sandiegopunk.com

On August 16, 2001, I had the honor of interviewing Scott Raynor, ex-Blink 182 drummer, outside the Mira Mesa Epicentre. As I hope this interview shows, he is an amazing person and is actively giving back to the San Diego music scene everything he has taken from it.

Joel - I wanted to start off by asking… I heard you do some volunteer work for the homeless?
Scott - Yep.
Joel - Just go off on it.
Scott - Ok, a good friend of mine was homeless on the streets of Los Angeles for about three months, and during that time she saw a lot of things happen. She was a really good friend of mine, and she told me all about it. She lost friends on the streets from neglect, trying to get medical help, they couldn't; trying to get food, they couldn't. You know it's just a really dangerous world out there for kids, and that's what made me want to work with homeless kids.
Joel - So what exactly do you do with them?
Scott - Well, I volunteer for a place called Stand Up For Kids, and the website is www.standupforkids.org and they need volunteers and stuff. It's an outreach program where we go out on the streets with backpacks full of food and hygiene products and we give it to kids on the street. Just by doing that we get to know kids on the streets, and who's new, and what's going on. And we also have a day center where kids can come and get hot meals and stuff like that.
Joel - So if someone wanted to get involved with Stand Up for Kids, should they just go to their website?
Scott - Yeah. Or you can e-mail me; my e-mail address is r2d719@cs.com.
Joel - Is this a San Diego based organization?
Scott - Yeah, its headquarters are in San Diego, it started in San Diego, but it's got 19 programs in 20 states.

Joel - You have your own record label now, right?
Scott - Yeah, it doesn't actually exist yet.
Joel - It doesn't exist yet?
Scott - No.
(Laughing)
Scott - I'm putting it together, that's a minor part of it. I wanted to put that together, because I wanted to make a label for charity causes, and I wanted to help, not that the San Diego scene needs help, I just wanted to be a part of it. I love music and stuff, so I just wanted to be a part of it, I wanted to help out anyway I could, help out younger bands, and things like that.
Joel - So what bands are you looking at right now, if any?
Scott - I don't know, I'm just trying to get this comp together. The comp is going to have TSOL, Unwritten Law is going to put an unreleased song on there, and Blink said they'd put an unreleased song on there, and Fenix TX will give an unreleased song - these are all just up in the air. Also New Found Glory, Buck-O-Nine, who else… There's a cool local band called Lotus, American Tragedy, I wanna try and get them on there, Parker Theory, The Classified, Agent 51. I'm going to try and get some other kinda bands on there, there's this band called Etched in Stone that's really good, I really like the Melvins, I wanna get them on there, the list goes on forever, but hopefully it will be a good comp.
Joel - Is this something that will have national distribution?
Scott - Yeah, if I can get Blink with an unreleased song, I'd think a national distributor would take it. I don't really know how it all works, that's why I can't really say I have a record label, cause I don't even know what I'm doing (laughing).
Joel - And all the proceeds go to charities?
Scott - 100%, I made some money when I was in Blink, and I figure this is my way of kinda giving back to the community and San Diego. Without San Diego, Blink never would've gotten where they were so I wouldn't have the means to do this kinda thing- it's going to go to five different charities.
Joel - Which ones.
Scott - Stand Up For Kids, Street Light Newspaper-
Joel - That's the homeless paper in San Diego, right?
Scott - Yeah, and they never make any money. They give the papers away for people to sell, so they need money to keep making the papers and stuff. It's also going to go to San Diego Youth and Community Services, a place called Moda Music in Southeast San Diego - it's like a beginning music school where they're trying to get kids off the street, and out of gangs, and get them into music and things like that. And the other one is Street of Dreams, which is a program ran by this woman who decided she wanted to help kids that are in juvenile court. The court schools don't have funding for art or music, so she decided she would go ahead and write grants to get money to teach kids how to write poetry, and write hip-hop, and music, and stuff like that.
Joel - It seems like you're goal right now is to really give back, and it's great to have philanthropists like yourself in our community.
Scott - Thanks, I feel like I'm doing what I should. I want to try to get more people involved in our community, it is our community, kids on the street are dying and getting raped on the street. It's our job to do something about it, cops aren't going to do anything about it, politicians definitely won't, well the cops do, I shouldn't talk about the cops. You know, it's just everyone's responsibility.
Joel - Well I think someone like yourself, you're a roll model to kids all over the country.
(Scott starts laughing)
Joel - You really are, for what you've done-
Scott - I hope I can use that for good.
Joel - Yeah, just push them in the right direction.

