What's Your Deal?: King Scuba
Like all English majors, I harbor secret dreams of becoming a rock star. Sadly, I don’t have anything close to a singing voice and I’m unwilling to learn more than bar chords on a guitar. So this past Wednesday, I did the next best thing to being a rock star: I interviewed the newest rock band on Brown music scene, King Scuba.I caught some members of the band as they were setting up for a late-afternoon rehearsal in the remarkably poorly-lit and labyrinthine T.F. Green Hall. For a band that will play their first show this Friday, March 1st, they seemed very put-together and relaxed. All right, so is it too early for a band formation story? Can someone give me a rough narrative?David Paine ’22: Yeah, sure. So Dylan [Moore ’22] and I were the earliest members, and after some shifting around and stuff, we’ve come to have this full lineup. Eyal [Levin ‘22] joined us first semester, and Ben [Smith ‘22] joined right at the end of the first semester...Ben Shrock ’22: And I was found by a Facebook post.David: Yeah, by a Facebook post.Ben: And then we tried out a bunch of rhythm guitarists, and found Andrew [Ayers '22].Dylan: It’s not a super fabulous story, but it is the story.So how long have you been practicing as a full band for this show?David: I’d say since... late January?Dylan: Yeah, since maybe the second week of this semester.So you’ve had some time but not a ton.Ben: I’ve been here like a month. Wow. That seems like such a small amount of time. (Laughter)What kind of music do you guys like? Do you all have similar interests? What do you guys sound like?Andrew: There’s a little bit of variation, I think.David: Yeah, some different tastes, which is good.Dylan: Pretty much everything we play can be categorized as “rock,” in some way. But it varies.Ben: We can dip into the hardcore, and we can go towards the more chill.David: I’d say the original tunes have a sort of Radiohead vibe. Though we don’t really sound like Radiohead.Good.Ben: Don’t say good! Who do you think you are? (Laughter)What can we look out for this Friday? Covers? Originals?David: We’ll be playing mostly covers, but we’re playing three original tunes. One’s sort of a riff-rock tune we all wrote. One’s a tune that Shrock wrote, and one’s something that I wrote.So where and when should we come see you?David: Swayland Lounge, 9:30.Dylan: Friday, March 1.Any messages for future fans?Dylan: We will have a name! That’s definite. Sometime. In the future. But I think if you polled the people on the Facebook event, there would be a lack of consensus.Andrew: What are we right now?David: We’re King Scuba right now.Andrew: I like King Scuba.Whose inspiration was “King Scuba?”Ben: That was a pure brainchild of David Paine.David: Absolutely random. Just kind of popped in my head.Ben: Like a gift. King Scuba is comprised of Ben Shrock '22 (vocals), David Paine '22 (lead guitar), Dylan Moore '22 (bass), Eyal Levin '22 (drums), Ben Smith '22 (keyboard), and Andrew Ayers '22 (rhythm guitar). They play this Friday, March 1st at 9:30 p.m. in the South Wayland Lounge. Interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.Image via Ben Shrock '22.