Interview with Space Vacation Guitarist & Vocalist Scott Shapiro

By Mick Michaels

COSMICK VIEW: Hello Scott! Welcome to the Cosmick View. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to chat with me, it is greatly appreciated.

CV: What drives you to continue to create?

Scott Shapiro: Haha.  I have no idea.  I’ve had music running though my head my whole life.  It colors my life experience and I guess I learned how to play guitar to get it out of my head and into the world. 

 CV: Was music your first love? 

Without a doubt, yes.  Unless you count Wonder Woman.  Then, I may have loved her first. 

CV: Would you say music has made you the person you are today?

SS: Yes.  It’s how I best express myself.  I don’t consider being a musician a career choice or even a choice at all.  I HAVE to play music to feel like myself.  I’ve heard some people over the years talk about how they “used to play music.”  I find that comment hilarious.  I sometimes wish I could just stop playing music.  There’s no money it, Its incredibly time consuming, most people can’t relate to why I still do it after all these years - but in the end I need to create and to perform to be true to myself.

CV: Could you see yourself doing something completely different other than music? If so, what would that be?

SS: Well, I have to work a day job which is the total opposite of being a musician since no one pays for music anymore and I’m also a parent so I guess you could say that I can’t see myself ever not doing music, since it’s still a large part of my life.  I don’t know – maybe president of the United States? Apparently, anyone can get that job.

CV: Which artist has inspired you the most?

SS: Van Halen, Iron Maiden and Motorhead.  Van Halen was the soundtrack to my childhood.  Loud music, good times, awe inspiring shreds!  Plus Roth was a master frontman. Iron Maiden opened my eyes up to songwriting and the importance of lyrics in heavy metal.  Plus the band fucking still rules after all these years!  Motorhead was 100% attitude.  Speed, power and no bullshit.  Totally authentic.

CV: Non artist…who has been your biggest influence?

SS: My parents and my daughter.  My parents gave me the opportunity to be myself and the confidence to follow my dreams.  My daughter makes me want to be a better person.

CV: Was/Is your family supportive with your musical pursuits?

SS: Yes.  When I was young my parents would drive me to band practice every weekend.  My mom sang to me as a child and that made me want to do the same.  That said – They were not too excited when I expressed that I wanted to do it professionally.  Like most parents, they wanted me to have some kind of stability – a “normal” Life.  Hahaha not in the cards I guess.  That said the people in my life now, my girlfriend and my daughter, understand that I need to create and perform and sometimes that means late nights and travel and they have definitely been supportive.   Couldn’t do it without them.

CV: What do you find inspires your music the most as a songwriter?

SS: It depends.  I think my best work has stemmed from life events that have stuck with me.  I write about family and friends and my own perception of the world.  I write about getting awesome and having a good time and of course fighting, Satan and booze!  It is heavy metal after all and music should be an escape not a confessional.

CV: What's your go to album for motivation? Why that album?

SS: Ace of Spades.  Own the attitude.

CV:  Some of your favorite artists... past and present, who are they?

SS: Motorhead, Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, Ozzy, Uli, Scorpions for the old stuff.  As far as new stuff I’m really into Cauldron, Enforcer, Night Demon, Hell Fire, Blackwulf, High Spirits and Horisont are great bands and carry the torch for heavy metal.

CV: The one album you feel every Metalhead should own and why? 

Master of Puppets.  That album is a turning point and combines many aspects of the NWOBHM bands with pure speed.  It’s like a 45 min punch in the face.

CV: What do you consider is a defining moment in Heavy Metal history and why is it significant… how did it impact the genre?

SS: Man, there’s so many.  Start at the beginning.  The day that Tony Iommi lost his fingertips.  That was the start.  Without that accident he wouldn’t have changed his style and created the evil sounding music that is the very basis of heavy metal. 

