We recently connected with Scream Revolution and have shared our conversation below.

Scream, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

On November 9, 2021 we got a DM on Instagram from a local bar: The End in Torrance. “What’s your schedule like for the rest of the year? We are looking to book for Saturday Night, possibly Fridays as well. Let me know, we’d love to have you.” The dream DM for any band, let alone a teen band. Our drummer was still in 8th grade and the rest of us in high school.

We were just starting to get regular gigs in 2020 until lockdown. We somehow stayed together through Zoom band meetings, front yard get togethers, and backyard band practice. Getting back to regular shows meant everything to us. Until, “Everyone in the band is 21 and up?” Stomachs sank. “Event will be all ages. You would need to be at least 18 to play here.”

“We are a local teen band. Can you have younger bands playing earlier in the evening or during the day?”

Long story short, that is how our monthly Sunday matinee residency at The End in Torrance began.

We started with three Sunday shows in a row. Eight bands. Thirty minute sets. No headliners. We chose the order based on flow, following, and other factors. This structure was inspired by the insanely talented sibling band Speed of Light, who had us to their residency show at The Redwood Bar DTLA.

These three weekends were both fun and exhausting. Fun because we got to play with LA and OC bands we’d met on Instagram and finally got to play with! We never told the bands the lineup before they said yes, and they all said yes. This was the start of rebuilding our music community. Exhausting because we’re all in school and these were school nights. Some of us bought homework to do at the table while supporting the other bands. The shows were so long that most people couldn’t stay until the last act, which sucked. In three short weeks, we learned a lot about producing shows.

We had started something special. The owner asked us to come back every Sunday. We landed on once a month and shortened the shows to five bands. Sometimes six. We always put ourselves in the middle, and take an all bands photo on stage after our set.

In August 2023 we’ll be wrapping up the second season of monthly shows at The End: Fourteen shows and counting, only pausing for football season.

It means so much to us when we see bands that met at one of our shows playing together, and it feels great when they invite us to play with them at other venues. There is room for everyone in the music community. The End has given us the space to make this happen, and we give them a restaurant and bar full of happy customers. (The food is really good there, too!)

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Scream Revolution has played gigs at over 40 Southern California venues since 2019. How did me meet? Four of us met at a local music school and were placed in a band together with other musicians. We were 8, 9 and 10 years old. We all went to different schools. We met because of our shared love of music. The original four of us have stayed together, and we’ve had four different guitar players over the years. One moved out of state. One moved on. And we have recently added a second guitarist.

We write original songs and also play covers. Our music can be found on all streaming platforms. We are always redefining our sound, and talking about what genre we should even call it. We are influenced by grunge, punk, pop-punk, rock and metal. A lot of 90s music, thanks to our parents. We are known for our hard and fast pounding drums, layered with keyboards, a strong bassline, shredding guitar, and rich lead vocals.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Some of us want to go on to be professional musicians. The rest of us plan on pursuing other interest while keeping music in our lives. We’re looking at colleges and music schools. We are currently 15-17 years old. There’s a lot ahead of us.

Right now our goals include writing as many originals as we can, while also having fun playing covers. It’s cool to put our own sound to cover songs. By the time the seniors graduate, we’d like to have an EP out. Our last two songs are self-produced. We have our biggest gig coming up. We’re using the money we earn from that to work with a producer at the professional recording studio down from our rehearsal space. We’ll pick the song that means the most to all of us.

We have the most fun when we are playing to other musicians and people our own age. There is nothing like having super cool people dance and mosh and headbang and shout out and scream while we’re playing. There is really nothing like it.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

We are usually the youngest band playing at shows. The music scene, even the teen music scene, can be pretty brutal. While it is always our mission to be cool to as many bands as we can, and to be inclusive, it is easy to feel overlooked and excluded. When you include one group, you can easily unconsciously leave others out. Everyone who is doing creative work can feel stressed, anxious, and vulnerable sometimes. We handle this simply by moving forward. We keep going. We try something else. We don’t compare ourselves to others. Everyone is doing interesting work. What makes us different is what makes us interesting. The stronger we become as a band, the more opportunities come our way. We’re also not afraid to reach out to venues and get rejected. Sometimes it is not the right fit. Other times you just need to keep practicing and getting better as a band. And if the shows are not being offered to you, create and host your own shows and include local bands in your area. Make it happen.  

Contact Info:

• Website: screamrevolution.com
• Instagram: @screamrevolutionband
• Facebook: screamrevolution
• Other: [email protected]

Image Credits
Jack Lue, Entertainment Photography Plus, Second Hand Productions