Rex Scott of X-Sinner, Unpublished Interview

This is an unpublished interview with Rex Scott from X-Sinner. A reader of NoLifeTilMetal didn't wanted it to go to waste as HM was apparenlty uninterested in the interview. Soooo, here it is for the first time...

Artist of the month
Features:
REX SCOTT
from
X-SINNER
& ZION

Interview with Rex Scott

1. Rex everyone knows
about you mostly for being the front man for the group X-Sinner. What are some
other projects that you have done? Where you were the singer or producer or
background vocals. I started my professional music career in Zion from
South Dakota in the early eighties. I've done various rock praise projects for
Pakaderm and other labels. I've done background vocal work with Guardian, The
Reach and some others. I really can't remember them
all.

2. In the early 90’s you
helped on a Metal Praise album. I know many people probably haven’t heard of
this project but I loved it. I wanted to know what you liked about working with
all those other great musicians and did you like the album over all?
Those projects are always fun and alot of work. I think how it turned out was ok
considering how little preproduction time is spent getting ready for them. Your
pretty much inventing as you record which is tough. It would have sounded better
if more ahead of time preparation would have been
done.

3. Out of all the
things you have done musically what was your favorite project? Both past and
present projects included?The Angry Einstein project was probably the
one. There was no record label deadline or pressure. We took two yearas to
record it.

4. Who were the
first members of X-Sinner? And what were the bands intentions when making the
group? Ministry intentions and musical intentions. The founding member
is Greg Bishop. He then found Rob Kniep the bassist. Drummer Mike Buckner was
added after the Get It sessions. I joined after the Get It tour. Jim Ortega was
the original drummer and Dave Robbins was one of two original singers. The
intention of X-Sinner was and still is to be seed planters of Jesus and doing it
with using one of the strongest forms of communication of todays youth
-music.

5. A lot of people
always compared X-Sinner and your voice to the secular band AC/DC,. Do you
think this comparison kept you guys back? I know that you were picked up for a
little while by a bigger label and not much came of it and this is what I mean.
Do you think that comparison of people calling you a religious AC/DC, Def
Leppard , kept you back from, say, the popularity that Stryper had in the
80’s? Believe it or not, we are not offended to be compared to such
great rock bands. It is a compliment to us. I think that one of the reasons
Stryper was so successful was becuase of their pop rock song writing and their
great management. Timing is alot of it too. Spending huge amounts of money on
videos is part of it also. I never really cared for that style of music and we
just stuck with what we liked and did it the best we could. We had alot of
opportunities for greater things that don't always pan out. We had a chance for
a distribution deal in Japan which probably would have taken our careers much
higher and would have included touring there but our label at the time wouldn't
allow the deal unless the japanese company took ALL of Pakaderms artists for the
deal - not just X-Sinner. Of course the japanese company only wanted X-Sinner so
that deal got squelched and we got ripped off. Welcome to the world of
"christian" labels.

6.
You guys were definitely just as good, if not better, than most bands out there,
secular or Christian. I thought I heard many more influences in X-sinner’s music
besides AC/DC,, like Def Leppard, Kix, and even Led Zepplin. Were any of these
groups an inspiration or influence to the group? Everybody you just
mentioned were huge influences to us. We love the blues based hard rock sound
and you can't really ever get away from that when you write your own
stuff.

7. On this same lines
what bands would you say influenced you personally and what bands do you like
now? Pretty much the same ones we just talked about. I listen to alot
of styles of music including some country, but these bands are my all time
favorites. There are new versions of this music in newer bands like Rhino
Bucket, Broken Teeth etc. but they are secular bands and not for
everybody.

8. The group Zion
was a short lived group. Was this the intentions all along? Like did you guys
hope or plan to make more than one album? If so what broke you up or why did you
part? Zion wasn't really "short lived". We were together for about 8 or
9 years total performing all over the upper midwest. It was only towards the end
of those nine years that we actually got a record deal and recorded Thunder From
The Mountain. We were going to record more records with Image Records but alot
of differences started developing in the band. One was if David Zaffiro
(Bloodgood) should produce the second album or not. Two of the members had just
gotten married and their wives also played a part in the divisions that were
developing. Before it got really ugly I decided to take up an offer I had
received about a year earlier and that was to audition for X-Sinner. The rest is
history. The Zion members have all worked out our differences and are great
friends to this day.

