We recently connected with Scarlet’s Darling and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Scarlet’s Darling thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
Noah Thuma (drums):
I’ve wanted to make music since I was a little kid, but the “this is absolutely why I am here” moment happened while I was backpacking through New Mexico’s Philmont Scout Ranch in 2015. I was actively dealing with my first heartbreak, as well as the subsequent dissolution of my main friend group, and I was dreading the experience entirely, plagued by FOMO, sadness, and despair. As the trail wore on, I eventually had a moment of clarity, in which I not only started to understand my relationship with long-term depression, but also what truly drove me as an individual. When we returned to base camp, gone were my fears regarding my loss – all I wanted to do was find a quiet place to sit, listen to music, and think. A few months later, I found Touché Amoré with “Home Away From Here” which remains to be my favorite song of all time – nothing spoke to me quite like that track, and I truly credit the band (as well as Being As An Ocean) for saving my life and setting me on my path. In my darkest moments, their music and lyrics helped steer me towards an unquenchable desire to help others as they had helped me, and using music as my torch to help others. Soon after, I discovered that I could pursue a degree in audio engineering, which encouraged me to look into going to school for music. Big shoutouts to my childhood friend Simon, who first got me interested in playing drums, put me onto some of my all-time favorite bands (The Devil Wears Prada and Rise Against to name a few), and even in middle school, was a real leader in helping others live their own unabashed truth.
Jack McLaughlin (Vocalist/Bassist): From a young age I was introduced to the world of music. Whether it was the classic rock I heard on the radio station my parents worked at, playing saxophone in a band throughout my years at school, or being on stage in another one of the countless musicals I have done. I have always had it surrounding me. Including my sisters and parents, almost everyone of my uncles has picked up an instrument and gig regularly. I mean, I got my first acoustic from my Uncle Dan and my first Bass from my Uncle Jeff. But it is difficult to pick a specific moment of realization. I am not quite sure there is one. Being involved in community theatre my whole life. Knowing how a few notes on a guitar and a little sound out your mouth can completely change the emotional direction of someone’s day. It is heart wrenching to say the least. So I would say everything has driven me to this point in my life. And at this point, music makes me happy. Writing and playing with Jordan and Noah make me happy. And with the drive we all have and the way we can express ourselves together, I’d be stupid to not want to at least try and see what comes of it.
Jordan Shea (Guitar):
I’ve always been around music and musicians so it’s always been an idea, but it never seemed doable until I started playing guitar in high school. I started my Freshman year and by the time I was a Sophomore, I knew I wanted to be in a band and make music. Our band never really came about until after I graduated, but I think that gave me time to refine my skill and learn the way that I personally play, as opposed to wanting to sound like another artist. Once I graduated, I went to college for a year and dropped out due to a lot of outside circumstances, as well as lack of direction because what I really wanted to do (be an artist) didn’t require a degree, so it felt pointless. After I dropped out, Jack and I began hanging out more and starting to write and suddenly my dream seemed more possible.
Jack, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Jack McLaughlin (Vocalist/Bassist): I have sang all my life. Have loved music since I was a kid. My whole family was engulfed in it. My dad used to play the drums and guitar. And 3 of my uncles are active musicians playing every so often. I first got into music… like really got into music, when my big sister Sarah started trying out for musicals when I was 9 or 10 years old. I kind of followed in her footsteps and fell in love with the art. I cant and probably never will get away from Theatre. But When it comes to Scarlets Darling, it really all started for me, back in my senior year of highschool. I just started to write simple stupid songs with easy chords on the piano. There was a specific song I wrote called “Something” and I believe this was my first full fledged idea. A summer after highschool I got together with my friend Jordan Shea who was a good friend from highschool and I knew played guitar. From there, we met a few times and eventually brought up the idea of writing music together. From there we wrote our first self titled album “Scarlet’s Darling”. It was all a learning process, and still is! We recorded everything ourselves with our own equipment. Understanding how to write with another person is difficult and exhausting sometimes. Learning the ways they work, and how their interests can align with yours in the best way. It can get to points where you think that maybe it isn’t working or maybe they just aren’t the right person to write with. But that’s why communication is a very big part of a band and writing music. So I’d say if I had to pick what I am most proud of, it is how far we all have come as a unit. Once Noah joined and we made our second LP, it’s been only up from there.
Noah Thuma (drums): I started playing drums in middle school, initially inspired by rock/metal bands like Rise Against, Avenged Sevenfold, and The Devil Wears Prada. I continued to study music through high school, during which I eventually decided to pursue a degree in Audio Engineering at university. Throughout college, I also pursued visual media like filmmaking and graphic design, and eventually finished my schooling with a number of multimedia projects under my belt, incorporating my skills as a musician, an audio engineer, and a (very) amateur filmmaker. Graduating during the pandemic made it very difficult to continue these pursuits in earnest, and I drifted away from creative work for a time, but I’ve been steadily returning to the fold. As an individual, I’ve found this diverse background helps me to see the big picture in a creative work, maintain my own unique voice in group projects, and bring a perspective that might get overlooked if I didn’t have the tools to explain it.
When it comes to Scarlet’s Darling, I feel that I’ve been able to express myself as a drummer in ways that push me out of my comfort zone, and force me to compose for the sake of the song far more than for the sake of myself. My favorite tracks on our new record are the ones that are difficult to put on auto-pilot, and help me in my unending pursuit to be truly in the moment. I like to think that this forced restraint also lifts up my bandmates, and puts their amazing talent front-and-center, as they consistently blow me away with their knack for songwriting and instrumental prowess.
