The Enemy Lovers

Words by Joe Koch and Photos Provided

You never know when or where you’re going to discover some new talent. On my recent visit to Asheville, N.C., I attended the Downtown Independent Groove Festival, also known as the DIG Fest.

You pay one price for multiple venues throughout the city. We took in some local acts at a cozy blues joint before we headed over to The Orange Peel for The Enemy Lovers show. So far I was very impressed with the talent that I heard. Asheville is known for its bluegrass scene, but when The Enemy Lovers took the stage, it was full of fueled rock ‘n’ roll. They brought the house down as if they were playing a sold-out arena. I was so impressed with their live show and instantly became hooked on the band’s EP.

Tim and Steven Scrogg, the brains behind the music, agreed to do an interview. Here are my questions and Tim’s answers:

There seems to be a gap between the times you and your brother sat in the back seat of your dad’s car matching melodies when you were kids, to recording an EP in Atlanta. Can you share a little history on the evolution of your songwriting?

Throughout my childhood, my brothers and I would sing in church performances and stuff like that, but my songwriting didn’t start until I was 17. At first they were simple choruses written on an acoustic guitar that I wrote for church. These songs started out terrible, as you’d expect, but I was always really dedicated to writing and eventually got better and better. I would sit in my living room for hours most days of the week and write. So I refined my songwriting. I wrote and rewrote the same songs over and over. There were a few professional musicians that mentored me throughout my process and taught me how to constructively critique my work. Then I began writing music that didn’t necessarily fit in church. I recorded some demos — much of it in more of a singer-songwriter genre. My cousin Kent (our drummer for the band now) and I played together at coffee shops and local bars in our hometown, Asheville. But there was always a disconnect between my recorded songs and the live performance until I starting writing with Steven (brother and lead guitar player).

What were your influences, being that you were home-schooled and weren’t listening to mainstream music that was popular?

I was only home-schooled for 7th and 8th grade and then went back to public school, so it wasn’t as much “being home-schooled” as just growing up in a conservative home where we weren’t allowed to listen to mainstream popular music. Although in the ‘90s I used to sit in my room with a cassette player and record the radio directly to tape! From early childhood, my influences were Christian bands like Jars of Clay, DC Talk and Delirious as well as mainstream Chicago, Tears For Fears and Boyz II Men.

How did that affect your writing? Do you look at being sheltered from the popular music as a positive thing?

Well, I would have to say that it made my writing a lot of what it is today and I wouldn’t take it back even if I knew it were a negative thing.

I would think it ultimately allowed you to develop your own style of writing.

Yes, I agree with you that it did allow me to develop something unique but like most artists, I did have to go through a serious identity crisis when coming into my own. Looking back, I can see that my early music lacked originality, but I think you have to go through those phases to get it out of your system. Then what comes out is more authentic.

In the Mountain Express article you said that now you’re eating up as much music as possible. Besides Springsteen, what artists have you been listening to lately?

I recently got all of The Beatles music, which I’m crazy about. Van Morrison turns out to be one of my favorite voices, ever. The Rumors album by Fleetwood Mac never gets old. Radiohead In Rainbows is amazing. Bon Iver is strangely addicting. I listened to John Mayer’s “Continuum” everyday for awhile. Andrew Bird is revolutionary. Ray Charles is practically perfect. Stevie Wonder is perfectly natural. Al Green is just plain perfect. Elton John is insane and insanely good. The Black Keys are perfectly imperfect. Ray Lamontagne is butter. The Arcade Fire is something special. Sigur Ros is absolutely beautiful. U2 is huge, not just in success. Amy Winehouse, Ryan Adams, Band of Horses, Ben Harper, Citizen Cope, Coldplay, Gnarls Barkley, Devendra Banhart and the list could continue...

Now that you’re listening to a lot more music these days, do you find yourself being influenced by certain songs that make you want to write a song like that?

I hope! But then again I don’t often find myself influenced by just one certain song, it’s the whole artist.

If so, what’s the last song that made you feel like that?

I will say that there are those songs from time to time that make you almost want to quit writing music altogether. Two that immediately come to my mind are The Beatles’ “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” and “Vultures” by John Mayer.

How did you get hooked up with Dan Hannon, who has produced bands like Manchester Orchestra and is popular now?

