October 23rd, 2011 
James Shotwell 
What originally began as a summer project nearly a decade ago, evolved over time into an innovative force eschewing any musical standards with its creative storytelling and instrumental prowess. Trophy Scars creates their music the only way they know how; the way they want to, to the best of their growing abilities.
Typically avoiding the impulse to take one’s self too seriously, vocalist Jerry Jones’ stories unfold with not only realistic portrayals of everyday themes and emotions, but witty and clever lyrics as well. The band, to date, has released three full-lengths and four EP’s with their most recent of which, like the majority of their catalogue, being extremely well received. Some reviews of Never Born, Never Dead have contained such bold statements as, “The kind of record that can make you believe in music again.”
UTG is tremendously excited to have had the opportunity to speak with Jones about some of the ideas and concepts that have helped mold Trophy Scars into what they have become as well as information about the future of the band. Please read on and appreciate the time and effort Jones put into his responses for us to enjoy.
What has influenced your significant change over the years to a bluesier, progressive sound?
We were all very young when we started to play music together so we grew up and so did our music. We broadened our influences and opened our field of perception a bunch. We wanted our songs to really take on a life of their own instead of just beings songs. We all love so many different art forms and visual media played a huge role in creating a certain dynamic to our sound. Lyrically, the songs still deal with some heavy metaphysical themes, but I prefer the visceral nature of storytelling versus complaining or being narcissistic. We needed to address the textures of the backdrops to these stories in order to make a cohesive concept. Basically, Trophy Scars needed to evolve in order to stay relevant to everyone in the band – we all love music so much and we would hate to release something we weren’t into, let alone proud of.
Why did you decide to use the LOST sample in “Angels” on Never Born, Never Dead?
Well, Andy and I are huge fans of the series. I know Brian and John would be too; they just won’t watch it because they hate fun. So it was our little homage to such a fantastically directed scene – but it also makes sense in the Never Born, Never Dead storyline. Our plot has developed over three different lifetimes at this point and we see a more refined soul in the main character then the previous two lifetimes on “Angels”. The gist is that our main character falls in love with same soul every reincarnation. Desmond (the male character in the sample) being “unfixed” in time, is a lot like knowing that reincarnation is real… and no matter what, no matter how, these two souls will find each other again. By the next song “Never Dead”, in a new life, our main character is dying in a hospital and recognizes the woman dying next to him. She recognizes him. He realizes that the two of them will always be together, “unfixed” in time.
Out of all the songs you’ve written over the years, which are you most proud of?
“Good Luck” holds the most personal weight I’ve ever put into a song, and it makes me happy when I listen to it because I’m kind of just coaching myself on. Even if no one ever heard that song, I would be proud of myself for working through some of the darkest times of my life. It makes me miss my buddy, Ben.
As far as a song that I’m proud of in an unselfish way… probably “Never Dead” or “Sad Stanley”… I mean, it’s hard to say. I love what all my bandmates put into the songs. I’m just proud of all of us in those particular because they seem to really showcase all of our best tendencies. There’s a few off the new one that are really going to slay. John, Andy, Brian, and Gray changed the game again and it’s something else…
What do you have to say to those that seem to hate on your vocal approach?
People hate on my vocal approach!? Hahaha, I mean… what’s there to say really? We write music for ourselves and a very niche mass. People who get “it” – get “it.” Those who don’t, well, they don’t like it. I’m not bothered by it, I don’t expect all the people I know to like my favorite records. I like them because I’m me. I don’t “hate” on the singers of their favorite bands because, really, who cares? I’m pretty sure my mom doesn’t think Jacob Bannon has an eloquent voice. My dad probably fucking hates Joe Strummer. The internet just gives people who love to talk shit a place to publicly talk shit. If I was fifteen and needed to publicly express my opinion – where better than the internet? To me, it seems silly to be expressing ANY sort of interest in something you really dislike… “Hmmmm… maybe I should go onto a review site and trash Katy Perry’s new record. Definitely doesn’t sound like a waste of time or energy.” Art will forever be subjective.
Where do you get the ideas for the themes and stories throughout your catalogue?
