Scott Sorry

Being at the right place at the right time… Somethings just have a way of working out...

While I do believe these cliché statements can be true in cases, I also believe there has to be something already in place. There has to be a basis for things to get to the level of “being at the right place” or “working out.” Because, after all. … There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Although Gerard Scott might have been at some of the right places, he came up through the right channels and followed his passion without falter.

Scott, given the stage name “Scott Sorry” by musician Casey Chaos, was born and raised in Pennsylvania; Allentown to be exact. Go ahead … sing the Billy Joel song. Tough not to, I know. The clanking of tools from the coal mines and those hard working grunts was the earliest music in Scott’s ears. The spirit of that blue collar world flowed in his blood stream.

After listening to oldies as a kid, he accidently discovered punk rock on a college radio station. Music then took over his life. He started to play guitar, and a promising career progressed.

While on tour overseas with one of his first bands, Snake River Conspiracy, Scott met Amen frontman, the relentlessly explosive Casey Chaos. The two hit it off. Sometime soon after in Los Angeles they accidently bumped into each other. Chaos explained Amen’s bassist left. Scott who had only played guitar was offered the spot. He learned the tunes (and the bass) and all of a sudden he was then touring the world with Amen; a super dangerous punk band if you’re not familiar.

On one of those tours Scott got to know the rock band, Brides of Destruction featuring Motley Crue bassist, Nikki Sixx. Not long after, Sixx decided to step away from his side band (Brides). It was Scott who was offered the gig by Sixx. Some shoes to fill … on bass, again.

The Brides played some dates with (one of my favorite bands) UK rock legends, The Wildhearts. Think Cheap Trick meets Motorhead meets the Ramones, but super schizo with changes on top of changes. Awesome, unique stuff. After his time with the Brides, Ginger of the Wildhearts asked Scott to replace their longtime, beloved member Danny McCormack … on bass. Gerard toured for years and played some of the biggest festivals on the planet with The Wildhearts.

Scott and his wife moved to New Hampshire in the mid 2000s. After his first child arrived, Scott focused on life as a family. He followed the priorities of trying to be the best father and husband possible. Music took the back shelf as life happens … and that’s OK.

Now loving in Gorham, Scott opened back up to music in the past couple years. The time was right. He felt the energy and possibility of our local music scene encouraging him as well. Earlier this year he released his first “Scott Sorry” record, When We Were Kings. The album quickly became the No. 2 album on rock charts in the UK. The record is a blend of blue collar punk rock with gang vocals and wicked, blazing guitars. It’s Hot Water Music/Gaslight Anthem/Rancid/Springsteen/Chuck Berry in one big, nasty pile. And Scott is NOT on bass!

Check out that nasty pile of punk rock Friday at Empire as Scott Sorry plays with friends Borderlines and The Very Reverend. Until then, here’s a bit more about Scott’s early days, the crazy days and future days.



Did that blue collar surrounding in Allentown help steer you toward punk rock?

It was actually more the alienation of living in a small town and not fitting in. I really didn't like mainstream radio. I used to get beat up by kids in Judas Priest and Kiss T-shirts. Then I heard The Clash and thought Oh! Now I've arrived. I still got beat up haha ... but I had my identity.



You've earned your way into some pretty big spots in some decent size bands. Totally awesome situations or super pressure gigs?

Both. Not everybody … in fact I may be the only person that can say, "I took over for Nikki Sixx in a band." Like, there's a bunch of bikers here that just paid money thinking that Nikki is on bass and instead get some scrawny, punk kid and they're pissed. So you better win them over or they will actually kill you. I usually did and it just helped me figure out how to work a crowd.



What was one of the most memorable shows for you over the years with those bands?

Download festival 2008 with The Wildhearts. We went on the second stage, but played to near 30,000 people. While we were playing the crowd was going nuts, but not throwing anything. Ginger had an idea to instigate them to do this. He said, "What kind of festival is this when nobody throws shit at the stage!" The next thing I knew the entire crowd starting throwing so much stuff at us that it literally blocked out the sun. Shoes, shirts, eggs, bras, a damn toilet seat ... EVERYTHING. They ended up going so mental the security at the festival cut the power on our set because they thought we were going to start a riot. We got Download's "band of the year" for that.



Over the last handful of years you've become close to the local music scene. What's your take in things around here?

I think it's great! Maine has this thing that is very unique in that it really takes care of its own. There are loads of great bands and loads of talent.



This Scott Sorry album is all yours; your music, your direction, your autobiography, really. Free from being in a band making group decisions. How does that feel?

It is absolutely liberating. It's the reason I started doing this in the first place. I've made a career playing mostly in other people's bands, while having my own ideas at the same time. It was a very proud moment when, "When We Were Kings" came out this year and got the reception it did. Telling these stories was really like writing letters to a bunch of people and leaving nothing on the table. It took some guts, and I couldn't be happier with the way things are going now.



