Atlantic Records

Since forming in 2007, England’s Scars On 45 have had their music featured on some of the biggest television shows around such as CSI New York, however that’s just a small part of Scars On 45’s story. In order to really understand the band you have to see them live where their energetic performances have become the stuff of legends. Earlier this year the band released the four-song Give Me Something EP and they’re currently prepping for a full-length album that will be out later this year. If you’re in Texas for South By Southwest, there’s no excuse to miss this exciting English import. We spoke to lead singer, Danny...

What was your experience like at SXSW last year?
We played the Chop Shop party and the Atlantic party and it was amazing. Coming up from England if you're interested in music and SXSW is the place you always want to go but it's hard to go because it's so expensive. We're so happy to get this opportunity and there are so many bands and venues down there, so if you're into music it's a dream come true.

In addition to performing are you looking forward to checking out some of the other acts down there?
That's all we do really when we're not playing our own music. There's nothing better than watching some bands you've never heard of as well as watching a few that you have heard before. I think you only get a chance at SXSW to see bands you like in a different setting. Everyone wants to be playing in Austin, so all we'll be doing is playing and eating some good food, having a few drinks and going to as many gigs as we possibly can.

What makes SXSW different from other music festivals?
You’ve got to be a serious music lover to be there. If you go to some other huge music festivals there's such a wide variety of people; there are people who don't necessarily like music or are there just to be with 80,000 people in a field. We were down at SXSW for five days last year and the thing that was instant to me was that it was all like-minded people and everyone there is there to see bands and experience music. It's not really about the stuff that goes with it.

Being from England, what’s your impression of Texas like?
Last year was really our first impression of America in a lot of ways; I went to Disneyland when I was a kid but Texas was the first place we went to in America as a band and it was an eye-opening experience. We're looking forward to seeing a lot of different states but I’m looking forward to going back to Texas because it's so beautiful. It's completely different from England and it’s different from anything we've seen before so we were like kids in a candy store the whole time we were down there. We can't wait to go back.

Do you have anything special planned for your SXSW sets?
We'll be there for three days before SXSW so we've got a lot of rehearsing to do, but we just want to do a set that's uplifting and energetic. We want to have a set that isn't too melancholy; we want to keep it upbeat because it's a party atmosphere at SXSW. We don't want to have people crying into their beer.

Download the self-titled EP by Scars On 45 HERE.