Jordan Shea (Guitar):
I started playing guitar Freshman year of high school, through a class offered at our school. Most kids took it as an easy elective and didn’t take it seriously but I truly wanted to learn and took all of it to heart. My idols at the time were the guitarists in Slipknot and Mastodon (Jim Root, Mick Thomson, Bill Kelliher, Brent Hinds) and I wanted to play angry metal music. Over time my music taste evolved and those names still remained relevant to me, but they were accompanied by new names as well; Brian May, Johnny Stevens, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix… the list goes on. What I hope sets Scarlet’s Darling apart from other bands IS that mix of influences. My taste expands much further than rock music, into hip hop, jazz, indie, soul, funk, dance, and more; and the other members of the band each have tastes completely unique to mine, but we all mesh and write together well in an interesting genre that’s hard to label as a whole. That’s also what I’m most proud of. From the beginning we set out to shape ourselves from the ground up, not trying to sound like anyone but ourselves, and I feel like we succeed in that. We manage to blend genres and not pigeon-hole ourselves while it still having a sense of uniformity and recognizability to the audience.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Jack McLaughlin (Vocalist/Bassist): Having the power to change someone’s emotion with a lyric or melody or certain chord progression. It’s such an amazing feeling. That’s why when I am writing the lyrics for our songs, I put in heart and soul. I do my best to put meaning behind what I am saying and how that reflects not only with the music accompanied, but the audience as well.
Noah Thuma (drums): Far and away, meeting all sorts of wonderful people from all walks of life. It’s very easy for creative endeavors to become commodified, viewed as little more than a product to be bought, sold, and inevitably forgotten. The music industry is one of the worst offenders when it comes to treating art as a mundane product in the same fashion as a stick of gum – a cheap, disposable treat that is meant to be thrown away within the hour, if not minutes. This has created a lot of people (especially online) who treat the creative process as a system to be gamed, to try to extract wealth as quickly as possible, which paints a very negative image of the field, and can be really discouraging.
Fortunately, music is also a field that thrives on human connection, something that cannot be easily replicated through a computer, a principle of which we all received a very thorough demonstration during the pandemic. People still want live music, to feed that primal hunger for expression, connection, and togetherness. Naturally, this means that you get to meet a lot of people through music, whether that’s other musicians, live event technicians, venue employees, studio techs, and of course, everyone that makes the time to come out to shows, support live music, and support the people who make these events happen. The fact that so many of these people also exude such excitement about the process of just making, whether it’s songwriting, stage production, lighting shows, merchandise – that’s a very cool bonus.
Jordan Shea (Guitar):
For me, it’s playing live. I get such a joyous feeling stepping onto a stage knowing I can release whatever energy I have into my guitar and through my amplifier for whoever is listening. I tend to give very physical performances for a guitarist, partially to compensate for Jack being tied to a microphone stand, but also because it’s immensely freeing to turn your brain off and let all the music you’ve practiced ad nauseam flow out of you, guiding your steps and body movements to beat. If you’ve ever seen the movie Soul, they capture the feeling pretty well.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Noah Thuma (drums): For me, it’s twofold: make, share, and embrace music whenever, wherever possible; and to foster connections with as many people as possible. It’s taken me a long time to accept that I am much more an extrovert than I would ever give myself credit for, but that extraversion is born of a desire to build. Humanity has only gotten to where it is because we are innately social creatures – nothing, and I truly mean nothing, is possible without collaboration, which requires connection before all else. I’ve now lived through far more major historical events than I care to count, and every single day, there is yet another obstacle to the human capacity to embrace and build connections with one another. I’ve watched the internet pivot from a true frontier for creatives to build communities into a gross, commercial monstrosity that is hellbent on stealing your data, free time, and happiness. I’ve seen our political systems take a hard shift back towards demonization, exclusion, and tribalism. I’ve experienced firsthand what it is like to lose everything that defines you as an individual, on multiple occasions now, and to fight to hold onto hope in spite of everything. Music has always been there for me, and I will never cease in my mission to share joy, hope, humor, sadness, and healing through sharing music.
Without each other, we have nothing. Our world is increasingly shrinking and getting darker – but only if you let it. Take a chance on other people. Catch the show you heard about, even if you think you will hate it. Exhibit joy as an act of resistance, and embrace everything this life has to offer. We only get one life, and it is not worth your precious few minutes to spend it isolated, bitter, and scared.
Jack McLaughlin (Vocalist/Bassist): I don’t know. I think there have been many reasons throughout the years to do what we do and make music. Whether that would be wanting to just be something more, do something meaningful. Or maybe just wanting to make music so others can understand and appreciate you. Or…money, although that’s probably the least of the drive. Personally while I have written for those reasons as well, I feel my main drive when writing is to express myself. To get shit off my chest. To make music with my people. Because I think sometimes in a world where one’s voice can so easily get drowned out, It’s nice to know others hear me too.
Jordan Shea (Guitar):
I just want to share in the world of music. I’ve been healed by music many times over, and I’m sure I will again and again. I hope to provide music that can be that for someone else, whether that’s through a sad song that they can relate to, or an upbeat catchy song that makes them forget about whatever is making them sad. Fortunately our band and sound can explore a huge range of emotions so we’re able to accomplish both. And being able to perform those live and see people’s reactions and hear their stories and opinions after the show is incredibly fulfilling; knowing that sometimes even if it was only a 30 minute set, we made someone’s night better, and maybe wrote a song that is gonna help them in the future. It’s a feeling that can’t be beat.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/scarletsdarling
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093855960500
- Linkedin: https://linktr.ee/scarletsdarling?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=7fc41047-f7c3-4311-90b9-651e070ac3b3
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@scarletsdarling?si=5Auxzz0mIbA7fAoe
Image Credits
almaleephotography, Randy Eccles, Michelle McLaughlin, Joe Tiskos