Scott McMicken’s Long, Weird Relationship with the Guitar

“The guitar has been a revolving relationship in my life that, as of very recently, has taken really interesting turns, and on this record, I didn’t play any guitar,” McMicken says in his endearing, stream-of-consciousness way of speaking, which demonstrates a propensity for run-on sentences. “There’s always been this connection between playing guitar and singing for me where I started to notice that if I am playing guitar and singing while I am recording a song, then that sort of limits what I am able to do on guitar. Over the years, I noticed that I always enjoyed playing guitar on [bass player and co-founder] Toby [Leaman]’s songs in Dr. Dog more because I didn’t have to think about singing. But then, when I do have to think about singing, I tend to lean into basic rhythm guitar, which isn’t necessarily compelling to me—I don’t necessarily want to hear a guitar strumming some chords from the guy who’s singing—so I decided to not play guitar and just stand there singing, and it made the process so cool.”

To be clear, McMicken hasn’t abandoned the instrument. Despite his earlier declaration, he admits he may have snuck a few licks onto Shabang as well. “I’ve had this long and weird relationship with guitar,” he says. “It’s my guy. It’s my best friend. It’s by my side. But it’s had a multifaceted position in my life as a musician within the grand scheme of things, and more recently it's revealed itself, and I see something that I hadn’t been able to see for many years and it's exciting.”