Who are some of your biggest influences in music?

I could list off loads of bands and they would range from Sugar and The Bronx to Steve Earle and Bruce Springsteen, but it's all just music. As long as it's real it will strike some chord in me and get the wheels turning. Music is my medicine and my muse.



If you only knew then what you know now. ... Share something.

I wouldn't change a thing. I'm really happy where I am now. I'm glad I had to learn everything the hard way. Makes the lessons stick harder.



To keep in the loop, visit www.scottsorry.com or officialscottsorry on Facebook.


Scott Sorry w/ Borderlines & TBA | Friday, Sept. 16 | Empire, 575 Congress St., Portland | Doors: 9:00pm | 21+ | 207.536.1095



Mark Curdo is the director of lifestyle & entertainment branding for Shipyard Brewing Company and longtime host of the Spinout radio show now on Sunday nights from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on 94.3 WCYY. - The Portland Phoenix

Nothing to be sorry about here

Back in 2007 The Wildhearts released a self titled record that was, even for them, labyrinthine on complexity – even to this day, when they tour each year, you very rarely here those songs live, and not because they aren’t superb (they really, really are). The follow up, a couple of years later, was shorter, more musically diverse perhaps and possibly not quite as good – and yet in typical contrary fashion they played the damn thing all the way through, and became one of the first bands to do the “album” show that everyone now does.

The bass player – and singer and writer of a couple of tracks on these records – was Scott Sorry, a punk rocker from Pennsylvania, best known for his spells in Amen and Brides of Destruction, he helped the band rediscover their punk rock heart and rawness.

Now, after a brief period away from music, Sorry is back with a solo record. First emerging – as most things seem to these days – via Pledge Music, “When We Were Kings” is now ready for a more general release. And the world should be ready for it too, because it’s absolutely magnificent.

Ten songs, just under 40 minutes, “…..Kings” is, to paraphrase a Wildhearts album that Sorry wasn’t on, simply put, riff after riff after riff and hook after hook. Punk rock sheen with a singer-songwriters heart, there is more than a hint of the troubadour about “Broken Hearts And 45s” and the copper bottomed piece of brilliance that is “Give It,” which is possessing of a chorus that intends to stick in your brain long after you are trying to move on.

Most of these songs pack more into four minutes or less than plenty of bands manage on an album. “Till All The Pieces Fit” for example, has echoes of everything from The Replacements to Gaslight Anthem, but still manages to sound as fresh as can be.

It’s tempting to imagine this as an old vinyl record, and if its then the title track is most definitely the start of side two as the tale of lost friendship (“life got in the way”) is told by Sorry’s gloriously raspy vocals.

“Re-wired” and “Carry On” are perhaps the most balls out punk things here, but are juxtaposed beautifully with “Turning Ashes”, the almost balladic thing in between, and if it ends with what we might term the calm after the storm of “Days On End” – which is starkly stripped back and clearly personal and sees Sorry with just his guitar in a similar vein to Billy Bragg – then it ends perfectly.

Only Scott Sorry could answer the question as to whether he knew “When We Were Kings” was this good when he made it, the fact is, though, that it really does deserve to be seen as his crowning glory up to this point – and given his back catalogue that’s quite some statement. - Maximum Volume Music - Andy Thorly

I'm old enough to remember albums being released on a Monday, when the excitement would build for weeks if not months as you'd read about a particular record that was being made then you'd get the bus into town and sometimes even wait for the record store to open and pick up the album before rushing home with nothing else on your mind other than pawing over every last detail from front cover to back and everything in between before dropping the needle into the groove and proceeding to lose yourself in what was to follow - something of a religious experience that is long, long gone, sadly.



However, from time to time there is a particular record being made that through the ether makes a connection and for no explicable reason pricks your conscience and that same old excitement begins to build.



Sure, I don't get the bus to town and the opportunity to paw over that lyric sheet or inner sleeve bag collage of pictures isn't possible via the internet, but the most important fact still remains intact - The Music! So I patiently sit at a computer at 7pm GMT and wait for 'When We Were Kings' to drop and once it's all in I crank up the volume, sit back, relax and let the music do the talking.



The thing is 'When We Were Kings' doesn't just do the talking, it just about kicks my ass from start to finish and leaves me drained both physically and emotionally - this record is an absolute monster. From the intensity of the guitars to the hooks and melodies this is an absolutely bruising encounter and my patched up heart is beating faster as we reach the end: there is only one thing to do and that's get straight back into it and do it all over again!



Scott Sorry - you talented fucker! This is riff after hook after motherfucking melody and Scott's intensity is astounding. He holds you in the palm of his hand and makes your ears dance to his tune and the energy that is captured from the off is brilliant. I feel like jumping round and/or breaking things.



Fantastic lyrics that resonate throughout and a passionate call to arms that is sadly missing from a lot of bands and writers today - Scott Sorry has assembled a record so good it demands to be played! It strides genres with ease whilst being totally owned by Sorry.



