INTERVIEW WITH EDDIE SKULLER

EDDIE SKULLER:
AS IF I HAD WRITTEN THEM MYSELF

Interview with Eddie Skuller by Diego Centurión.
Photographs by SPX ETC and Eddie Skuller.

Many musical journeys begin with the interpretation of other people’s songs. Before an artist has a repertoire of their own, a cover can serve as an apprenticeship, an introduction to the world or a way of searching for a voice and a place within music.
But that same gesture acquires a different meaning when it occurs after several decades of making music. It is no longer about borrowing an identity, but about approaching a composition through a voice shaped by enough experience to transform it and make it one’s own. The search gives way to recognition, confidence and, above all, the pleasure of interpretation.
Eddie Skuller’s musical journey spans more than four decades and crosses a wide range of musical territories. From his early days with Moot—the band formed at Rutgers University that went on to perform at New York venues such as CBGB—to his solo career and regular appearances as a guest vocalist with The Losers Lounge, Eddie has explored post-punk, singer-songwriter music, jazz and cabaret, reggae and dub while always maintaining a deeply personal voice.

His new EP, Blind Love, belongs to this second kind of encounter with other people’s songs. It brings together four Tom Waits compositions recorded live to analogue tape. Rather than attempting to imitate him, Eddie approaches his work with intimacy, emotional depth and a sensibility of his own, finding within those stories a space from which to tell them again in his own voice.

In this conversation, Eddie Skuller discusses the path that led him to Tom Waits, the art of making another writer’s song his own and the freedom that appears when a performer no longer needs to prove who he is and can simply enjoy the act of singing.

Special thanks to Shauna McLarnon of Shameless Promotion PR for connecting us with Eddie Skuller and making this interview possible.

Hi Eddie!

Your musical path has taken you from the rhythmic post-punk of Moot to solo songwriting, reggae and dub collaborations, The Losers Lounge, and now the songs of Tom Waits. When you look back across those different stages, do you see them as separate chapters or as parts of the same musical journey?

Hi Diego. Thank you for this opportunity to stop and think about my music life. I appreciate all of your very thoughtful and interesting questions.

I definitely think of each period as a separate chapter and I enjoy sharing the memories, photos, and the music from each unique project in that way. I’ve been a genre-shifter and I believe Tom Waits is one as well. So I can easily refer to my post-punk chapter, jazz/cabaret chapter, reggae chapter, etc.

Throughout your career, you have moved freely between writing your own music and interpreting songs written by others. What does interpretation allow you to express that songwriting does not—and what must a song contain before you feel you can truly make it your own?

Initially, in my first band Moot, we wrote songs out of the necessity to have a set of material to play. It didn’t occur to us to cover anyone else’s music and we felt compelled to create during a very creative time during that post punk period.

Decades later I went through a jazz/cabaret phase which was the period I think I really learned how to sing. I learned how to sell a song from studying Billie Holiday and Jimmy Scott. Except for a few original tunes, I chose songs that easily made sense for me to sing because I knew that if I felt the emotion in the song I could convey that to an audience. In those sets I interpreted songs like the BeeGees “I Started A Joke,” Bob Dylan’s “Not Dark Yet” and Tom Waits “That Feel.”

A secret I have to choosing a cover song is I have to be able to pretend (to myself) that I wrote it or wish I had written it!

When did you first hear Tom Waits, and how did his music reach you? Do you remember which song or album it was, and whether its effect on you was immediate or something that grew over time?
I heard early Tom Waits on WNEW-FM radio in New York as a teen and appreciated the songs very much. However, my passion for rhythm and percussion attracted me to his Swordfishtrombones and Raindog albums and that’s when I took a much deeper interest in his artistry.

"Eddie Skuller - Blind Love"

Why did this feel like the right moment to devote an entire EP to Tom Waits? Was there a particular song, performance or personal experience that first suggested Blind Love could become more than a live tribute?
I have become infatuated with Waits material so much that my own songs just don’t interest me at this time. It’s like acting and finding the right script. The material seems to really suit me. Initially I was apprehensive about what the audience reaction would be since I don’t have a gravel-toned voice but the response has really been overwhelmingly great and supportive. I plan to stick with this project for a while.
I enjoy the recording process and documenting each chapter on record, not just having a live event, so it felt like the right time to record these Waits tunes.

The four songs come from different periods of Waits’ career, but together they travel through lost love, loneliness and longing before arriving at hope. How did you choose these particular songs, and did you conceive their sequence as a single emotional journey?
The lost love, loneliness and longing are easily relatable and universal feelings so I could say it wasn’t difficult for me to try each song on and feel them deeply enough to sing them. Yet, in choosing these songs, each came for a different reason as follows:
“Blind Love” my wife Janice really wanted me to record it. I wasn’t sure about this song at first. I was playing around with the guitar and stripped away the original country vibe, slowing it down a bit. THEN, when I sang it, I felt completely absorbed in the story, and the emotion felt honest.
“Downtown Train” – I wanted to give people one tune they would know. I didn’t own this one until I slowed it down. Only then was I able to put my own feel on it and felt good about choosing to record it. Singing this song with a slowed tempo was like breathing in and out, the anxious waiting of will he or won’t he see her tonight.
“House Where Nobody Lives” was the first song I knew I had to record for this project as it just felt so right during the live show. This one I wish I had written as I’ve been intrigued by abandoned houses, often wondering about the faded memories and lost stories they once held.
“You Can Never Hold Back Spring”. Being a crooner this was an obvious choice as it’s an incredibly beautiful song and I believe more people should be aware that Waits wrote a song that’s as memorable and moving as any classic jazz pop standard such as Sinatra’s “Young at Heart.” (As a side note,Waits has recorded his version of Sinatra’s “Young at Heart”).
I find listening and singing sad songs to be cathartic and as such, leave you with a sense of hope and uplift. In fact, my jazz/cabaret show in the early 2000’s was entitled Sad Songs To Make You Happy. And that’s how the audience leaves… happy.
I did not initially conceive the song sequence as a single emotional journey, but upon sequencing the EP the tracks fell in order effortlessly and I realized they did make sense as a single emotional journey.
Damn, these are all great questions!

