The Chariot is currently tearing it up on their Tours And Rumors Of Tours Tour, and I had the pleasure of experiencing an excellent exchange of truth, soul-searching and pathos with vocalist Josh Scogin.

MORGAN Y. EVANS: Wars And Rumors Of Wars was really a special release for you guys. It was certainly one of the best hardcore records last year. I love that your band expands on the sound with each release, like Poison The Well did when they dropped A Tear From The Red. There is continuity but growth. WARS also has such a live energy to it. It feels like we are in the room with the band when listening to it. Was this intentional? The drums are so raw and dry.

JOSH SCOGIN: Thanks man, yeah, the raw recording is very intentional. The drums sound the way they do because they are real. Most every band these days uses samples instead of actual recorded drums. It is easier that way because you don't have to really play them perfect, they have a program that can make them perfect and then you just place the samples in so it sounds "good." We don't really believe in doing that. So we actually played our drums and what you hear is what we did...it aint perfect but it is a real live human doing it.

MYE: How does it feel to be doing a headlining tour again? What can fans expect? I always worry about you guys when you headline a tour because your shows are so wild. When I saw you with Gojira and Car Bomb I was wondering how you would do a longer, headlining set without killing yourselves from the high energy!

JS: Yeah, someday we probably will die, but until then, we will tour. I like the short sets that come with supporting tours personally. It seems to be more explosive and less dead time. We try to keep that in the headliner as well but sometimes we have to breathe. We are all in such awful shape.

MYE: I hear ya. I always ache the day after performing a show. So, what’s next? Helmet was a band that always used negative space in a riff so well. The Chariot reminds me live of bands that seemed to have psychic powers. A lot of bands spin microphones or act “crazy”, but you guys feel like a single organism live. The use of feedback sections on Wars and the spots where things seem to be decaying between heavy riffs have such real vibe. It reminds me of Fugazi and bands that didn’t need set lists because they were so in tune with one another. That is inspiring!

JS: Well, again I would have to say thanks. I grew up completely respecting Fugazi and what they were doing. We like it because it keeps us on our toes and it keeps everything fresh. If we were restricted to a set list with no room to play or detour it would get so "cookie cutter" from show to show and I think the boredom that would set in would be noticed from the audience. So we are always shaking things up and trying to keep things fresh. On nights where it works it can be complete magic. But there are, for sure, nights where it is a train wreck as well. But we are human; we don't get it 100% every time.

MYE: That’s awesome. “Impress” has that amazing guitar section near the end which rings out like a chiming bell and the weirdo ending of “Teach” from the new record comes to mind as another song of yours that is somewhat experimental. Do you think people don’t think outside the box enough in heavy music? All of your records have cool, odd twists and turns that make the emotional impact stronger than the 100th metalcore breakdown, I think. Kids have to remember that music has so much freedom, like Dewey Redman’s distinctive voicing of a horn that sounds like a strangled goose on “Spoonin’” from his jazz record Momentum Space, or whatever. I love fast, basic hardcore or crushing stuff, but even Cro-Mags tried different things at times.

JS: I definitely think kids have gotten closed minded with music these days. It is a shame because music used to be all about expression and art and freedom. I fear too early a lot of bands have lost that somewhere in the mix.

MYE: Here’s a music and politics mixed together type, two part question. People often say, “it was a good year for hardcore or metal”. “Good” can mean great records, but are people taking a lot away from the shows and applying it to their lives? Your band has a lot of p.m.a. but also deals with heavy topics in a song like “Daggers”. What are your thoughts on the “scene”? The “Rumors” part of the record title makes me think how there is a lot of white noise in our culture and people are sometimes fragmented into groups and divisions where there could be more unity, in a scene or as fellow citizens of the world. Like the “Victory is such a lonely word” lyric from “Teach” makes me think of the heavy price of wars, where we all are categorized as “the other” or we draw lines between ourselves as humans.

JS: The "scene" seems to always be shifting and always evolving. Just when I think it is one way, and I get real stoked on it, it seems to let me down. And just when I think everyone who is in the scene "doesn't get it", they surprise me! So I can never know what it is going to do next. It ties my head in knots if I think too much on it. So I just play music.

MYE: What are some bands you are digging right now? I am really into Wrench In The Works on Facedown Records and am trying to spread the word on them.

JS: They are not new or anything but I can't stop listening to Arcade Fire.

MYE: Did you guys ever have an embarrassing pop punk phase?

JS: Nope.

MYE: [laughing] Next question! I am reading Nabokov’s The Real Life Of Sebastian Knight and it made me wonder, do you think the best art or records reflect an inner monologue or expose a wider perspective/vantage point? Like, not so much summarize as much as reflect and capture the often elusive face and feeling of a time, zeitgeist, or mass alienation? If you don’t mind getting more philosophical for a minute, please.

JS: I think the best art for sure comes from experiences and writing things you have actually dealt with. I do think it is easier to strike a sad chord than attempt anything of a happy nature and it be taken seriously. Having said that, I am a sucker for a sad song. I can't seem to let them down.

MYE: Patsy Cline, man! Another lyric on this album that I love which has grown with me as I’ve listened to it is the “they have painted gold this cage” line, also from “Teach”. It seems a good metaphor for the modern emphasis on consumerism and vapid shit like Jersey Shore. I am also reading From Beirut To Jerusalem, from 1989, about The New York Times reporter Thomas L. Friedman, a Jewish/American who lived in Beirut amidst many different religious groups during the Israeli ‘80s invasion and also parts of the Lebanese civil war. It is amazing. He talks about how people had to sort of be in denial at times and block out parts of their surroundings just to get through the day, even playing probability games in their minds about the likelihood/percentages/odds of being killed. There is a joke about a guy bringing a bomb on the plane because it is unlikely there will be two on one plane…whereas in the U.S., even today, in many places people have a different denial, being distracted by the next product or trend. Any thoughts on this stuff? Your record is thought provoking.

JS: Yeah, I just love the thought of painting a cage golden. No matter what it is painted, it is still holing you captive. I wonder if far too often, instead of continuing the ever growing struggle to escape certain "cages" we just give up, paint them gold and think, "well this looks nice now".

MYE: Have you been writing a lot of stuff or still just focusing on Wars for now?

JS: I am always writing. Some of the new stuff we have is by far my favorite, artistically speaking. Can't wait.

MYE: Thanks so much for the flow of ideas, man and keep the rock’n’roll faith!

JS: Thanks.