You might think I'm gushing a little too much but I kid you not. This is where it's at! If a record is worth shouting from the rooftops about then I'm gonna holler away! Let's call it the benchmark for all things loud and uncomfortable for bitter sweet and for punk rock 'n' roll.



'Broken Hearts And 45's' is as intense as a heart attack (I should know) - it's familiar ground and anyone who was a fan of Sorry and the Sinatras will recognise the structure and sound at least because this is kinda easing you in with something that sounds familiar but with an increased intensity; besides, it's a great album opener by anyone's standard. The excitement builds around the bass run into the guitar solo and then we're done - that's it! No more Mr. Nice Guy as the guitars riff and the bass and bass drum join in it breaks out, but it doesn't just break out out, it breaks the Fuck Out! (You'll know what I mean just make sure the volume is UP!)



'End Of Summer' is brutal from the hypnotic drum beats to the barking, snarling riff, but the BVs add some silk to the steel and the universe is settled. The guy's ear for a bitter sweet melody is stunning as he proves on 'Close Calls'.



The bar has just been raised by an extraordinary height on 'Give It', from the riff to the melody to the hook in the pre chorus this is off the hook (as the cool kids would say), simply stunning songwriting and playing - I'm lost for words and that's before the hand claps join the party going on inside my head right about now.



As we enter the middle of the record 'Til All The Pieces Fit' is just about the best song Scott has ever penned and one of the best songs I've heard in such a long time. I'm emotionally exhausted and we're only half way through it feels like I've had a kicking from a prime time Muhammad Ali such is the intensity of the first half of this outstanding record. Thankfully I have a second wind and, thank God, I needed it because the title track is an uplifting tale wrapped in an anthemic song - from the keyboards layering the background it's the storytelling that's drawing you in and you're hanging off every word and by the time you hit the chorus you'll be fist punching the air hoping that Scott Sorry will be crowned king once again and this record gets the leg up it deserves.



Listen, it's nothing original, but who cares? I'd settle for exceptional over original any day of the week. The high standard is maintained throughout this incredible record and that, my friends, is no easy thing.



If you love rock 'n roll; if you love a melody; if you love to shout and scream then I urge you to dive into this record - No, I demand you give it everything you have. The band here who have given every piece of their mortal souls to this record deserve the rewards that should be waiting for them.



'Wired' is a vicious blast of punk rock 'n' roll and a masterclass in how it's done at the top. There is no relenting as 'Turning Ashes' follows hot on the heels but is more restrained and a definite change of gears but again a melody to die for and Sorry's inner Replacements meets the Pixies meets alt. America twisted tune comes to the fore.



Before you know it 'Carry On' sees the penultimate song played out with the band because the ending is something of a trump card as 'Days On End' is just one voice and one clean electric guitar with Sorry stripped bare and a fitting and emotional end to a stunning album.



I've written this review about four times already and reading it back I thought I'd gone overboard and maybe I should play it down - people won't believe me, I thought, but, fuck it, it is what it is and if Scott Sorry is gonna make a record this good then I have to champion it.



'When We Were Kings' is a stunning piece of work, and everything I wanted from a rock and roll record and more. It's full to the brim with passion, melodies and musicianship of the highest order. If it was possible to award two Uber Rock recommends then this would be the time. Scott Sorry's 'When We Were Kings' is the reason I love rock 'n' roll - it has style and substance and it leaves me feeling inspired - it ebbs and flows perfectly. approved image lrg 2013Potentially album of any year it happens to get released in. Damn that Scott Sorry can write a tune! Crown this man immediately. Just buy this record! - Dom Daley - Uber Rock (U.K.)

Today we launch the new single from Scott Sorry, a prominent musician that has steadily been making a name for himself across the board. After a 5-year hiatus from a 15-year career span, Scott Sorry has just released his first solo album, When We Were Kings, which has been enlightening the ears of music listeners alike.

The new song, “Broken Hearts and 45’s” brings a Punk Rock element to it, with doses of nostalgia laced-Alt Rock. Sorry’s voice is strong and reminiscent of the vocalists of Punk’s past, giving it a much needed revival.

Although being too personal to release under a band name, Scott was still able to assemble an incredible collection of musicians for the album to help pull off the sound he was looking for. Scott enlisted the help of long time friend and “Sorry and The Sinatras” bass player Roger Segal, Drummer L.T.K., and Guitar player Andy Watts to help bring the record to life.The record overall breaks barriers and offers up an array of genres for all as he not only touches on Punk, buy Americana, Rock and Roll and melodic Hardcore as well.

Drawing you in immediately, Scott Sorry will lure you in with harmonic and boisterous tones that will have you coming back time and time again. We’re ready for more Scott Sorry…and we’re off to a good start. - Paste Magazine - Louise Parker (Contributor)