Does this Danish band, Earn Your Scars, play Russian roulette with certain compromises? Are they conservative in their musical philosophy? Do they have a political vein? You will undoubtedly find answers to all these questions in this interview with a band whose friendship spans many years within the group.
1. Although Denmark has a wide range of musical genres with several major festivals, what about the hardcore scene you are part of? Is it also an active concern in your region?
The hardcore scene is active and are spread across the country, but unfortunately the scene is not as big as it was 10–15 years ago. Although the genre has developed into several subgenres in hardcore, there are some good bands out there – like Lifesick and Rot Away. Also, there’s new promising bands popping up, like Hard Lessons from Aalborg.
2. To shed some light on your beginnings, in your biography you mention starting in 2008 but claim 20 years of experience. What is your musical background before forming Earn Your Scars?
The four of us went to the same school back in 2000, and all had music as the major subject. We met, and almost from day one started a band. We had fun with some various genres like black metal, punk and later on more metalcore-influenced until we grew up and realized that hardcore was the deal for us. We all listened to it and went to the shows, so that was more or less a natural way for us to go.
3. What is the best thing that has happened to Earn Your Scars since your beginnings in 2008?
That is a tough question and hard to come up with specific things. But the best things looking back has to be all the different places, venues, crazy and amazing bands/people/friends we’ve met throughout the most of Europe. Just amazing experiences – both on stage and not on stage – all with good friends.
Another good thing we always remind ourselves, and also the reason we’re still a band with the same line-up, is that we love the whole process of being a band and are aware that we always want to have fun while we do it. That has brought us some good memories.
One specific thing we always think back to is playing at Café Bluff in Heerlen (NL). Such a cool place, cool people and always a party worth driving for!
4. You draw your sound style from old-school hardcore roots. What were your influences that led you to develop your music?
The four of us all listens to many genres. Not only hardcore and metal. There are of course all the bands we’ve listened to and still does, like Agnostic Front, Sick of it all, Cro-Mags etc. But I guess we’re in someway also influenced by elements of thrash, metal, new school hardcore and rap-music, because we all have a certain love for that.
But when we write music, it's important for us to always remind ourselves that we wanna “play by the rules” of hardcore with punk-elements and that 90s sound that we fell in love with back in the days.
5. Although it was released three years ago, do you consider your most recent record "This Time Is Mine" to be your most refined work?
All of our releases are defined by the situation and the influences that were relevant for the period of writing it. DFL was a cornerstone for us, and defined a more clear road for us, on how we wanted to write music, but at the same time we wanted to turn the songs in a more punkish direction in the following releases – it’s not something we decided – it just happened.
With that said, I think This Time is Mine is the most “worked through” release we did. Except for the album to come. The production and the time that was laid in finding the right sound and the time we spend polishing the tracks, was a new step for us – so in that way "This Time is Mine" has to be our most refined work so far.
6. In the first new track from the upcoming album, "Still Pissed (Part II)" seems to express anger and frustration with a message calling for resistance against injustices. Is that what you intended to convey?
"Still Pissed (part 2)" is about two things. It’s about us telling the world that we still do it like in the beginning. We’re still doing it oldschool, with the roots of punk. We don’t want to go with the flow and what's ”in” right now, but keep doing what we’ve always had done. At the same time it’s about how proud we are of sticking together, as friends and a band, for so many years. We have been close friends and played together for 24 years.
7. "Roll The Dice" seems to lean towards the boldness of choices and determination in the face of challenges. What was the moment that inspired this new track?
There are a lot of moments that have inspired this song. But to explain it better, the message is that you have to pull the weight for things to get better. Nothing is just handed down, you have to work for it to be permanent. And the journey is more important than the goal itself. And big rewards come with big risk. Sometimes when you make a change, this change affects others, and someone has to compromise. In “Roll The Dice” I chose to tell this through a story through a game of Russian Roulette. The first round there is no winner and then everything starts over. Second round, there is a loser.
8. Are you in the writing process or are you already in recording sessions since new tracks are already being released?
No, not at this time. We want to release this forthcoming album before we intend to write new songs. Unless it just happens while in rehearsal. Some of our hardest and best songs were never planned and kinda just happened out of nowhere. You never now….
9. What themes will you elaborate on in these upcoming recordings? Will you explore uncomfortable areas, or is experimentation not part of your plans musically and lyrically?
I think we have to be one of the most conservative hardcore bands in Denmark…we do not experiment a lot, we want to stay true to the genre, and give hardcore-kids what hardcore-kids want.
As for the themes and the lyrics the answer must be the same – we’ve always had lyrics about life – good and bad, struggles, personal issues, things we like, things we despise, friendships, hardships and so on. Never politics though.
10. Do you have a title for this next record to which two singles have been released?
It’s self-titled: “Earn Your Scars”. No need for a title this time.
11. Do you have any show dates for the upcoming fall and winter?
As for now, we only have two announced shows… This Friday at Support our Scene fest.
27th Sep. : release party for our album.
But stay tuned for more…
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In conclusion, we observe that the interview fully reveals that Earn Your Scars is a band deeply attached to its hardcore roots, preferring to stay true to their genre rather than experiment. In fact, they are right—why change a recipe that works so well for them? True to the typical Hardcore attitude, they highlight universal and personal themes in their lyrics, avoiding political topics. Their creative process is often very spontaneous, with some of their best songs emerging unexpectedly but hitting the mark perfectly. Their upcoming self-titled album, Earn Your Scars, reflects this authenticity and direct approach to music. This is what we can expect from the future record and nothing less. When is the release? We can't wait!