Our manager, Dave Rossi, got his name from two different unrelated sources at the same time, so we figured it was a sign.

Are you still using him on the new songs?

Yes.

How important is it to have a producer versus the artist self producing?

Very Important. It’s the collaboration of great artists with great producers that make great albums. A good producer cuts through the bullshit and pulls out the gold.

Dan Hannon challenged you to write five rock songs instead of the acoustic songs that you originally brought to the studio, how much of an impact did that have on the final result?

I’m almost positive it wouldn’t have happened without Dan Hannon and my brother Steven, who were with me on that first day in the studio. When Dan suggested we write new songs after listening to the ones I had brought, I was ready to walk out the door. He said, “with these songs you will have a good mid-tempo album, but if you wrote a couple rockers, you would stand out of the crowd with an album that was great.” It sounds simple now, but at the time I felt like I was completely out of creativity. I had spent the previous three months putting together the 30 songs that I had brought. I truly believe that if Steven was not there that day, it would’ve been over. Dan’s challenge was the hardest thing to hear, but when Steven and I wrote together for the first time that night, we found the magic.

We had both been trying to create something with our individual music careers, and working together was exactly what we needed. Then we became a band. And now we’re here.

Do you and your brother ever have creative differences? It sounds like you both have different influences — Steven being heavier and you being more the singer-songwriter.

Oh yeah, but it’s a positive thing that makes our music as The Enemy Lovers what it is. Every motor skill in the human body is made possible because two muscles react and pull against each other. If they both pulled the same way, then you would not be able to lift, walk or do anything requiring muscle strength. We are two muscles in the same arm, writing music.

If so, how is it normally resolved?

It’s resolved over and over again with every new song that we write. The songs always end up something neither of us thought they would be, but we both love them.

Do we ever have to worry about the clash of egos, with you guys turning into some of the other famous fighting brothers like the Gallaghers of Oasis or the Robinson brothers in the Black Crowes?)

Maybe ... depends on how rich and famous we get or don’t get I guess, and how it affects us. We come from a very close family and we’re very close, but who can know what life will make of you. But I truly hope we don’t.

Being that I’ve only seen the band live once and I’ve listened to the EP over and over, I feel it’s safe to say The Enemy Lovers equals such bands as Kings of Leon, Coldplay and even U2. What do you hear when you listen to your songs?

I’m definitely too close to the music to hear it. I can make it, write it and play it but it’s for everyone else in the world to hear it.

Who do you feel you sound like?

Do you find it frustrating that you have all of the right ingredients for success, but the hardest part is getting it to the people? Are you and your brother both committed to this project indefinitely?

Depends on the day. I try to focus on the right things and ignore the rest, but some days I wake up and everything frustrates me. We’re both committed to this indefinitely.

So is it true that you guys still perform at your church every week? If I didn’t get enough of your music on a Saturday night in the club, I could show up at church on Sunday and get another dose? Which do you enjoy more and why?

Yes and yes. I’m the same in both places but the surroundings would be a huge adjustment for most coming from a club. Church is the place where I began before I can even remember and it is still a very special place to me. I’m honored to play music there. I’d have to say that I enjoy playing in clubs more only because the politics are much more simple and there are not as many rules to abide by. There’s more freedom.

You’ve got the six-song EP. You’ve got four new songs up on MySpace. Can we expect a full-length album in 2010 and will we see any of these songs on it?

Yes. The best of the EP will probably be included with the best of our new material. We’re scheduled to go back into the studio in early February to record new songs for a full album.

Is the plan for 2010 to put out a full album and tour extensively? Hopefully we’ll see you guys up here in western NY? Do you have a committed band to tour with yet or is that still a work in progress?

That is the plan for 2010 and yes we do have a bad-ass committed band to tour with now. We’re planning to play as many shows as humanly possible, and I do hope that brings us to your side of New York.

You are married? Do you have any kids? And how does that impact touring?

I’ve been married for eight and a half years and have a 8-month-old baby boy. I would love to have my family with me all the time, but sometimes it’s not feasible and that’s harder. It’s hard being away from family.

When you’re not writing or performing, what’s your next favorite thing to do?

Being with my family and close friends, and having a cup of coffee on hand doesn’t hurt either.

For more information go to: http://theenemylovers.com/