The Scope

“I like the ethos of the hardcore scene,” says guitarist Juls Mack. “Bar shows out of necessity, not about lovin’ the booze. Total DIY.” The band started in a barn in Portugal Cove, but has since moved to town. They describe their sound as “Green Day pre-Dookie era with off-key girl vocals.”

How and when did the group get together?
Steve: We got together last summer in the barn. Then we moved to a basement.

Juls: It was my goal for fall 2009 to start playing instruments in bands, ’cause I felt weird after touring with Rumours and then Totally Stoked (my hardcore band from when I lived in Dublin) consecutively last summer, doing vocals in both. I like being in more than one band and wanted to have different roles. When we got back to Newfoundland, I started writing pop-punk songs on bass. Steve got on board when we lived together in a barn in Portugal Cove for the month of August. He said he would play bass and made me play guitar. Then he moved to drums. It was bossy of him, but it turns out I like playing guitar way more and then Jen got to be in our band so we could finally be friends.

How would you describe your sound?
Steve: Basementy pop-punk

Juls: Green Day pre-Dookie era with off key girl vocals.

What happens at a typical show?
Steve: We torch the bible and then each other.

Juls: We all stare at our instruments. Steve fixes his drum stuff between songs and the awkward silence ensues and I start joking about breaking up.

What makes the group stand out in the local scene?
Steve: We have the coolest tour van.

Juls: We pretty much only play hardcore shows. Our other bands are hardcore bands and our friends that book shows are
hardcore dudes. Usually the response is good, but sometimes the crowd is pretty not into it. Sometimes we’ll be playing an inappropiate show on the deck and I can hear a Green Day cover from another bar and I’m like “What? Who is that? Why aren’t we playing that show?”
But then, I like the ethos of the hardcore scene. Bar shows out of neccessity, not about lovin’ the booze and the scene. Total DIY. No one’s trying to play Van’s Warped Tour.

Where does the name come from?
Juls: Unibomber worship. Like him, we also hate college kids.

Steve: It’s about distractions.

Plans for the future?
Steve: It’s the future already. Haven’t you seen those portable phones everyone’s walking around with?

Juls: We’re getting ready to go on a two-week tour in mid-August with our friends from Vancouver, Hari Legs, so we’ve been insanely busy recording a new tape, making t-shirts, making sure the van is running fine, and filling in the last gaps in the tour. I just realized that my last three tours ended with the band breaking up, so it’ll be really weird to come home and still be a band. I dunno, play more shows? Write more songs?