Genre(s): Indie rock, emo, synth rock
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
Links: Apple Music | Spotify | Instagram
I’ve become a sucker for community building as I’ve gotten older. That’s why I always ask “Who are your favorite local acts?” in my interviews; it helps extend the network to more awesome folks I want to connect with and support. SCOBY has been one of the bands that has gotten multiple mentions, piquing my interest in checking out their music and doing some pre-interview research.
The timing couldn’t be better because the band released their debut record, The Perfect Pleasure, in March 2025. Since then, several songs have wormed their way into my ears, demanding me to return for another listen. Their brand of synthy emo scratches an itch for me. As I mentioned in my mini-review earlier this month, “the band meanders between high-tempo bangers, like “Hand Me Down” and “Maddie Mary Mulva!”, and borderline lo-fi jams, like “Sorrow” and “Fred Armisen”, making for a fun and diverse listen from start to finish.”
I finally got to sit down for a video chat with most of SCOBY a few weeks back. It was clear from the jump that they’re more than a passionate group of musicians; they have the ambition and drive to help grow the Winston-Salem music community.
What do you do in the band? And is there anything in particular you’ve been listening to lately?
Daniel (he/him): I’m the former guitarist and founding member, but since graduating and moving away, I wasn’t really around for like the past year. And I’ve been listening to saturn is changing, JPEGMAFIA, SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE, Model/Actriz.
Douglas (he/him): I play drums and host practices at my house.
Dianna (she/they): I play guitar, sing, and write songs. I’ve been listening to Peel Dream Magazine, who is insane. Also This is Lorelei and the new Viagra Boys album [Viagr Aboys]
Cooper (he/him): I also play guitar and have been in the band for almost two years now.
Jane (she/her): I play keys and I sing. And I songwrite a little bit.
Y’all had a great interview with CanvasRebel Magazine in late 2023. Catch me up on the last year and a half for SCOBY.
Cooper: We’ve got out of town a lot more and played a bunch of shows. We’re from Winston-Salem but have started playing out in Chapel Hill, Charlotte, and Boone a lot, to name a few. Most of the songs on the album we’ve been working on for even since before I joined. But while it’s been a while in the making, I feel like our songwriting and recording has evolved a bit.
Jane: Our style and our presence has definitely changed. I feel like we used to be a lot more reserved but doing a bunch of live gigs and having that be our main focus has helped. Before our focus was just playing the music and learning the songs, which sounds stupid but is part of becoming a band. Now it’s a lot more about stage presence: how we present ourselves and perform our music, not just playing it, if that makes sense.
Dianna: We’ve played with so many emo bands, which is part of why we’re talking about stage presence. I don’t want to say we’re forced to evolve. But when you’re on a bill and you are the only indie rock/pre-emo band, and all of the other bands are jumping around or doing high kicks, then maybe we should move around a little bit. It’s the balance between being over the top and being static.
It sounds like you’ve leveled up a bit!
Jane: I think so!
What was the process of bringing Cooper into the band as you were finishing up songs for the new album?
Jane: Our first EP [That Will Be The End] was all sorts of stems that we recorded here in Douglas’s basement. In that sense, it really hasn’t changed. Still very stem based, recording different things in disparate places.
When Cooper joined, he added a lot to our writing process. We didn’t have “Maddie Mary Mulva!”, for example. He was just adding solos and changing the feel of these songs for the better.
Cooper: I sort of got mad at the GarageBand files being disorganized. [laughs]
Jane: That’s true! He ended up organizing those files into Reaper instead.
Daniel: It’s not the first time we’ve had a different member, though.
Jane: That’s true. We’ve been through a few iterations. Our current bassist Holden joined after having had two others, Joey and Nehemya.
Daniel: It’s all amicable, though. Nehemya had too much homework, so he had to take a step back. We asked Joey to fill in and he learned all the songs in like two days. Both of them recorded bass for the album. Sometimes by me going to their dorm or some random place to record it with them. That’s why the files were so disorganized.
Image credit: pepsi.on.the.house
I love hearing how different members have different roles, like Cooper has a project manager-style producer. I feel like taking on labor that helps the band without being asked is a sign that you’re growing together.
Dianna: In the last year or so, we’ve become more democratized in terms of all the work that we do in the band. I was at the helm of all the silly stuff that you have to do as a band in the modern day, like social media, making posts, and reaching out to venues. I had to do a stint in New York over the summer and everybody got very accustomed to it being a group effort. Jane has always done a lot of the graphic and visual vision of SCOBY, but that has definitely leveled up. Cooper’s been helping out with a lot of the booking too.
It’s been awesome to see the vision and the brand come to life as we released this album. Everybody’s bought in. It’s a dream to be working in this group because there’s no fighting it out with each other.
What was your vision for this debut record? Were there any major themes in the songs y’all wrote?
Jane: A lot of the songs we’ve written are about masculinity, shitty guys, and the effects that shitty guys have on people. That’s something that we all think about to some extent.