The majority of our themes come from obvious philosophies. On Darkness, Oh Hell the opening two tracks are huge nods toward Jean-Paul Sartre. The first song is half written in French, talking about stepping out of a hospital into hell; the second song is titled “Nausea.” We’re not really being ambiguous here. I think most Trophy Scars songs are blatantly existential… (christ, that sounds super pretentious.) Time, religion, memory, greed, communication, revenge, and the supernatural show up in pretty much all of our records. Some are darker than others.
Getting the ideas to express these themes is hard to explain. It’s a very physical notion – I have to really feel a story before it comes out. The temperature of my creative environment happens to affect my writing drastically. Conversations I have moments before I begin writing, conversations I didn’t have, dreams I barely remember, things I want to eat, how much I had to drink, whatever; they all become factors I compress through a tiny filter in my mind. And that builds the blueprints to a loose story arch. I flesh out the melodies as soon as I get the instrumental track and then I take on the role of certain characters depending on the song’s dynamic. The tone of the music is usually a tell-tale sign of what kind of theme/story is to follow. After a stupid amount of drafts and demos, I finally settle on the story arch that I like… it makes contextual sense in its approximate location on the album… then I probably throw those lyrics out because the song gets sequenced differently after the dudes write some more songs… sometimes I hate those guys.
I’ve read on your Facebook that you’re currently mixing new songs. What can you reveal about that?
They are for an upcoming full length. There are about eight or so written so far. The new songs are different. They are more intense than Never Born, Never Dead and more thematic than Darkness, Oh Hell. It doesn’t really sound like anything we’ve done before but it’s obviously Trophy Scars. There will be riffs that have multiple cameos to unify a concept… in that way it kind of resembles Bad Luck – but it doesn’t sound like Bad Luck. It can’t be stressed enough that last fall we all went to go see Roger Waters’ The Wall tour together and sat in the front row and that had a huge impact on the new material. It had a huge impact on our LIVES! We’re HUGE Floyd fans, and we happen to be on a huge Waters kick. Not just The Wall or Final Cut, but Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking and Amused to Death are records that are getting lots of attention from everyone in the band. We want our next record to rip people apart in the best kind of way… You can expect to hear some of our “biggest” sounding songs on this one. It’s going to be very dramatic. Probably.
Do you currently have any touring plans in the near future?
No, not it the near future. We have so much on our plates right now, it would be tough to pull off a worthwhile tour. We love playing live, we’re just so focused on finishing the new LP and putting together documentary footage for an upcoming DVD release. We just submitted all the art for our 2006 LP,Alphabet. Alphabets., to get pressed to limited vinyl. There will be more news on that in the near future… and probably more vinyl to follow suit as long as everything goes smoothly.
What would you consider to be the highlight of the band’s career thus far?
Personally, it’s been wonderful to release our last three albums and truly stand behind them. I know what it took to make those records, and it was everything we had. All the friends that were involved in those recordings… all the talent guest musicians brought to the table… years of writing and rewriting… and how they sonically sound; I mean, I’m really proud of us for that. There was no record label backing us and no real promotion for these albums but people found them and really grew to love listening to them as much as we loved making them. I know some fans get upset (bless their angsty hearts) that we don’t sound like Goodnight Alchemy or Alphabets any more, but how could we? Those albums were written almost seven years ago! I’m going to take a shot in the dark, but most 27-year-olds don’t perpetually want to write records about their tumultuous adolescence… And I am proud of those records too, but proud in the way that we were 19 – 21 (Brian was 15!!) and experimenting with different sounds. That was only 3-4 years into our career; we’re now 9.5 deep. So to me, the true highlight has been Trophy Scars’ self-actualization… growing up and being happy, avoiding the serious catastrophes many indie bands get caught up on. And we’re still growing!
What would you say has kept the band together for nearly 10 years now?
Ingenuity and the general love to create. We love being in the studio and we love writing. We all want to make records that don’t sound like anything else… It’s shocking to us how many fans genuinely embrace it. We also love each other so it’s not a burden to practice or write. After all these years we still have a good time with one another. Even the past members remain some of our closest friends. Our fans that love us dearly help us afford to keep the recordings coming. Although we don’t do much touring, we are satisfied with simply making music (unless of course some wonderful label is extremely excited to pay our living wages). At this point, we see no reason to call it a day or abandon the group.
Written & conducted by: Brian Leak
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