Baby Scream: Music and Art, MySpace, Marc Bolan

Exclusive Interview with Band Frontman Juan Mazzola

Nov 22, 2009 Lisa Sutlieff

Indie Suite talks to Baby Scream's Juan Mazzola about how he got into music, the MySpace debate, movie collecting and what he's listening to right now.

Baby Scream’s Juan Mazzola is one of a rare breed: a talented songwriter with a knack for channelling emotion into music. After thoroughly endearing himself to Indie Suite with his beautiful and thoughtful Monsters EP, Indie Suite decided to find out more.

In this, the last of Indie Suite’s exclusive interview series with Baby Scream, find out how Juan first got in to music, what writing means for him and his thoughts on opportunities online for new and aspiring songwriters. He also talks about his work with previously unreleased Marc Bolan songs, what music he’s listening to right now and what the future holds for Baby Scream.

Guns and Roses and Musicians as Sculptors

Suite 101: How did you first get into music?

JM: Trying to impress a girl when I was a kid. She had a crush on Gilby Clarke (Guns and Roses) and so I tried to copy his look and suddenly I was playing guitar….

Suite 101: Some people write music to get over heartbreak, others for escapism, others just because they want to express how they feel. What is writing music about for you?

JM: Totally escapism and art. When it comes to songwriting you are always a sculptor, I could have a line for months and suddenly one day I have some music to go with it or backwards. Sometimes I write a song in 5 min and sometimes it could take me years. I am finishing this song that I started in 2002, so go figure….

MySpace and Facebook: Opportunity or Barrier?

Suite 101: How have social networking tools like Facebook and MySpace, and download sites like iTunes changed the way that you approach music and how you get it out there to people? Do you think it has improved the music industry, and given more opportunities to songwriters and bands, or do you think it has made it harder to succeed?

JM: I don’t know. In a way I’m a MySpace guy, everything I’ve ever achieved was MySpace related. So I shouldn’t complain, but I agree that because of the big offer it is getting really complicated to succeed. There is a lot of crap everywhere, but then again, what is crap? If I don’t like something maybe somebody else loves it. I guess it isn’t all black and white when it comes to the MySpace Facebook dilemma.

Marc Bolan and the Secret Movie Collector

Suite 101: Tell me about how you came to be working with the Marc Bolan material on your new EP. Is that out yet?

JM: They’re not out yet, they were going to be on the new EP but it is complicated to release them since Marc never registered the songs. I received those songs from a friend in Norway, a Marc Bolan collector. He found them inside an acetate and asked me to re-record them. It is a complicated story!

Suite 101: Tell me something about yourself that you would really like people to know but haven’t told them until now.

JM: I have been collecting movies since I was 14 years old. I’m a movie freak. If somebody has “Bad Ronald” on DVD please drop me a line!

Faith No More, Cat Stevens, Djavan

Suite 101: What music are you into right now?

JM: I went to see Faith No More in Brazil a few days ago, I’m a big fan and it reminded me just how good they are. I’ve been listening to Mr. Bungle, Fantomas, and everything Mike Patton related, and a great band from the U.S. called Fiction Family. I’ve also got really into a lot of early Muddy Waters recently, as well as Charleston music, and swing bands from the 1930s. I bought John Fogerty’s Premonition CD a few days ago, then there’s Neil Young, Crosby and Nash, Cat Stevens, a lot of Brazilian music like Djavan, Samantha 7, Bossa Nova, and even Roxette…

The Future

Suite 101: What would you like the future to hold for Baby Scream?

JM: Peace, empathy, records and great concerts! I did a great CD with a crazy poet friend of mine from Argentina called Roberto Fiorenza. The CD is titled Absurdo, it’s poetry with music, and I’ve written a few weird tunes for it. You can check this stuff out really soon at Roberto’s MySpace.

Suite 101: Give me one question that you think I should have asked you, but haven’t.

JM: Are you really sure about your answers?

Suite 101: Are you?

JM: Not at all, I don’t even know what day it is.