Interview: Milwaukee punk outfit Sex Scenes releases first full-length album 'h'

If there is one word that can most accurately describe a Sex Scenes live show, it is “relentless.”

At a performance that was part of the third annual GLOSS Weekend — an annual music festival hosted by GLOSS Records — the hardcore-punk-noise band set the bar high as the opener for the night. Vocalist Zach Otto, standing on the floor of Club Timbuktu — rather than on the stage with the rest of the band— begins the first song in a stationary position with a cocktail in hand. As the band’s set rapidly ascends into a chaotic din, Otto is no longer holding his drink, and he’s pacing back and forth like a caged lion, making eye contact with the onlookers in the front row as he screams his way through the rapid-fire set.  

But Otto isn’t trapped. At least he isn’t anymore. Many of the songs on the band’s debut full length — simply titled h — were written by Otto during a time in his life when he was struggling to kick a drug addiction. He has since overcome it.

On their 2016 demo titled Braindead, Otto screams, “I would cut my skin/just to let you in.” It’s a line that could be interpreted as simultaneously a warning of self-harm and a cry for help — and it’s clear that the music that Sex Scenes makes is therapeutic for not just Otto but the band as a whole as they put their entire bodies into their live show. Their songs clock in at typically under two minutes — with little room to catch your breath in between. Before you even realize what hit you, the set has ended and Sex Scenes are packing up their gear.

With a demo and an EP under their belt, as well as a track on the Milwaukee protest compilation Unpresidented – an assortment of tracks by Milwaukee artists protesting Donald Trump’s presidency —Sex Scenes are finally ready to release their first full length album. To celebrate the release, they're performing at Cactus Club on May 26 alongside Michigan punks The Spits and local acts Gallery Night and Brain-Bats.

Wisconsin Gazette met up with Otto, Chelsea Hays (drums), Harrison Colby (guitar) and Connor La Mue (bass) at Sex Scenes’ practice space in Riverwest to talk about the new album. While the lyrical content and their sound is heavy, the members themselves are light-hearted and goofy, eager to crack jokes in between answering questions. This is, after all, the band that awarded themselves the WAMI for “Trashiest Band” (a category that unfortunately doesn’t that exist).

Wisconsin Gazette: There isn’t a whole lot about your band online that I could find. Could you give me a brief history of how the band came together?

Otto: It started because Harry went to a show for a band that our mutual friend plays bass in and that’s how we met. He came to watch his friend, and that band broke up and we were at a party — and we were pretty drunk — and we're like, “Let’s f---ing start a band.” Immediately, Harry was like, “I want Chelsea Hays in the band,” which is crazy because we went to high school together in Oshkosh. Her and I moved here but we didn’t really talk. We started this band and now we hang out all of the time.

Colby: And (Otto) and I were talking about it at High Dive when Connor was bartending and then he joined.

Tell me about your upcoming tour?

Otto: We’re going on tour in June, it’s like a little East Coast thing.

And that’s in support of the new record?

Otto: Yeah.

Speaking of the new record, its titled h. Is there any meaning behind that?

Otto: It’s a meme.

Hays: Now we just call the bar we hang out at — High Dive — “h.” So, sometimes it means High Dive.

Honestly the only thing I could think of was the slang term for heroine.

(Everyone laughs)

Hays: I Know! It’s unfortunate!

Colby: Oh no! Well, we have 300 (copies of the album) now…

Otto: The cover art we used for the album is like the sign language for “h,” and like, if we’re passing each other we’ll just (does the sign language for “h”) at each other.

Hays: It’s a double entendre.

So, It’s an inside joke then?

Hays: We just couldn’t think of a name honestly. That’s how most of our names for things come up, just like “Oh, that’ll be funny, might as well just roll with it!” (Laughs).

How are you releasing the album?

Otto: We’ve got LPs. We couldn’t find anybody to put it out. We recorded it last summer and then sat on it for forever. Our friend was like “I’ll give you guys the money, if you pay me back.” So, we just independently released it.

Hays: We recorded it at Howl Street Recordings.

Is there an overarching theme for the new record?

Otto: A lot of these songs I wrote when I was a drug addict, and when I was coming out of that. So, a lot of it is like, self-deprecating, like, “You’ve got to clean yourself up.” I write the lyrics, and Chelsea has a couple of songs too.

La Mue: What’s your song about, Chelsea? (Laughs)

Hays: I turned a text conversation into a song. It was pretty dramatic, so it worked perfectly.

Are these all new tracks on the record?

Otto: More than half of the record is stuff that we wrote for our first demo that we ended up scrapping.

La Mue: But they haven’t been released, so it’s all new to the audience.

Otto: Its stuff we’ve been playing for two years.

You released a song on the UNPRESIDENTED: DIY VS Donald Trump collaboration. Are you an openly political band?

Otto: I think we all sort of feel the same about politics, but we don’t talk about it really.

Colby: As a band, we don’t push it.

Hays: We don’t push it, but when it comes to Donald Trump —

La Mue: Yeah, f--- that guy!

Hays: — it was really easy to say how we felt about him.

Otto: And that whole thing was a really good experience. We ended up recording again at the studio where it was recorded, so we got to meet those guys.

What was it like to be a part of this collective statement about Donald Trump coming out of Milwaukee?

Otto: It was great — it was super cool. It was a pleasure and an honor to be asked.

Colby: And it was just so fast. We did it in like, two hours.

Otto: I wrote that song driving to the studio.

Hays: That’s how easy it was.

La Mue: That’s how we operate.

Otto: (Laughs) Yeah, it’s usually pretty last minute.

Today's political climate creates so many easy opportunities to write because there’s so much to be angry about, but at the same time, it’s like, “I don’t want to have to be writing this.”

Otto: Yeah, and well like, I don’t really want to have to write about that either. I have my own problems that I’m writing about, you know what I mean, so like, f--- the world, I have my own s--- going on that I’m sad about it.

So, if there really was a WAMI for “Trashiest Band,” why do you think you would win over the other candidates?

La Mue: Because we would beat them up!

Otto: Well, they gave “Punk Band of the Year” to the f----ing Pukes. So, f--- the WAMIs, dude.

La Mue: F--- the WAMIs. F--- all of them.

Otto: F--- The Pukes. Ever since all of that, I’ve just been like, “F--- all of that shit.”

Colby: “White Arrogant Male Initiative,” I’ve heard someone call it.

La Mue: (Laughs) I’ve never heard that one before! I like that! Oh my god…

Otto: That’s probably the reason we might win “Trashiest Band,” because f--- the WAMIs.

(Lead vocalist of Milwaukee-punk band The Pukes was sentenced to 18 months of probation for a domestic abuse case in January of 2018).

Sex Scenes celebrate the release of their new album h on May 26 at Cactus Club. The show starts at 10 p.m. and admission is $12 in advance or $14 at the door. Visit cactusclubmilwaukee.com to purchase tickets.