Scott McCaughey: Still a 'Young Fresh Fellow'

Before his performance with The Minus 5 Saturday night, Dive caught up with Scott McCaughey, frontman of venerable indie rock band The Young Fresh Fellows and a music veteran who’s survived a changing industry and the challenges that come with navigating between two successful bands. Read on for McCaughey’s take on songwriting, baseball, and the perks of portable wi-fi.

Dive: How would you characterize The Minus 5’s style?

SM: Well, it started out to be sort of a psychedelic folk group, but we’ve kind of branched out to all kinds of genres since then. When we play live, it’s pretty rock and roll. The latest album is sort of Country-ish or Americana-ish. There’s a lot of pedal steel on it, a lot of female vocals. We’ve kind of been all of those things. If you want to be really general it’s rock and roll I would say.

Dive: What changes have you noticed in the music industry during your years as a musician?

SM: Records don’t sell as well now, that’s one thing. Since I’m in a van right now, the first thing I think of is how touring has changed. When I first started touring with the Young Fresh Fellows, we didn’t have cell phones or anything like that. I mean right now we have wi-fi in the van, so it’s so much easier to stay in touch with the venues and the radio stations than it was back then. There are more ways to get your music out there, for people to hear your music and be exposed to it. You can sort of do it yourself, whereas you were sort of more reliant on record labels in the past.

Dive: How did R.E.M.’s Peter Buck become a part of the group?

SM: Well, we knew each other over the years, in the eighties from my band touring and playing in Athens. He’d come out and I’d give him records and I’d go see R.E.M. play. We liked a lot of the same kind of music and traveled in a lot of the same circles, and then he moved to Seattle and we started playing music together a lot. The Young Fresh Fellows were winding down a little bit, so I was looking for another outlet for my songs, and Peter and I just sort of started recording what we then termed “psychedelic folk music.” Almost anybody in the world can be in The Minus 5, but Peter and I are the constants. And we’ve got the whole thing with The Baseball Project that we’re doing as well.

Dive: So what exactly is The Baseball Project?

SM: Steve Wood and I both had thought about writing songs about baseball for a while, and when we discovered we had the same passion we decided to do the album together. We’re sort of celebrating the game, not just in the way that “Hey it’s a great game,” it’s kind of more about the darker sides of the stories of the people who’ve played and the humorous aspects. It just came together really well and now it’s kind of taking on a life of its own, and we’re recording stuff for the second record.

Dive: You’ve collaborated with a lot of different musicians; how do those collaborations shape your own music and songwriting?

SM: I usually kind of say, “Anything goes,” but in general I just kind of let them do what they want to do and I’m pleasantly surprised. It takes the music in direction I hadn’t thought of when I wrote the song. I try to learn something from everybody I play with.

Dive: How did The Minus 5’s transitions between labels affect your music?

SM: I’m always of the opinion that you make the music and then you put it out some way or another, and if you have to put it out yourself, then you do that, and if some label likes your style of music and wants to put it out, then they do. I don’t worry about the label thing that much, I just record the music and set out and see what’s going to happen to it.

Dive: What difficulties do you find in navigating between two bands?

SM: I’m usually juggling a lot more than that. With The Fellows and The Minus 5, it’s more like a songwriting thing, like which songs go to which bands. Otherwise it’s just budgeting my time. It’s difficult, but I’m not complaining. I like it.

Dive: Where do you find inspiration for your music?

Dive: You know, everywhere. I mean I’ve probably written songs about things that seem like nothing. There’s a song on the next baseball project that I wrote about a glove, a fielder’s mitt that I have. I can pretty much take anything and turn it into a song. I’m not saying it’ll be a good one, just stuff that tickles me sort of, more than anything. I’m not usually trying to write a protest anthem or whatever, if I write one of those they aren’t usually as good as the ones about something bizarre.

Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.