Robert Scott - Give It A Whirl Interview
2023
Songwriter, guitarist and artist Robert Scott has played in two key Flying Nun bands —The Clean and The Bats — as well as forging a solo career. In this interview he describes the inner workings of both bands, and the organic way they operate. He also touches on songwriting and the importance of live performance.
Other highlights of this interview, which was recorded for 2003 TV series Give It A Whirl, include:
- Waking up to The Gordons practising in his Dunedin bedroom
- The ease of making The Clean's debut EP Boodle Boodle Boodle (2 minutes in)
- The Bats' beginnings in 1982 as a "party band" for 21st parties (5 minutes in)
- Playing at legendary New York punk venue CBGB on an American tour (12 minutes)
- Influences on New Zealand music (16 minutes)
- How The Clean and The Bats created their unique sound (19 minutes)
Read more about The Clean and The Bats, at AudioCulture (NZ On Screen's sister website)
“The Clean dynamic? The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. It's just throw yourself into a song and then come out at the other end. We didn't really work on starts or beginnings you know; the middle was what mattered...”
Musician Robert Scott sums up the singular approach of The Clean, seven minutes into this interview
“The music in New Zealand ... the landscape and the physicality of the country has got a huge part on the writer and the people making music. I think the influences from overseas are still as strong as they were, but by the time they get here they're quite diffuse and distilled, and tempered with a good dose of cynicism I think, that Kiwis have: second-guessing things, and also having a belief in themselves...”
Robert Scott analyses what makes Kiwi music unique, 16 minutes into this interview
“...t sort of stayed as a relaxed, party band by doing nurses' 21sts and nurses' balls and 21sts and things like that for all of '83 I guess ... it was quite slow because I was very average as a guitarist and as a frontman, a singer, I had quite an out of tune, warbly voice. So it took me a long time to get my confidence up to actually say "right we're gonna do a tour, or we're gonna do a whole lot of shows"...”
Robert Scott on the early days of his band The Bats, five minutes into this interview minutes into this interview
Copyright
This interview was recorded for the 2003 season of TV series Give it a Whirl. All audiovisual content is copyright to Visionary Film & TV, and may not be reproduced.
