In Conversation With Scrimshaw Porn: ‘Epilogue’

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For anyone just discovering Scrimshaw Porn, ‘Epilogue’ is quite an introduction. It doesn’t sound like what people might expect from you? 

Maybe, but aprapos, I think. I do agree that turning rage into a dance track is not typical and maybe even contradictory but like most people with the observation skills of a 7 year old or better, I’m so fucking angry with the Epstein-Trump cover up, I needed to vent. These are young women and children who have endured hell. If they survived. Some didn't. I wanted to sing directly to them and express my disdain for the administration's continued, self-serving suppression of info that should have landed many more than Maxwell or Epstein in prison. Justice will prevail. No one is sweeping this under the rug forever. And in terms of expectations, in the words of Marge, not sure I agree entirely with your detective work (😘). If you listen to Scrimshaw Porn tracks, I think you come to expect the unexpected in range, from I miss you ((XO) to blatant satire (Good Girl) to bumming a cigarette and falling in love (Eleonore) to reverence for the genius of one of my favorite writers (Edgar Allan) to please stop prostituting yourself (School Girl), blah blah. My music has been described as genre bending, and the lyrical content follows suit. I guess with Epilogue, I can say that I'm happy it's getting such attention because it’s important to all of us. As I write, it occurs to me that anger from Epstein may have fueled my upcoming release, Dangerous Bouquet, a vengeance song in which a dude justifiably gets burned alive. It will be out in a few days and I hope you like it. 

You’ve had some huge moments recently; ‘Olivia’ at number one on Kbradio for three weeks, the momentum around ‘Good Girl’. Did that success change how you approached this one?

Not so much. And thx, yes, love the accolades but love it even more when people get a message. Songs write themselves as channeled by the moment.

Tell us about working with Matt Antunes on this one.

Matt is intuitive as hell, so great to work with. He's the kind of guy who will give input or take guidance equally well. He reminds me of the cartoon drummer from Gorillaz. With Epilogue, there was precious little guidance excepting “driving, relentless” for bass and drum needs and “funky” for bridge guitar. He just ran with it and crushed the parts. He and his huge South Coast family are gifted players and producers and have worked with generations of artists like Madonna, Justin Timberlake and Shakira, to name just a few. I know a couple of the Antunes are currently with Tower of Power and John Cafferty. What I really love about Matt is that he's soooo chill and easy to work with, a great dude who is excellent at his craft. We've since done another track that I'll be releasing very soon…

The title ‘Epilogue’ suggests finality. Is this a closing chapter of something?

It will be. It's inevitable that the Epstein victims will be heard and the perpetrators will be outed and punished. We know they know we know, to coin a phrase. There's only so much power to control such a widespread false narrative.

What do you want people to feel when they hear it?

I want them to understand that this about people, mostly daughters. I want them to be outraged. I want them to never forget. It has made me cry.

What’s next for Scrimshaw Porn?

I am deciding which of a dozen or so songs to release next but again, will roll out Dangerous Bouquet within a few days. Although I'm doing my best to live in the moment, my sense as of late is that I want to get to two and a half years from now. One of my biggest pet peeves is wasted time, however, so in the interim, I'll release as many songs as are worthy of releasing, maybe Plastic Butterfly, Saved By an Umbrella and Acres of Mayonnaise, all new ones. I have another song about the devil called How’s Life that Brian Scott just played on. What a blast! I really enjoyed writing and recording two songs for his film, Clara & PJ: A Love Story, including my first waltz. I'm pretty psyched to release a nearly instrumental song and trippy video called Don’t Go in July. I'm also in dialogue now about working on more music for film, and am investing time in a new company that will streamline artists getting paid directly by their audiences. Anyway, thanks for listening to Scrimshaw Porn, x.