Header image credit: Sandlin Gaither
Not many people can claim to have run their own music fest at 16, but Andrew Scotchie has that on his resume. Fifteen years into touring, he and his band, The River Rats, have been voted WNC’s Best Rock Band by Mountain Xpress readers every year since 2015. He’s played a solo run through Italy and picked up a second gig as a touring guitarist for Susto, all while working the box office at the Orange Peel.
None of that shows up in a monthly listener count, and he knows it. When agents bring up his streaming numbers, he asks if they’d rather see the miles on the van.
That tension sits at the center of Everyday Victories, due in February 2027 and shaped by both the pandemic and Hurricane Helene. Scotchie calls it the best body of work he’s made, a record that jumps from ’90s pop-punk-ska to a protest song to Southern rock without apologizing for any of it. He’s rolling it out one single at a time, each paired with a live acoustic session from Echo Mountain, a bet that a story told over a year outlasts a one-week spike.
Is there anything you’ve been listening to lately that’s been an earworm?
Andrew (vocals/guitar): Boy Golden‘s Best of Our Possible Lives has been a favorite album. Danny Golden‘s song “The Messenger” has been on repeat. I’m a big Lola Young fan. And I’ll give you one more: the new Kevin Morby record [Little Wide Open]. I got the vinyl for my fiancée’s birthday, and we’ve been playing the hell out of it. Those are a few that come to mind, in addition to the classic rock, funk, and pop I grew up on.
You recently put together a summer playlist for Mountain Xpress. How’d that go?
Andrew: Yeah, the editor was expecting something upbeat, sunshine-and-rainbows, and I hit him with something more reflective and bittersweet. We ended up having a good conversation about songs tied to different seasons of your life. It’s got a lot of North Carolina artists on it; Tall Tall Trees is on there.
Who was the first artist or band you remember obsessing over?
Andrew: It’s almost a dead tie between Angus Young and Mick Jagger. If I had to pick a true first, it would probably be AC/DC. When you’re ten years old, and you see this tiny guy with that much energy and stage presence the size of the Empire State Building, that’s inspiring.
That was my dad’s influence; he was a big classic rock guy. Later it shifted toward ’90s stuff. I really studied Kurt Cobain’s writing and identified with that as much as I could. But if I had to name a true first, it’s watching AC/DC videos and thinking, that looks fun, I want to run across the stage and jump into the crowd. It looked cathartic. It looked like the right job for me.
You’ve been at this a long time now.
Andrew: About fifteen years since I started getting out and touring. You go through phases like any self-employed person. One stretch you’ve got it together, things are going well, and then the complete flip side hits, and you feel like all the hard work isn’t enough.. It’s a schizophrenic industry. Any musician who’s stuck it out will tell you it’s up and down. At the end of the day, you just have to be thankful for the people behind you, the people listening, and that you’re still getting to do the work. I am so thankful for my fans and people in my corner.
That feels like a direct line to “Everyday Victories” — the idea of finding your own daily measurement of success instead of letting outside metrics decide it for you.
Andrew: Absolutely. I can’t tell you how many agents have hit me with “your monthly listeners on Spotify are this and should be that”,and I’m like, “Do you want to see the miles we’ve put on the van? Do you want to see how many t-shirts we’ve gone through?” Those are the metrics people should be paying attention to — along with the music, obviously — but unfortunately that’s not always what gets looked at first.
I feel good about this next chapter. I think it’s the best body of work I’ve put together, and I’m proud of the people I got to record it with. It’s eclectic: there’s a throwback to ’90s Tony Hawk-era pop-punk-ska, a protest song, and a couple of Southern rockers pulling from the ’70s. It’s probably the best representation of everything that’s influenced my writing.
I try to live by that motto: five or five thousand. Whenever you perform, you play like you’re in an arena, whether it’s five people or five thousand. Sometimes the smaller shows hit harder because people have to be more present. I’ve played street festivals with a thousand-plus people where half of them aren’t really paying attention, versus a small room where someone tells you afterward that a song got them through something hard. That’s the human fabric that holds everything together, and you have to look at those moments more than the metrics stacked against you.
Back in 2012, 2013, social media actually drove people to events. If someone said they were going, they probably did. Now it feels like a lot of that engagement doesn’t convert. People will say they’re interested, but you have no real read on who’s actually showing up. I think platforms are more focused on keeping you scrolling than getting you out to see people.
Image credit: Sandlin Gaither
What keeps you optimistic about the local scene despite that shift?
Andrew: I think one of the best things a music listener can do right now is just go see a band at a dive bar, a couple-hundred-cap room, whatever. People aren’t buying tickets like they used to, but there are lower-stakes ways in before you commit to a $25 or $30 ticket. Like go support a weeknight jam, that kind of thing. It’s a balance of keeping people engaged with the material and the message on social media while still driving them to shows. Asheville has some of the best original artists in the world, and I am so proud to be part of the scene.
I fell in love with the live experience before I knew anything about music, before I could play a chord or knew what a scale was. It was the communal, almost religious experience. Everyone was there for the same reason and could become friends with total strangers. That’s always been the driving factor for me.
I’ve also worked at the Orange Peel for 12 years, doing box office, phones, emails, and taking out the trash a couple of days a week. Nothing in management, but long enough to feel like part of the family. We just opened Hellbender, our new outdoor space, and had Mavis Staples, Rhiannon Giddens, Hurray for the Riff Raff, and Mary Chapin Carpenter come through on August 1st. There’s so much sad, tragic stuff happening in the world right now, and music helps people cope. Going to a show is one of the best forms of resistance against whoever’s out there trying to make the world feel hopeless.
