Scott Wilson

San Diego CityBeat
March 8, 2006 Locals Only Section
Gossip from the local music scene
by Scoop Stevens


Coffeehouse 50 It’s said there’s strength in numbers, but “Coffeehouse 101,” a new video from singer-songwriter Scott Wilson, takes that theory to extremes. Rather than make a standard video for the tune from his album Kaleidoscope’s End, Wilson invited 50 of his musician friends to each lip-sync a line or two.

“I wanted to approach the whole video idea as a filmmaker rather than as a performer,” Wilson said. “I think that the artist performance concept has pretty much been done to death in music videos, so I thought it might be an interesting way to turn it on its head.”

With so many musicians, Wilson described the project as a puzzle, trying to line up the right musician with the right line. For the most part, performers were given lines to sing at random, though there are a few exceptions.

“I intentionally had Doug Meyer in a cowboy hat and accordion sing ‘Guess I live slightly east of Eden,’ since I did live in El Cajon at the time it was written,” he says. “I would have people sing a whole stanza, and then pick the best line of the performance.”

Due to conflicting schedules, he wasn’t able to get certain performers he really wanted for the shoot. For example, he said, “The Locust would have been particularly great.” As it stood, the shoots for the video were time-consuming.

“I had to do a lot of driving to get as many people as I did in the video. But in the end, it lent an extra dimension… to have so many different locations and gave a bit of the feel of San Diego by traveling around to different clubs, studios and stages.”

On March 9, Humphrey’s Backstage Lounge will host the release party for the “Coffeehouse 101” video, featuring many of the acts who participated in the filming, including Jeff Berkley and the Citizen Band, The Grams, Dave Howard, Will Edwards, Cathryn Beeks Ordeal, Gregory Page and Deadline Friday. If you can’t make the show, the video will be available later this month on Wilson’s website, www.metalogicmusic.com.
- San Diego CityBeat

“I bought my first bass at age 18 for $99 at a pawn shop,” says singer/songwriter Scott Wilson. “It was a piece of crap, but it was a good thing to learn to play with and to realize that it was worth investing in better equipment.”

Wilson cites his main musical influences as the Beatles (“seventh chords”), Nirvana (“grooves”), and Yes (“harmonies”), but nowadays the founding member of the Gandhi Method -- and former bassist for Cathryn Beeks -- would just as soon plug into a video-editing board as an amp. He’s worked on music videos, concert films, and documentaries.

This filmmaking savvy served Wilson well when it came time to shoot a video for the song “Coffeehouse 101” from his 2005 CD Kaleidoscope’s End. “We ended up with around 50 performers in [my] video, many of them local, each one lip-synching a different line from the song,” says Wilson.

Footage was shot at Lestat’s, Twiggs, the Hot Monkey Love Café, and other local spots. Cameo appearances include Gregory Page, Dave Howard, Bart Mendoza (the Shambles), Mark DeCerbo (Rockola, the Steely Damned), and a who’s who of local talent that even the most plugged-in of scenesters would be hard pressed to fully identify. “I couldn’t time it right to get the Locust in there,” says Wilson, “but I [taped] most everybody else I sought out.”

“Some people -- for instance, Robin Henkel and Carlos Olmeda -- were very comfortable with the camera. Some weren’t, and I include myself in that bunch. Everyone brings their own personalities to the table, and people relate to the camera in such different ways that it becomes sort of a sociological experiment in overcoming embarrassment.”

Wilson’s earliest recordings, with AOR glam band VFX, are being sought for reissue by Retrospect Records in Las Vegas. “I walked away from this style of music in 1994 and never looked back,” says Wilson. “That’s Album Oriented Rock, not Aging Old Rockers,” says Wilson. “Nobody was more surprised than me that people still listened to that type of music…I had no idea anybody remembered a CD I released 20 years ago.”

Wilson says VFX was one of many bands knocked out by Grunge. “When our second CD was released in 1993, Nirvana was going strong. That wiped out what one record executive once told me was all those W bands, [like] Warrant, Winger, and Whitesnake.” That album, The Next Step, hit number one on the Imports Chart in England’s Kerrang Magazine, as Wilson toured Europe with the band in late 1993/early 1994.

“I’ve been busy rummaging through my storage room looking for old masters and forgotten videos,” says Wilson, who moved to San Diego in 1997 and pursued acoustic balladeering. “It’s been a strange experience.” Some of the vintage spandex and cosmetic-heavy VFX videos have been uploaded to Wilson’s YouTube channel, Metapunker. “They’re possibly [worth] a good laugh. I don’t regret doing the music that I did, or dressing up in strange costumes. Some of the pain and embarrassment has faded away, and now only laughter remains.”

