Shmucku is musician who likes endlessly mixing, cool/strange noises, and big chunky riffs. They love music that helps them better understand and appreciate themselves and other people. You can find their non-Blaseball music at https://soundcloud.com/automaton-7 and their art at https://www.instagram.com/4mb13nt_n01s3!

This episode of idol board was hosted, edited and transcribed by BONES, and produced by BONES and Tangereen Velveteen. Find all episodes and transcripts of idol board at fourth-strike.com/podcast and follow @idolboard on Twitter for updates.

Listen to “SC__TER_D” by the garages on Bandcamp:

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Episode Transcript

[musical intro plays]

ANNOUNCER:

You’re listening to a Fourth Strike production.

[The end of the musical intro plays, followed by the beginning of ‘SC__TER_D’. The vocals fade out while the instrumentals continue playing under the conversation.]

BONES:

Hello and welcome to idol board! I’m BONES and I use they/them pronouns. In this podcast, I’ll be interviewing members of the garages about their songs, the creation process, and possible inspirations. My guest for this episode is garages band member Shmucku. Thanks for coming on Shmucku! Can you tell us your pronouns, your pre-song ritual, and what song you’ll be talking about with us today?

SHMUCKU:

Uh, hello! My pronouns are they/them, and, uh, my pre-game ritual is… uh, doing a backflip off my bed and falling over, and, uh, yeah the song we’re talking about is, uh, ‘SC__TER_D’ or [INAUDIBLE]. Um, yeah. [laughing]

BONES:

For context, for listeners, it’s ‘cause it’s partially redacted. [laughing]

BONES:

Um, cool, let’s get started. So, first off, when and why did you join the garages? The band, not the team.

SHMUCKU:

Um, well, I started, like, playing Blaseball because of the garages really. Uh, my girlfriend told me about the game and I was like “okay, that’s cool, like, it’s wonky and weird, uh, blaseball game on the internet” but uh, when she showed me the like, that one of the teams is also a rock band and they’re making music about the game itself, I was like “wow, okay, alright, I need to be doing this.” So, uh, that’s when I like actually joined, like, playing the game and then, uh, it was probably around season 4 that I had enough courage to, uh, make a song for the, the band and that was for ‘in the feedback’, uh, I made this song ‘a face to the name’ and, uh, that was like really the first time I’d been extremely public about my music [‘a face to the name’ has faded up during the previous section and now plays]

SHMUCKU:

And, uh, I was really nervous and it was really scary for me to put myself out there like really directly, um, but I was really amazed by... just the overwhelming response I had. It was a really cool and really fulfilling moment for me that, like, everyone resonated with the song and… Yeah I dunno, I had a really good experience with my first track.

BONES:

That’s awesome. Um, what are your musical and compositional backgrounds?

SHMUCKU:

So I’ve been playing guitar since I was 12-ish and I’ve always liked creating, uh, my own music, I've been recording... uhhh, like probably since I was like 14. I learned a lot from singing in choir at my school but, uh, a lot of it came from just messing around in my room, with my voice, trying out things, looking up videos, how to sing good. Uh, and then same with guitar, like I had some lessons when I was young but I never really liked practicing what I was given, so I just messed around with that also, uh, picking and choosing what I wanted to learn on my own. My favorite band is The Mars Volta, so, I say my biggest musical inspirations are, uh, like post-hardcore, industrial electronic music, uh, alternative pop, and rock, and I say that like, I, I love music that’s like oversaturated with cool sound design, it’s just gotta have like, tons of, like, bits and bobs of weird sounds to listen to, like, every time you go back and listen to the track you can like find something new... I'm really all about that.

BONES:

That’s awesome. I, I love the uh, ability to just like listen back and, uh, figure out just from like casual listening what sort of stuff you’re interested in and from there just like looking up those specific, uh, like techniques and things like that?

SHMUCKU:

Totally.

BONES:

Uh, so, for ‘SC__TER_D’, uh, how did this song start?