Joel - So since Blink 182, you've been in a couple band, right?
Scott - Yeah Death on Wednesday, it was a pleasure to play with those guys cause they're a really, really good band - I'm going to try to get them on that comp too. I played with them, and now I'm in a band called One Track Mind, and I'm going to try out for some other bands, one of them is called, A Bing, A Bang, and A Boom. They're really weird, you have to see them if they're ever around. And then, another band called Trailer Park Queen.

Joel - So what type of music have you been listening to lately that's been influencing you?
Scott- This sounds kinda weird, but one of the bands that gets me really motivated is the Cranberries. They have a lot of songs about runaways, not doing drugs, human potential, and a lot about wars. I listen to them and they make me realize my life's not so bad, and America's just so lucky, American's are just so lucky to live in the country we do. So that's one of the bands that really gets me going. I really like the Melvins a lot; they're a really cool band, um.. Neil Young, I just got the new Unwritten Law stuff, that's really good. How about you?
Joel - Um, I really like Link 80 if you've heard of them, they're like ska-core. And the Bosstones-
Scott - I love the Bosstones.
Joel - They're awesome, and I've been going on this emo/indie kick, you know Get Up Kids, Weezer, Reggie and the Full Effect, I just saw them (Reggie) the other night, they were amazing.
Scott - Yeah, I need to listen to them, there's so many bands going that I have a hard time keeping up with all of them.
Joel - That's the way I feel, you just discover this one band that's just a little bit different from what you're listen to, and there's just this whole genre of music that's waiting to be untapped.
Scott - Yeah, totally, and it all starts with Fugazi.
Joel - Yeah, basically it does.
Scott - Fugazi and Smashing Pumpkins, I love those bands. I hear a lot of their influence in a lot of bands today; I hear a lot of their influence in a lot of bands today. I don't know if I'm being outdated by saying this-
Joel - No, I see it.
Scott - But I really like Fugazi, and a lot of other new bands, I really like Boy Sets Fire, they're cool.

Joel - So, what's a day in the life of Scott Raynor like?
Scott (laughing) - It all depends, I started surfing, I really love surfing, so I try to do that as much as I can. I really love to surf, I think everyone should try it at least once.
Joel - Where do you go surfing at?
Scott - My favorite spot is Tourmaline. Do you surf?
Joel - Not really, I bodyboard a little.
Scott - Same thing, it's just getting in the water and getting on the wave, you know. I love doing that. I'm trying to become like a record label person, as much as I can, trying to learn about the business. I spend a lot of time doing e-mails and things like that, trying to get bands involved. I work with my neighbor, he's fixing his house, so I do construction kinda work, like building tool sheds and stuff, it's kinda fun. I really like doing it, because I want to have a house some day and learn how to maintain it myself, that's where I get some money. On Wednesdays I do outreach with Stand Up For Kids, and blah, blah, blah, I don't know.
Joel - You keep busy.
Scott - Yeah, I'm really busy. I'm going to start playing drums in A Bing, A Band, and A Boom, and Trailer Park Queen. My friend Theresa is a poet, and she does Trailer Park Queen, I'm going to try to play drums for her. I'm trying to get that going, I'm actually going to be like a student in her program in September and try to help out with that. And I give drum lessons on Friday and Saturday at the Moda Center, that music center down in Southeast San Diego. I help with the Street Light paper… Yeah, all the charities that are on the comp I help out with.
Joel - That's really cool.
Scott - Thank you.
Joel - Giving up time is one of the most important things, I've always thought. Money can do so much, but you still need people to go out there and actively do stuff.
Scott - Exactly, it's all about people power, you know it's kinda a cliché but money doesn't do anything. You could have a homeless shelter, and it could be the nicest place in the world with one person there, but no one's going to get any care, no one's going to get any special attention or help, it's all about people. You could have the crappiest shelter; it's all the people that make it good.
Joel - The people make the difference.
Scott - Exactly.

Joel - If you have any closing comments, or anything you want to say at all…
Scott - I don't know, just keep on rockin' in the free world.
(Laughing)
Joel - Thank you very much.
Scott - You're welcome very much, I appreciate it.

…And when asked about Blink 182, Scott said, "I never would've got naked."