Dianna: You see that in us wearing suits and ties to the record release show. Or the “Dull Boy” music video, which also pays homage to film noir. Our friend who directed the video had this idea inspired by The Lost Weekend, an old film about this alcoholic writer who loses himself.
Jane: A big part of it is imagining how men interact with each other, how they think about their own masculinity, and how that relates to how good their life is. Songs like “Sorrow”, “You Scare Me Like a Movie”, and “Chat Back” are all about exploring these sorts of relationships we have with it. “PT Cruiser”, “Hand Me Down” and “Dull Boy” are about men embracing masculinity and how that turns out poorly for them. The last three songs are more about women and the effects that men have on them.
Dianna: I wrote “Silent Disco” and another saturn is changing song about the same thing. I was fed up at the fact that so many rock men are lauded as heroes of the genre and then are shitty people behind the scenes. Dave Grohl is an example. But I wrote this after Julian Casablancas and his wife of years broke up. He started having a midlife crisis, hitting up young girls in his DMs and being weird and creepy.
Jane: “Maddie Mary Mulva!” is about wanting to avoid masculinity, but then also not seeing yourself as a victim. “So Long” is about women trying to almost emulate masculinity and recognizing that you’re going to have to deal with conceited people who want power for your entire life.
The last song is “Fred Armisen”, which is about reading the Wikipedia page for Fred Armisen, and trying to figure out if he’s a good guy or a bad guy. And then realizing I don’t know him and I don’t think Wikipedia really knows him. We’re throwing judgment on people and not realizing our role in these systems. We should critique ourselves as well.
Image credit: nsscapture
I love that. What has the response of the album been like for y’all?
Jane: It’s been awesome. The other day, we went to the store at someone asked if I was in SCOBY. Like, what the hell? It’s weird to make something that people can like, consume, and be fans of in just a way that isn’t just “Oh, let me listen to my friend’s little song.” They actually enjoy it.
Cooper: I feel like the support was clear just from the turnout we had for the record release show. I thought people were gonna break the floor.
Jane: The best part was that it wasn’t just friends of ours, but mostly people who showed up to have a good time.
Dianna: We’re still getting used to the whole “moving off campus” thing, even though it’s been like almost two years of booking out. But it’s still strange and humbling to see so many people that you don’t know, that aren’t just there because they’re your friends. It’s a testament to good work that other people who have no stake in your personal lives are interested and excited to see the work that you’ve done. It’s very cool.
Jane: Also if other musicians like your album, that’s such high praise.
Daniel: The most meaningful thing for me came from our producer and mixer, Grant Livesay. He was at the release show and said, “When you guys sent me those songs, I was grinning from ear to ear!”
Jane: It was so nice! I loved hearing that. He also said what impressed him the most was that there was a girl in the corner who knew the words to every song. And it was our friend Jackie.
Douglas: I like the YouTube comments on the music video. They’re so funny. One guy was like, “I just wandered in here and my Nike shoes are blown off.”
Do you have any specific goals for the rest of the year now that the album is out?
Cooper: We want to play some shows farther out than we’ve played before. Over the summer we’ll have more opportunity to do so.
Dianna: I’m thinking about tour booking right now. I’ve never been on tour, so it would be smaller to start. I want to make more music videos. More content always. The content wheel never stops.
Jane: The other thing that we’re doing right now is we’re trying to work on new music and get it out fast. Because this past album was like forever. We thought we were going to have it out a year ago. We’re trying to get cracking because our minds are bursting with opportunity here!
Dianna: We have several songs in our backlog that we’re trying to get live recorded in the studio with Grant. It’s going to be crazy and we’re excited.
Jane: I know I’m gonna have more time next year, because I got a job that’s not like school. Everyone in SCOBY is doing other shit all the time. Sometimes people have to leave, like Daniel and Doug, who’s moving to Virginia for school.
Cooper: They’re all graduating. After this year, I’m gonna be the only one still in school!
Who are your favorite local/North Carolina bands?
Cooper: I like Rosary a lot.
Jane: MJ Lenderman! We love him and have tried to open for him a few times.
Dianna: We love Truth Club.
Jane: Nervous Surface! Matty is awesome and our best friend in the whole wide world.
Dianna: I tend to listen to a lot of post-punk stuff, so Cor de Lux is really good. I also love Between Two Trees. On our song “Chat Back” we collaborated with our friend Malachi who makes music under Detro Ali. He’s maybe the most talented vocalist I’ve ever met or heard maybe in my life.
Can’t forget to mention The Coyotes, they’re my #1 favs. Also Transeúnte Errante and bedrumor. Blankstate. put out an insane EP [LOTUS] last year. Fifth Floor is amazing. Too many to count!
Jane: Don’t forget Moving Boxes, they are so good!
Anything coming up that y’all want to shout out?
Douglas: May 24th at Monstercade and May 27th at Above Board.
Dianna: We have a lot of Winston-Salem shows coming up. We’re also playing at Hoots Beer Co in June. Of all the shows I would recommend that one.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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