SHMUCKU:

So, for this song, actually most of the songs I've been doing recently, I usually start with guitar parts, so I have a like, I have a file open and I set a bpm and I'm like, “okay I wanna record in this key” and I just like make up a bunch of guitar parts and they don’t really have to like fit together but they have to like maybe feel like they’re roughly in the same vibe, um, and then I kinda arrange them into a song format. So like with ‘SC__TER_D’, I came up with the, uh, chorus guitars first that kinda like, uh, really open chord with the kinda dead note strumming.

[The guitars from the chorus of ‘SC__TER_D’ play]

SHMUCKU:

Then I think I did the verse riff next.

[The guitar verse riff from ‘SC__TER_D’ plays]

SHMUCKU:

Yeah, and then after I get all the guitar laid out, um, I'll track, uh, drums, I'll program drums, I don’t track drums. [The drums from ‘SC__TER_D’ are added to the guitars]

SHMUCKU:

I use Superior Drummer, it’s a lot of money but like, I was like, “I'm gonna be doing this a lot, so I should get, probably, the best I can.” So yeah then I, uh, re-record guitar to make it like, it has the feel of the rhythm of the drums and then do bass. [The bass from ‘SC__TER_D’ is added to the drums and guitars]

SHMUCKU:

And then, um, come up with some vocals and that’s like, when you get the skeleton of the song.

[The chorus to ‘SC__TER_D’ plays]

BONES:

Yeah, that’s really interesting. I especially, like, I realized that this song has, like, a lot of sections too.

SHMUCKU:

[chuckling throughout] Yeah, yeah, um, so I, I screen my music to a few people before I like put it out there. One of the people I screen it with is my mom and she always tells me that like, I have too much stuff going on in my songs. Uh, yeah, I’m, I’m, I’ve been told that like my songs bounce around a lot, from part to part which, I’m okay, I’m okay with that, sometimes it’s too much but I like a lot going on.

BONES:

Yeah I mean and it creates this, like, really like, progressive journey through the song too, especially for ‘SC__TER_D’ ‘cause like there’s so many different bits and pieces that are, are just like, it feels like the next progression but it’s not like verse chorus, verse chorus, you know?

SHMUCKU:

Yeah I try to keep a formula and I try to keep it like, memorable and somewhat formulaic but like, still have a lot of variation.

BONES:

So, did you have any particular inspirations on this track, musically or otherwise?

SHMUCKU:

Um, so it doesn’t sound anything like it but, uh, the verse riff? The kinda like, plucky, rhythmic, uh, guitar lead, that was based off of um, a song by Everything Everything and then it kinda like, morphed into something that doesn’t sound like that anymore. And then uh, so... [laughing] when I, when I, when I, dumped the um, like, uh, early version of the chorus with drums and bass and the guitar into the demo, uh, section in discord they’re like “Oh yeah it’s like, that’s like an anime opening” and I was like “Aahhhhh... yeah, yeah you’re right” and that was not my intention but like I watch a lot of anime and that’s probably coming through.

BONES:

Was that like a good “aw man” or…

SHMUCKU:

It was like… No… [laughing] No, it was like “awwww... yeah you’re right.” I dunno, there’s a lot of anime music I do like, so, nah it’s fine, it’s fine.

BONES:

Well, I mean, there’s a lot of different ways that like different, even different mediums can sort of like spill into your work, so like...

SHMUCKU:

Yeah, and you don’t even think about it, you just, you just get influenced by it and it’s not like you’re making a conscious, uh, decision to put it in there but... yeah.

BONES:

Yeah, absolutely.

SHMUCKU:

Um, and then the final bridge part where it’s really big and dramatic, um, is inspired by the band The Marmozets. Uh, they do a lot of like, really full guitar emotional chord progressions in their stuff. Yeah, so I kinda like to pick and choose from different bands, like “Oh yeah this, I’ll, this, I'll do this like this band and then this like that band” and hopefully it all fits together. The, the solo that’s like, completely bonkers, um, is inspired by a song called ‘AN ITERATION’, uh, from the band The Armed and I was listening to them lately and they had this like cool solo midsong that’s just like, weird pitch shifted, and then at the very end of it it just like crashes and devolves into nonsense and I was like “Wow, that’s, that’s pretty wild” so I did some of that.

