Baby Scream: Argentine Beginnings, New Projects

Exclusive Interview with Band Founder Juan Pablo Mazzola

Nov 22, 2009 Lisa Sutlieff

Indie Suite talks to Baby Scream founder and frontman about UK audiences, how England feels like home and recording new material in LA with producer Muddy Stardust

Indie Suite has recently been advocating the gentle and beautiful songwriting talents of Baby Scream, a MySpace-born venture led by frontman Juan Pablo Mazzola, after discovering the melodic, Beatles inspired EP Monsters. Juan is based everywhere and nowhere, one year in Argentina, the next in the UK. He’s an example of a very modern phenomenon that the internet has allowed to flourish, that of the MySpace musician.

Indie Suite caught up with Juan to talk about international musicianship, home, and new projects in the pipeline ahead of the release of all new EP Identity Theft.

Home: Where The Musical Heart Is.

Suite 101: You’ve taken your music from Argentina to Europe, here to the UK and back again. Where feels most like home for you, musically speaking?

JM: Well I wouldn’t like to be disrespectful to my own country you know, people might talk!

However my Monsters EP was released in Germany in 2007, Ups and Downs was released in the U.S. in 2008, whilst my new EP, Identity Theft is going to be released in the U.S. before 2010. Plus, the very first time somebody released a song of mine was for the Changes One compilation in the U.K. in 2002….. So it is definitely not Argentina. The problem is I don’t know if I could tell you an exact place, although I’d probably have to say England because for some weird reason I always end up there. Actually, I still have England as my location on MySpace.

UK Audiences: How Do They Compare?

Suite 101: Are there any differences in the kind of reception you’ve had in those places? How do UK audiences compare?

JM: UK audiences are always great, always receptive, especially for a guy with an acoustic guitar. I did this gig supporting Mark Olson from The Jayhawks in 2008 at The Borderline in London and I remember people talking to me after the gig. I remember this one guy that said to me something like “you touched my heart man, I was having a terrible day and you changed it into something positive”. That was a great feeling. Germany is also amazing. I have some friends there and they help a lot when it comes to the live thing, lovely people.

Suite 101: Where are you based right now?

JM: I have spent most of 2009 in Argentina, I would love to move to the U.S. but because of some stupid legal s**t I can’t. I’ve no idea where I am going to be in 2010 though.

New Projects, Identity Theft, Muddy Stardust

Suite 101: What are you working on at the moment?

JM: I’m promoting my new EP, Identity Theft. It’s going to be released in the U.S. through Recorded Recordings Records. I am also doing some shows in Argentina with a killer band: Gustavo Pratt on keyboards, Hernán Pascual on guitar (he played bass on Monsters) and Raul Marcos on bass. Great guys indeed! I’ve been re-promoting Monsters with my friend Melanie in the U.K. She is an angel. Also, I am starting to record some new material. I’ll be doing my new stuff in L.A. with Muddy Stardust again, amazing producer. I think the new songs are going to be a little bit more aggressive, also a little bit more bluesy.

Look out for Baby Scream’s Monsters and Identity Theft EPs at Aspire Music Store.