this too… but he’s one of those wunderkinds that’s maddening. Did I mention that he’s also a really nice guy, a complete nerd and hip? Is this concoction possible in a humanoid?
Scott is the Jon Brion of the East Coast and like Brion should also be scoring movies, producing bands, and doing a residency at some cooler than cool hipster club. Personally I think it’s inevitable that these things will eventually happen, which is why I try to be nice to Scott and stay friendly with him. I send him e-mails asking him how he is doing and try to do him favors. It’s all a ruse for my own personal gain though (because I know he’s going to be famous someday). Even if he reads this diatribe and somehow flattering post, he’ll just laugh it off and think I’m kidding…. but I don’t think I am ;-)
Scott recently released his second solo album of band-oriented material (he has another on the way soon). The new one is called Heathens.
In Scott fashion he cut a video of one of the tracks in a completely imaginative way by playing all the parts on a piano. We cut this at Catapult Sound. Give it a whirl on Youtube
His first band related solo album is called Former Ghosts – this is also excellent and one I worked on with him