[The midsong solo from ‘SC__TER_D’ plays]

BONES:

Throughout all the, like, throughout the whole song there are all sorts of like, glitchy sound effects and like warped vocals--

SHMUCKU:

Yeah.

BONES:

-- like especially in like the far edges of the left and right channels.

SHMUCKU:

Yeah.

BONES:

Uh, can you talk us through sort of like, how you made those?

SHMUCKU:

Yeah, um, I'm trying to think of who those like, were inspired by... I dunno, I listen to a lot of electronic stuff, like Clarence Clarity is probably my favorite electronic producer. I dunno, I just got into like, glitchy sound design, I think the textures that, um, glitch sound design makes are like, really crunchy and interesting and sometimes they’re like watery even? Um, so if you use, uh, FL Studio to produce, you get a trial version of a plugin called Gross Beat and it’s basically a, like, slicer program that allows you to pick from templates in the program, um, that slices up your audio in, like, randomized ways? So what I would do is I’d put, I would put that plugin on, like, my main vocal and then just record that while swapping up the, um, like randomizing settings on it and it would give those like cool, like, weird chops and like pitch shift it and stuff, and so I did that twice for each of the, um, like hook parts of the vocal and then panned them on either side. [We hear the glitchy sound effects including the far left and right panning]

SHMUCKU:

Yeah, I really don’t know the technical name for the kind of plugin it is, maybe you call it like a, a slicer or I dunno, like a beat rearranger?

BONES:

I think there’s also like, I think iZotope makes one of those too, ummm, I think like Stutter Edit 2 or something like that?

SHMUCKU:

Okay, that name makes a lot of sense.

BONES:

So the, the lyrics of the song on the surface sort of tell the story of Malik Destiny, uh, being swept to the elsewhere and then sort of like, processing, uh, being scattered, uh, can you talk us through like what inspired you to write about that specifically?

SHMUCKU:

Yeah, um, so, before, so I took a hiatus after ‘a face to the name’ but before I did, I idolized Malik because he’s, he’s the bestest boy and he’s, y’know, I dig him. I dig my rabble-rousing catboy so, yeah, and then I came back and I was like “Hey, I wonder if Malik is like, still alive.” [laughing from both] At first I didn’t realize, I didn’t know where he was so I looked at the team and I was like “Where’s Malik? He’s not here!” And then I did some research and I was like “Oh, he’s scattered and that’s his name but like, all messed up” and I didn’t know what scattered was at the time when I came back so I had to do, like, some research into what being scattered was and at the time I was worried that, like, it wouldn’t ever go back so I was like “Oh… My poor baby! He’s been changed forever! He’s been scattered forever! Oh, it’s so sad!” I, I felt like, well in my own head I was like yeah being scattered is like something that changes your whole composition of your body and your mind like you don’t ever quite remember… you don’t ever quite like, see yourself as you remember yourself to be. And I was like, oh you know what, that sounds a lot like dysphoria. It’s like “Ay, that’s, that sounds a lot like dysphoria.” I was also inspired by the feeling I, I got I was looking at like some pictures of myself from a while ago and just not feeling like, ownership of the person I saw in them and I wanted to capture the feeling, uh, in the song but also have like, a positive message and ending to it, and I felt like it was something pretty relatable to the Blaseball community like reinventing yourself and becoming someone you really love and accepting yourself. It was really cool to watch the release, um, on YouTube, on the premiere, and see how everyone was, like, vibing with it they were, it made me really happy to see that I was able to connect with people like that.

BONES:

And it seemed like, cause I was in that chat as well, like, when it was premiering and I, I just remember seeing this, like, cascade of comments about our trans catboy.

SHMUCKU:

Yeah, oh, it was, it was wonderful to see everyone like, just, just like all getting it and like feeling the same way I was like “Ah, thank you so much everyone.”