“I haven’t decided if I’m going to let them release the CDs yet,” says Wilson. “When I started digging through the storage room and talking to some of the former band members, it brought up a lot of buried issues and feelings that I assumed I had let go of. Which, of course, I hadn’t. So I’m deciding whether I really want to reissue those CDs again, or let them stay part of the past.” - San Diego Reader

January 2006 issue of San Diego Troubadour Magazine
Scott Wilson - Kaleidoscope’s End
by Craig Yerkes

A funny thing happened to me on the way to work the other day. I popped in Kaleidoscope’s End, the latest release from Scott Wilson, and my reaction surprised me. I had been keeping my eye on my cell phone for an important call and about 20 seconds into the music, I involuntarily reached for the phone and turned it off. It was as if my musical sensibilities alerted my subconscious that this music merited my full attention.

The word “craftsman” comes to mind when I think of Wilson’s work on this disc. Not one aspect of this recording sounds like it was phoned in or rushed. Wilson is an artist who understands how to bring his songs to life, fully realized, through the hard work of matching creativity with meticulous attention to detail.

“Coffeehouse 101” starts it all off with a sly, catchy alt-pop rocker, featuring everything you want to hear on a tune like this. The driving guitars, powerful vocals, and grinding bass and drums provide the meat and potatoes that you would expect, but the sneaky chord changes, spacey breaks, sardonic lyrics, and funky production touches provide unexpected audio candy. “She Won’t Stop,” “Too Tired,” and “Nobody’s Home” follow a similar alt-pop rock template with equally pleasing results. In particular, “She Won’t Stop” packs a serious lyrical and musical wallop with a highly insightful take on the dangers of human ambition. “Marielle” and “Shade of Eden” stand out as the most effective softer offerings. Both feature beautiful melodies and hook-laden chord changes, which serve to bring the reflective lyrics to full life. Kaleidoscope’s End had me trying to decide if it reminded me of something I heard in the ‘70s or just last week on alt. radio. “Van Gogh’s Ear” provides a fascinating juxtaposition between a confident, almost arrogant sounding musical background and a highly vulnerable lyric (“I feel like Van Gogh’s ear, a useless appendage, stashed behind the mirror”). I love the choice of chords used as a backdrop for the guitar solo, which is itself a masterpiece of blistering aggression.

My only beef is a subtle point regarding the lyrics. While the CD’s heady, sometimes poetic approach works very well, the overall effect is somewhat impersonal. I would have liked to hear a tune or two that took a more personal, emotionally accessible approach in the lyrics.

The musicianship and vocals throughout this recording are stellar, highlighted by the fretless bass work on a few tunes, the consistently exciting guitar solos, and the powerful lead vocal on “Shade of Eden.” Wilson’s hard work make for a very compelling recording. Turn off your cell phone and take a listen. - San Diego Troubadour

Revolt in Style - Spring 2006 Issue
Scott Wilson: Kaleidoscope’s End
Genre: Modern Rock, Pop, Blues and Alternative

Anyone who likes the progressive sound of Dave Matthews is going to dig this cd. Don’t get me wrong. It is not Dave Matthews by any means but it has that edgy back beat and is unpredictable lyrically. It’s CD’s like this that make me love my job. It’s fun to listen to and touches the psyche and has a good vibe about it. I would really like to put a face to this sound but I wouldn’t do it any justice. Scott Wilson has accomplished the one thing that all musicians strive after. There is a guitar riff on the song “Van Gogh’s Ear” that totally fucking rips. On top of that Scott has an amazing vocal range. It is a CD that is eclectic by nature but maintains a constant good vibe. I hope the live show is as hot as his CD.

by Michael West CD Reviews page 64 - Revolt in Style

Computer Edge Magazine 1/12/2007
Hot On the Web - - “Heading Into a New Year”
by Jim Trageser

Before we get too far into 2007 (and as I write this, it's a few days before Christmas 2006), it might be good to take a quick look at some neat things going on online, as well as bring a few stories from the past year up to date.

Video to the World San Diego musician/songwriter Scott Wilson may not be on MTV—but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a following for his new music video.

With a savvy head for online marketing, Wilson has used links from his MySpace and Yahoo! pages, plus his own Web site, MetaLogic Music, to get 14,000 views of his music video "Coffeehouse 101."

It's a pretty fun folk/rock song, with the appeal of having more than 50 local musicians sing along and make cameos in the video.

I can't claim to know every San Diego musician, but I did recognize folks like Gregory Page, "Doctor" Dave Sawyer, Chuck Schiele of The Grams, Carlos Olmeda, Sven-Erik Seaholm and the Wild Truth, Sirens Lure and Marcia Claire, among others.

What makes this different is that the video is both very well produced, and yet made locally—but still able to find a global audience. - Computer Edge Magazine