Plaudits For Lefty: Interview with…Bryan Garza

• 20th Sep 2006

Scissors for Lefty are an ever-changing band who continue to impress fans and fellow artists alike.

They’ve shared the stage with some of indie’s most popular acts like Dirty Pretty Things and pimple-faced NME pinup boys The Arctic Monkeys to name but a few. So what do they have to offer? What sets them apart from the rest of rock and rolls underground artists? What was it like performing alongside the untalented remains of the Libertines? And eh, Scissors For Lefty… What's that name all about? Ray Jackson chats to frontman Bryan Garza and finds out.

First things first. The name. Scissors For Lefty. Where did that name come from?

*Laughing* Well we had a whole bunch of band names written down and this one kind of stuck. I kind of remember one time we were thinking of good band names and a friend said to us ‘you guys are a little left of centre’ so we somehow came up with Scissors For Lefty and just went with it. Once you make a band website and the names on there you have to just go with it *laughing*

Your band has two sets of brothers in it. How did you all eventually get together as a band?

Well lets see. Well when i was a kid i couldn't help but watch Robby (brother) play guitar and eventually we would play together. I guess the same kind of thing happened with Peter and James since they're brothers also. I met James in college and we were into the same kind of music and both wanted to form a band. So after he graduated we got together and were pretty serious about the whole thing. The three of us eventually stole Peter from another band and that was it.

What were you doing in college?

Ha! i was studying various different things at different times. I was doing mechanical engineering but i was like ‘give me anything’ really. I wasn’t that focused really.

Do you remember what kind of material you were listening to at the time?

Yeah just your general ‘cool’ indie rock really. Anything with a melody. We love and still do love alot of older stuff like Blondie, Beatles, Kinks etc but at the same time we were really excited about a whole bunch of other breaking artists like Ladytron and Grandaddy.

Who writes the lyrics to your songs?

I write the lyrics originally but i still have to turn them into the committee to make sure they think they’re ok! The process of writing and making our music is kind of a group effort really. We get together alot and write together and tunes usually occur through playing whatever really. I mean everyone plays guitar and comes up with little riffs or chord progressions here and there. Our drummer (James Krimmel) actually plays really good bass guitar which is strange.

What about when you guys play live? Any procedures before you go on?

Yeah usually Robby’s running around frantic shouting ‘where the hells Bryan’ and the whole things one big panic. Most of the time we have a beer together and try and chill out. Sometimes when you’re playing with really big artists it can be tough to relax.

I read about some of the huge names you’ve played with. Who was you’re favourite?

They were all cool to us but Dirty Pretty Things were really great and we had a really good time with them. Playing with the Arctic Monkeys was also cool because it was probably the biggest show we’ve played. I don't really like to say much with these types of shows because its obviously ‘they’re crowd’ to an extent.

Any good covers live?

No we tend to stay clear of covering other bands in case the crowd prefer those songs! Think the only time we did a cover was at my dads retirement where we played ‘Help’ by the Beatles. As you can imagine it went down really well and we were able to have some fun with it. At the moment we’re working on a few new tracks to put in our live sets. We’re basically still trying to figure out how to play them.

What about the new album?

Well its out October 2nd and we really cannot wait. We’re not being overly confident but we’re really happy with it and think it will be well received. The recording of it was really quick and smooth which perhaps means it’ll sound just as good to the public as it did to us when making it.