TORIN O’BRIEN
Special to The Leader
The Scroop, made up of three budding young musicians (Brian McMahon on drums, Ryan Schindler on guitar, and Paul Sottnik on keyboard and vocals), put on a stellar show at Ellicott Brewing Company last Saturday night. Like its name, one thing carried weight for show-goers — originality.
Photo by Torin O’Brien/Special to The Leader
They were able to capture the audience with their energy and musicality, playing everything from Modest
Mouse to Lynyrd Skynyrd, and while they’ve only been playing together for about a month, anyone who was at the
live show wouldn’t have known any different.
Bryan Williams, who books shows at EBC, filled in vocally for a third of the set. When asked if he would
ever become a permanent frontman for The Scroop, Williams laughed. “Right now The Scroop’s The Scroop. I’m sure you’ll see more of me filling in, but at this point, it’s The
Scroop featuring Bryan Williams.”
Photo by Torin O’Brien/Special to The Leader
While most of the two hour set was made up of covers, the band’s original works deserved and got some attention. The jazzy, upbeat songs brought to mind a modern day Cat Stevens, with rock and indie undertones. The energy and technicality of the music made for an easy listen. Technical, in this sense, is by no means a bad term. As Williams put it, “these guys are very theory based.”
And it showed in the ripping guitar and piano solos provided by Schindler and Sottnik throughout the night. When asked who writes the original songs, Schindler replied, “Paul does. Paul’s a fantastic keyboard player. He’s an absolute visionary fuckin’ artist. He writes songs in weird ass time signatures that we’d have no idea how to play otherwise.”
McMahon then chimed in saying, “He really brings a whole bunch to the table when it comes to the actual artistic writing process. We just try to fill in the spaces and create the textures off of his writing.” Surprisingly, Schindler said he’s only been playing guitar for “about four years.” One might assume the lanky, shaggyhaired ripper, who plays in his socks onstage, had been taking lessons from childhood. Schindler’s riffs spanning the fretboard from top to bottom makes it seem like he’s been playing for more than four years. The Scroop’s mastermind and frontman Sottnik said “although I’m the primary writer when it comes to our original works, they’re all complete collaborations between the three of us.” Sottnik’s writing style, he says, is largely based on a classical upbringing consisting of brass and orchestral backgrounds. “Well I started off playing by ear, and then as I realized I was gaining some skill I began to make piano a
priority,” said Sottnik. “I always appreciated popular music, despite my upbringing. If people like it, there must be some merit in it.”
“Promote local music. Support it,” said Williams. “There are bands who need to be heard, who have talent,
and EBC is the place to hear it.”