9. Zion
and X-sinner have some resemblances but because of your great range in your
vocals there are obvious differences in the music and vocals both. What sound
were you going for with Zion that you may not have been going for with
X-sinner? X-Sinner was actually more closer to my heart musically
speaking. Zaffiro changed the Zion sound considerably in the studio. We were
much closer to an X-Sinner sound than most people realize before we
recorded Thunder From The Mountain. That's how much a producer can change
a bands sound! Zion obviously ended up with massive background vocals and many
more softer sections in our songs. Much more poppy
sounding.

10. The band X-sinner came back out of
nowhere with an awesome album The Angry Einstein's “Cracked”. Why did you guys
come back on this album as the “Angry Einstein's” more so than X-Sinner? Was it
because of changed sound or just a statement or new beginnings? it was
an experimental album to see if we could generate a secular deal. Sony was
intially interested. That's all. We wanted to seperate ourselves from our
X-Sinner name and sound to attempt getting this deal. Just to see if we
could. We had always planned to keep doing X-Sinner style music if nothing
panned out. Instead of letting it rot on a shelf somewhere we decided to release
it ourselves through Retroactive Records as "X-Sinner presents The Angry
Einsteins" because it had such freat songs on it.

11.
The sound was in fact very different than X-sinner’s past yet most of your fans
were very loyal. This was a really great recording I thought. Were you
pleased with it all? I know you spent a lot of time recording it, so Greg says
in the linear notes. One of the favorites! It has so many good songs on
it.

12. You and the band X-Sinner just came out of
the studio again right? With a new album called “Fire it up”? So what can you
tell us about this album? Is this a greatest hits album or more of a remake of
one of the past X-sinner albums? We were never satisfied with our label
Pakaderms production so we retracked Peace Treaty songs to get the crunch we had
always envisioned. It was remastered and a brand new song Fire It Up was
added as a teaser of what's to come on our all new album Back In Red next
year.

13. Is there any new stuff on this album
for those die hard fans that already have everything X-sinner has made?
In my mind it's all kinda new but Fire It Up is the all new
tune.

14. What made you decide to go to the studio
with old songs and make Fire it up? What I said before about Pakaderm's
lack of great production.

15. What is in X-sinner’s
near future? Another album? A long tour? The only shows we do now are
fly-in dates. We don't actaully attempt the long drawn out touring thing
anymore. It's too hard! We've been there, done that! We have the Back In Red
project we are working on for next year.

16.
Or are you making another album as the Angry Einstein’s instead? Where or
should I say what sound direction are you and the band taking for your next
album?The Einstein thing was a one time deal. The new cd Back In Red is
turning out to be the rawest most high octane thing we've done to date. We've
stripped back the production and just let the songs rip. It has a very live feel
and sound to it and it is definitely in the Get It and Peace Treaty vein of rock
that we are so well known for.

17. Last music
question is; do you have a favorite song of all time that you have sung or
wrote? Or favorite lyrics? What and why?A past song is Is It A Crime
off of the Zion album. I have several "new" favorites off of the Back In Red cd.
I liked Is it a Crime because it wasn't a typical song. It was one of the first
songs in ccm to actually show the struggles of faith and life honestly. Some
christian stations wouldn't play it because it didn't have enough of a preaching
message or whatever, but it still went to #2 on the charts because people could
identify with it. It was real. Now you hear songs simular to it message wise all
the time. I am actually proud that I was one of the first to write like
that.

18. So on a personal note. You are
married aren’t you? Any Kids? Ages?I am married and have three
children. My oldest is a boy, Gabe, who is in college right now. I have two
girls Stacy and Melissa. Melissa has modeled part time and has been on K-Swiss
tennis shoe commercials on MTV and in magazines like Seventeen etc. as well as
for other brands as well.

19. What was your salvation
like? Some people have a certain day, or time in their life, or something that
they can go back and remember their new birth. Is this the case for you and if
so can you share it with us?I had played in secular local rock bands
for years and just realized over time just how empty that scene was and how
empty and unfulfilled I was. I had a christian family that never gave up on me.
My grandmother would get me to go to Billy Graham crusades with her and such and
eventually I surrendered my life to Christ in the early eighties on my own.


20. I know that God has done much in my life, your
life and many others also, but is there one miracle he has done for you or in
your life that sticks out a lot or one in particular you would like to
share?The greatest miracle is that he still redeems me everyday in
spite of myself. It truley is amazing
grace!

21. Last
thing Rex, is there any thought or message that you would like to leave us with.
Just a general conviction to share or anything of the
sort?God is real and we'll all have to answer to him someday...don't
turn away from the greatest love and gift that has been given to mankind - His son Jesus.

Interview by Bill Paldino