1980 is another turning point.  Metal became mainstream. Just a few of the albums that came out that year:  Judas Priest - British Steel, Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Oz, Angel Witch - Angel Witch, Diamond Head - Lighting to the Nations,  Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden, Motorhead – Ace of Spades. 

CV: Who would you like to work with if given the opportunity?

SS: Judas Priest. 

CV: What do you feel are the top three things it takes to make it in the music business as an artist?

SS: Patience, a strong belief in yourself, and the ability to take rejection.  Talent also helps.

CV: There has been a lot of remarks among established rockers these days regarding young, up and coming bands, that they don't stand a chance at making a career with music into today's industry... what do you think?  

SS: Well, since I have a day job, I’d have to agree.  Labels used to develop artists and performers.  They would support them financially so that they could dedicate time to their art. Sure they would rob the artists blind on the back end but the artist was able to develop a career.  They were paid to perform and tour. Now I constantly get emails from various organizations asking me to pay them to add one of our songs to their compilation.  Or we get asked to play for free to gain “exposure”.  My favorite is the sync licensing scams where I get contacted by a music supervisor for a movie or video game company and they ask to use a song. Then they tell me that they don’t have the money to pay for the use but then push the “exposure” angle.  This always seems odd to me since the company seems to have the money to pay a music supervisor but not for the actual music that this asshole wants to use.  Total bullshit.

CV: As an artist, what do you feel are your strengths?

SS: Well, I think I have pretty good and unique voice.  I’m no Ronnie James Dio, but I think I have my own sound and I take a lot of pride in that.  I think the band is made for live performance.  We are entertainers at heart and we bring it every time we play live.  We NEVER take for granted that there are people in the crowd who paid to see a live performance.  We want them to get their money’s worth because there are lots of options for people these days and we want them to leave a SPACE VACATION show and say “Fuck!  I can’t hear a thing but that band fucking ruled!”

CV: What do you think separates bands of today from bands of the past?

SS: Record sales…Radio play… I think a band like Horisont should be selling out arenas but PR and advertising is expensive and radio no longer drives the business. Bands form the past are still benefiting from income earned from radio play and the way the current law operates, artists are hardly paid anything for online or digital plays and terrestrial radio isn’t really an income stream for today’s emerging bands. 

CV: With so many iconic women eligible for induction into the Rock n Roll Hall of fame, such as Cher, Stevie Nicks and Carly Simon many among others, why do you think they are being overlooked?

SS: Well, first I want to point out that Steve Nicks is in the Hall of Fame as a member of Fleetwood Mac.  To your question, my guess is that the Hall of Fame voters have no actual criteria for who gets in. Why LL Cool J is in and Girlschool isn’t?  I’d reframe the question to ask why heavy metal bands in general have been completely discriminated against.  Judas Priest is not in the hall of fame.  Motorhead is not in the Hall of Fame.  Iron Maiden is not in the Hall of Fame. That is a bigger tragedy to me. 

CV: We hear so much negative commentary regarding today's overall music industry. What's your take on it? Is Rock really dead?

SS: Rock is not dead.  No way.  I see it and live in it everyday.  It’s alive and vibrant but it isn’t mainstream today.  Rock Radio is dead.  The music industry is dead.  Emerging artists are left largely on their own to create their own success.  They plan their own tours, pay for their own production and write the music.  The only worthwhile Heavy Metal Festival that occurs in the US is put together by Jarvis Leatherby of Night Demon.  That is insane to me that a band that is basically still a new up and coming band is putting together the best festival in the country.  The industry is the artists now. 

CV: What’s next for you?

SS: A beer and a joint and a wing and a prayer.  We are still working out our touring schedule for 2018 so we have a lot of balls in the air. The plan is to hit Europe and the States this year and hopefully sell 1 million records of our new release “Lost In the Black Divide” so I can buy a house and develop an expensive cocaine habit. 

CV: Thank you again for spending some time talking and sharing with our readers. I wish you all the best and much success with all your projects.