You mentioned each single from the new album is getting a studio version and a live acoustic version from Echo Mountain. What’s behind that?
Andrew: We recently put out the acoustic version of “In Your Light” from Echo Mountain, and I’ll keep doing that for each single. I primarily write on acoustic guitar and then bring it to the band to build out electric arrangements. If a song can hold up on one instrument, played by yourself, and still have a real impact, that’s usually a sign of good structure, a good song, a good message.
I like its simplicity, but I also want to showcase both sides. I lean toward the electric, live rock and roll show, since that’s where I connect with people most, but I also love listening rooms and songwriter-in-the-round settings where you’re really telling the story and pushing your voice into places it hasn’t gone, because there’s nothing else going on behind you.
We’ve been going hard on videos too. We shot the “In Your Light” video in Marshall, North Carolina, on the French Broad River with a bunch of friends and fireworks. It’s one of the best small towns in the state, if you haven’t been. The newest video for “Just Dream” was done by the very talented Callum Scott-Dyson in Seoul, Korea. Very excited that we got to work with him. He took my storyboard and knocked it out of the park. It captures the anxiety of living in America while also being fun to watch.
How does the rollout for this album compare to how you approached your last one?
Andrew: There’s stuff I want to do with this record that I didn’t get to with Love Is Enough in 2023. That one came out within a year of recording it, so pretty fast. This time I’m teasing it out, planning more, trying to tell the story and build the audience before it drops. There’s merit to both approaches — dropping it all at once versus the slow burn — but I think I like the slow burn a little more right now. I am really proud of the singles and can’t wait for the full album to drop.
How does that slow-burn thinking play out with streaming numbers specifically?
Andrew: Especially with the way charts work, I’ve seen bands where a record drops, their numbers spike because people are excited, and then it drops off because people move on to the next thing. It’s not a consistent number of listeners. With the slow burn, you tell the story on your own terms and stretch the lifespan a bit. Once the full album’s out, it’s in the world, and it’s going to do whatever it’s going to do.
I’m a big believer that not every experiment works, but if it works for you, and you set aside the logistics of being an artist versus the actual work of being one, who’s to say it’s a failure? People are coming in, getting used to the songs, engaging with the music. I’d call that a success. Sometimes it just takes a while. There are songs from 2016, 2017 that are only now becoming staples of the set, where people are really dialed in and recognizing them.
You’ve also been touring as a guitarist outside your own project. Is that new, or something you’ve done consistently?
Andrew: I’m a part-time touring member of Susto; there’s the rock band and the string band, which is Justin Osborne and a group called Holler Choir. Last year around this time, we were in Montana, Colorado, and Wyoming, playing venues I still get goosebumps thinking about because I’ve listened to that band since 2013 or 2014.
I remember piling into my minivan to go play shows in Charleston and people constantly talking about Susto, because that’s where Justin’s from and where his roots are. I fell in love with their first album and stayed on their catalog for years, then eventually started catching him live, solo and with the band. I identified with his writing a lot; it turns out we both lost a parent young. We met properly around the summer of 2022 at his birthday party and just hit it off talking about music, family, and relationships. He’s one of the most down-to-earth, hardworking people I know.
It started with me telling him, “If you ever need an opener, let me know!” We got invited to open for the band twice in 2023, including a show at the Palm Room in Wrightsville Beach, this tiny dive that was an absolute rowdy, packed-out blast. We stayed in touch, and whenever they came through Asheville, he’d invite me to sit in on guitar, usually trading solos on “Jah Werx” at the end of the set.
Then, last April, while I was in Italy, he messaged me about a benefit concert at the Orange Peel that needed a guitar player. I said I was already planning on going and that I was in. Another fill-in show in Atlanta followed, and then in May he asked what I had going on in August. I told him I needed some work, and I ended up on a three-week tour with them across the country.
I got to play incredible venues with that whole crew — Judy, Ben, Marty, Kevin — all great players and people. It’s been cool watching how many songs from their 2016 catalog are still front and center in the set, alongside how much new material Justin’s constantly writing. He’s a prolific writer. Being out with them has influenced my own playing and writing, making me a better guitar player.
Any other side projects worth mentioning?
Andrew: Locally and regionally, I’ve played a good number of shows with Empire Strikes Brass, a brass-driven rock and funk band. I also recently did a podcast in which I played a fictional rock star named Sean Underwood, an egomaniac from a band called Highgate Wood. That was a first — all vocals, no guitar, a stretch from what I’m used to, but a fun new thing.
One of my favorite shows this year with Susto was the Bonnaroo kickoff party in June. That was my first time there. The festival I ran from 2009 to 2018 was called Barnaroo, so going from Barnaroo to Bonnaroo with a band I love and respect that much felt like a full-circle moment. It was heaven and also the hottest I’ve ever been at a show. There was no shade unless you were under a tent, and we saw people on IVs. Unforgettable evening regardless. Basically, I’m on call with Susto whenever one of their main guys can’t make a date.
Any final shoutouts to local or North Carolina artists?
Andrew: Hustle Souls, McKinney, who is on bass and vocals on the upcoming record. Dr. Bacon is always a fun rock and roll show. Tall Tall Trees, psychedelic banjo explosion. Tyler Ramsey‘s recent album “Celestun” with Carl Broemel is phenomenal. Safety Coffin is a power duo I really like and have done a few shows with.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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