"Eddie Skuller - Downtown Train"

Tom Waits has such a distinctive voice and musical identity that interpreting his work carries the risk of imitation. How did you find your own emotional and vocal place within these songs while remaining faithful to their original spirit?

Gosh, I’m not really sure how/why this works but I’m sincerely glad it does. I think it’s like acting with the right script as I mentioned earlier. I’m extremely open to the lyric and I see what I have to see in my mind to authentically feel it.

His catalog of material is vast and I went through at least the beginning of every single song to make a master list of possibilities I felt I could interpret in my style and voice. That list is currently about 70 songs of which 20 are in the current set list. I know immediately if the melody and lyric are right for me.

Blind Love was recorded live to analogue tape, without vocal edits or overdubs. Why was it important to preserve the spontaneity and natural imperfections of the performances, and how did having the entire band playing together in the room affect your singing?

Well I have a bad answer to a good question. It wasn’t initially important to record live. In fact the vocals were “scratch” vocals for the band to follow and I had expected to record the real vocals the next day. But after one take of the real vocal, my producer Nick Kinsey and I realized I wasn’t going to do any better emotionally than the scratch vocals and we decided to keep them as they were. In fact, being “scratch” vocals I didn’t even wear headphones in the studio. Singing live with the band in the same room was a beautiful experience. It was also the first time for me that everything fell into place with little direction. No one was rushing or over playing. It was an unusually easy and joyful process.

"Eddie Skuller - House Where Nobody Lives"

The musicians bring very particular colours to the recordings: Ryder Cooley’s accordion, Nick Kinsey’s drums and keyboards, Jeremy Chatzky’s bass, and your son Jack Skuller’s guitar. How did each of them help shape the intimate and meditative character of the EP? What was it like to share this recording experience with Jack? 

I have to admit I assembled a brilliant group of players for this. I chose Nick Kinsey because I knew of his aesthetic and wanted it for this recording. His studio, vibe and direction helped shape the intimate, meditative character. And he based it on the simple, slowed down demos I made. I like his own band project called Connie Cunningham and the Creeps.

I was already a fan of Ryder Cooley’s band the Dust Bowl Faeries so I was thrilled she agreed to play on this. I’ve known Jeremy Chatzky for the 23 years I’ve been a guest singer with the Losers Lounge. His playing is solid and he prioritizes the song, playing what’s appropriate to support it. And Jack Skuller has been a gifted musician since he was very young. He’s very sensible and extremely supportive of my music as I hope I’ve been of his. His new band is called Bass Envy. Everyone must listen!

The EP ends with “You Can Never Hold Back Spring”, leaving the listener with a sense of renewal after so much melancholy. You have said that hope is also what audiences take away from your concerts. Why is it important to you that these songs do not end in resignation, and what do you hope listeners carry with them after hearing Blind Love?
Amid the melancholy, I find moments of humor within Waits’ lyrics as well as a hopeful outlook. I’m attracted to that and I like to share what I’ve discovered. I would not feel good if an audience left depressed from sad music. I tell them early on in the show that if they stick with it, I promise they’ll leave happier than when they came in. These are dark and challenging times so if I can leave people entertained and feeling hopeful then I can feel like I’ve done good work.

"Eddie Skuller - You Can Never Hold Back Spring"

If you look back at the young man at Rutgers who was beginning to find his own voice and forming Moot, what remains of him in the artist and person you are today? Is there anything you understand about him now that you could not have understood at the time?
I formed Moot with my best friends at college. We knew we wanted to create but we had a real punk aesthetic of not knowing how to play any instruments, initially. We had ideas, lyrics and drive but no training. We so admired the bands of the time from the Slits, P.I.L., ESG, Liquid Liquid, Bush Tetras. In fact our very first song was an instrumental we called “Bush Tetra Song.”
So what remains of my younger self is that I still enjoy creating using instinct and intuition rather than studied skill. Except for singing which I studied out of the necessity of building strength and maintaining vocal health.
What I’ve come to understand over time is that my instincts and intuition are very good and reliable. I instinctively chose the right producer and studio in a quick online search. I trust myself now and I can’t say that my younger self knew to do so.

After the release of Blind Love, what comes next for you? Do you imagine continuing to explore Tom Waits’ songbook, returning to your own compositions, or following another musical direction that has already begun to take shape?

This EP was very well received and people are accepting and supportive of this direction for me so I am focusing on performing the Waits songbook to more small venues and house concerts in 2027. I hope to record more Waits tunes as well.

Thank You Eddie!

Eddie Skuller
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