Interview With Brian Desper From Scrooge Mandella- COVID, "Impotent" and Bannanas.

Scrooge Mandella is a band that has been on Heavy Vibe before, and at this point, I've forgotten what back alleyway they got their music to me but I am glad they did. Mainly because it feels like every day of 2020 is becoming a punk song and I need to throw a trash can at someone. But without any more delay, here's an interview I conducted with Brian Desper from the one and only Scrooge Mandella. And, while I know you are more than likely sick of hearing about COVID, too bad.

How has COVID affected your band?
COVID has really effected our album release date. We planned on having it out by June, but it's looking like it could come out as late as August. Maybe later.

We're gonna try to record some tunes in our home studios to keep things moving, but that's something we haven't sat down and planned yet.
Our face masks kinda make it hard to breathe too, so we cut little holes in them to get some airflow coming in.

Other than that we still get together. We know where each other has been, and if that changes we make each other aware.

Do you have any music plans for 2020?

Well, we have an album coming out, as aforementioned. It's titled "impotent". Its got twelve songs. Some of them are even good! We have a new drummer, Noah Newhouse, who fits right in with our, astute faux pas, and were anxious to show him off once we're able to play out again. We're shooting a video Wednesday! (4/15) It should be out within the week!

Other than that one of our main focuses of the year is to become more active on all platforms of social media and release more content on the latter, be it a funny video or little update with a picture. 

2021? We wanna tour.

Anything cool you want to tell me?
Something cool I wanna tell you? Hmm.. did you know bananas cant reproduce?
Also, we just reached 1,000 likes on Facebook. Yay! Thanks to all the fans out there we really want to keep this snowball rolling and party with you all. We appreciate ya!

Can you tell me what some of the influences were for Impotent?The main concept behind "Impotent" was to write some songs about things that concern humanity as a whole, like overpopulation, as opposed to a personal story or issue, like missing someone.

As far as the music, it's still heavily inspired by the 90's Skate Punk movement, although this album is a little heavier than the last.

How about the process for the creation of the album, were there any rough spots in the creative process?The creative process behind this album was a little weird, which isnt saying much because the last two albums (available on band camp) were just as weird haha. All of the songs were written by me,(Brian/Guitarist/Vocalist) and I played all the instruments in the recordings. This album will be the same deal.
The real struggle with that is the time it takes to get everything right. By the end of it you just want it done and I feel like sometimes that can sacrifice quality.
Shawn (Bass) doesn't write much, and Noah (Drums) came in after "Impotent" was finished. You can bet on the next album after this one, there will definitely be more than one hand in the writing/creating process. Thank god. 

Do you have any artists are you planning on collaborating with? I've been talking with Maven from "Dead Letterman" about collaborating on a project with Scrooge. We've been calling it "Lettermandella" haha. I don't know when we plan on putting it in motion, but it's an idea that's out there right now.
We also talked to "Push Start" about a post-quarantine show so that will probably happen. Other than that there's nothing pressing I can think of right now.

If you could set a goal that you would achieve by the end of the year, what would it be and why would it be that? And what will you be doing to work towards that goal?A goal for me by the end of the year is to have at least a handful of people who genuinely enjoy our music and turn us on just to listen. I would love to make music that gives someone the same feeling I get when I listen to my favorite music. I'd like to make sure this new album sounds good enough so that is something that might actually happen. That would serve the purpose of everything we do.

How do you feel now that you are in 2020, how would you explain your growth from where you first started out? I personally feel like we've done a lot, and in turn grown over the short time we've been together. Our first show was April of last year, on a live radio station. Then we immediately went to Nashville. So our first 2 or 3 shows weren't even the normal circumstances a new band has starting out. We've grown to appreciate each other, and the time this profession gives us as friends to goof off, and have a great time with the crowd.


A message to your fans?

A message to the fans? What fans? Haha if there are any out there, then don't let an artist convince you that there are any words ever uttered, written down, or thought out to express the amount of appreciation and gratitude a true artist has for people who appreciate their work. Because there are not and never will be any. Thank you. Fuck you all.