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Garage-rock trio swapped the Bay Area for Brooklyn, and in the process discovered a new well of inspiration.

 

Hometown: Oakland, CA

Homebase: Brooklyn, NY

If you were to creatively describe your sound, how would you?

Lauren Stern: That feeling when you are in the ocean and a big wave is coming. You have the choice to jump or swim under. You trust your body and breath to do the right thing. Sometimes you are totally in control and sometimes you hesitate and lose control a little bit. Our sound is the moment you take that breath after the wave passes, and all the unknown moments in-between.

What is the story behind your name?

Caroline Partamian: Courtney was watching a lot of X-files at the time and Scully has become kind of an unsung heroine for us. Our songs have lots of references to weird experiences and the cosmos, but they have nothing to do with the show from which the name was inspired.

Other than guitarist, bassist and vocals, what roles do you fulfill in the band? 

Caroline: Courtney can be comic relief. Lauren and Alex can be assigned real talk, with Alex going off on spacier tangents. I do a lot of our scheduling and booking outside of our booking agent, Lacey at Amethyst, who is great. I’m the easiest to poke fun at, I guess. We have all been friends for such a long time that these roles are very fluid for all of us. We all undulate and oscillate in our various moods and zones in life, so sometimes we fulfill different roles based on how and where we are in life. Generally, we’re a very supportive group.

How does living in Brooklyn impact you as a band? What's the transition been like from west to east coast?

Caroline: New York is definitely rougher around the edges. I find it’s the easiest place to be and feel social but also the easiest place to be and feel alone. The difference in seasons (in California it’s pretty much always spring or summer) has definitely positively influenced our songwriting and has offered it more variation and moods.



Prior to reforming as Scully from the ashes of the Splinters, what projects were you doing independently? What was the vibe of your first musical reunion? Where was it?

Caroline: I played guitar for over a year in Habibi and bass for the Numerators, and also started a project called Lady Dracula (which is still under covers/still in the works) writing punk songs for kids. Maybe it will resurface some time.

Lauren played in a band with our old drummer Burgers called King Prom.

Courtney and Ashley (our best friend in the Splinters) formed a project in San Francisco called Pamela, and both played in Wax Idols, before Courtney moved to New York.

When Courtney moved to New York it made sense to reunite playing in the same room. It happened at our old practice space across the street from the former Death by Audio (now occupied by Vice). It felt very natural and good. Courtney made the transition from drums to guitar to challenge herself and has really grown as a song writer through that process.

How do you spend your time outside of the band?

Caroline: We spend a lot of that time together, or working really hard making a living in New York. We are usually very good at stalking cute dogs on the street, but now that Courtney has one herself we don’t have to be as creepy. Lauren has taken up sewing again and has been making all sorts of cute dresses. Caroline is working currently on a zine series of works-in-progress by different artists called Weird Babes, and Courtney is training her new cute dog Josie (and also spies on her at home with the dog cam). Alex is off being a genius designing some crazy mathematical program for medicine that is not up for disclosure. But look out for him because the man will go down in history books.

What are your goals for the band and year ahead?

Caroline: Recording our next record! 

 

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