BONES:

Um, so this, uh, you mentioned that you took a bit of a hiatus after, um, doing ‘a face to the name’ off ‘in the feedback’ and I noticed listening through a couple of times that there are some like, subtle but somewhat direct nods to that track, like, within the lyrics and instrumentation and stuff like where did that connection come from, um?

SHMUCKU:

Yeah… So, well I felt like, so part of me was like, while I was making this song, there’s a point where, like, most of my songs that I'm making, there’s a point where I'm working on it and I'm like this is not, this is not like sounding good yet and, and this song specifically, I was like this needs to be better than ‘face to the name’ I feel like I must have come, like I must have progressed at some point since ‘face to the name’ but I did decide to reference it, um, because, being scattered is messing with the persona people have made up for Malik, so because like, the gods are messing with the characters we adore so much, the characters we have fully fleshed out and like given faces to, um, and stories to, I felt like it was appropriate to mention it because it’s kind of showing like, how much emotional investment in these, in these characters since we’ve kind of, you know created them.

BONES:

That is fascinating. [laughing] I love that, well I love that too cause like, Blaseball itself kind of changed a lot and like, yeah that search for identity is really interesting in that context too I guess, cause like there is a community aspect to that.

SHMUCKU:

Right, I was trying to, trying to come back and figure out, like, what the identity of Blaseball is now.

BONES:

So, overall, what is your favorite part of this song, uh, what are you most proud of?

SHMUCKU:

Ummm, probably the lyrics? Mostly the bridge and the second verse, uh, I really like the line about Patterson and how he doesn’t remember her the same way anymore, um, but the bridge, uh, makes me feel really good to listen to, um, the, it’s, I dunno, it’s kind of silly to say since it’s my own song, but like, it makes me emotional because I was really writing to myself when I wrote that part? Also, the solo, [laughing] because it’s just, because it’s just, I dunno, crazy and silly and fun to listen to.

BONES:

It’s also like, it’s chaotic, but it’s very... it’s, it feels like a very calculated chaos.

SHMUCKU:

[laughing] Yeah... yeah, yeah, yeah.

BONES:

Lastly, outside of your own work, what would you consider to be, and I realize this is probably the hardest question, the most underrated garages song?

SHMUCKU:

Oh yeah, it’s a hard question, ‘cause like, yeah, there are so many good ones, um, I don’t know if this is fair ‘cause it’s not, I don’t know if it’s really underrated per se but um ‘park it’ by ethan geller is so good.

BONES:

I love ‘park it’!

SHMUCKU:

It’s such a good song! I love like, the main riff, that main riff really speaks to me it’s like this kind of, uh, hard proggy kind of like, weird rhythmic riff and his drumming is like super, super cool. [A clip from ‘park it’ plays]

SHMUCKU:

But like what I like most about it is... the character portrayal of Mike Townsend like, just responding to all the people that have dissed him and like, not losing his cool but like, just being kinda, just kinda sad about it just kinda in the dumps about it, I love it.

[Part of the monologue from ‘park it’ plays]

BONES:

There’s something about ethan’s monologues in that, and in like, arturo huerta that are like, really solid.

SHMUCKU:

They are, they’re like the great, great character pieces, great, great dialogue, super good.

BONES:

Thank you so much for joining us on idol board, a podcast where we interview members of the garages, an anarcho-syndicalist blaseball band from the fictional location of Seattle. We make songs about being gay, the apocalypse, and fighting the gods, and you can find our music at thegarages.bandcamp.com, on YouTube, or on your favorite music streaming service. We’ll see you next week! Now, here’s ‘SC_TER_D’ by Shmucku of the garages.

[‘SC__TER_D’ plays in its entirety]

ANNOUNCER:

idol board is edited by Ada Quinn, BONES, jennifer cat, and nuclear tourist, hosted by BONES, produced by Tangereen Velveteen, transcribed by Astrid D, SigilCrafter Aya, Merry, and VigilantBaker, and created by Aoife and Tangereen Velveteen.

[outro music plays]

ANNOUNCER:

That was a Fourth Strike production.