News

Sixty Watt Scott interviewed by Cowboy’s Juke Joint May 3, 2020

Cowboy’s Juke Joint is a podcast radio show that plays “the harder side of blues and southern rock” from all kinds of great bands from around the world. They’ve played almost the entire Black Cat Bone 616 discography in the last several months, and recently requested that I come on the show for an interview. The interview can be found in the first segment of Episode 112 and is available on their archive

Sixty Watt Scott/Black Cat Bone 616 on Cowboy’s Juke Joint May, 2020

The interview covers some of the history of the band, how we developed our style, and our approach to songwriting. At the time of the interview we are already at 6 weeks or more into the Covid-19 pandemic, so the ramifications of that on the band also are discussed in the interview. We talked about the possible future projects on the horizon for the band as well.

by blackcatbone616

diving deep into practice during quarantine

Michigan’s governor announced today that we are under “Shelter In Place” orders until April 13th due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I will definitely take advantage of all of the time off I can get to dive deep into my playing and writing exercises and make some progress with my music. I have already been off work for a week and putting that spare time into trying to break past my current state of writer’s block that I am struggling with.

This weekend I sat down with my camera and some instruments and just rotated thru songs I liked and recorded as much as I could. I managed to pull 12 videos from two sessions to post on Youtube under a playlist called “The Covid-19 Playlist“. I will keep contributing to this list for the duration of the quarantine.

The goal is to take old songs and dust them off. Maybe I will rework some of my songs for mandolin, or banjo. Maybe I will do a cover song or two. Maybe if I am lucky, I will end up writing a few new songs in the process! By the time life is “back to normal” and the band can start practicing again, I should have a stockpile of material ready to pick thru and start working on as the band gets up to speed. This version of Black Cat Bone is so new that we haven’t even had the opportunity to start writing new material together yet. With the songs on this playlist we will have plenty of ideas to work with.

by blackcatbone616

a little intro video of Black Cat Bone in 2020 and beyond

It has been a few years since we created our mini documentary about Black Cat Bone, and even though the spirit of the band remains, none of the musicians from back then are in the band in 2020. So I put together a new intro video about what we have going on musically these days.

While we are on a break dealing with work and life in the times of COVID-19, some songwriting has been happening, as well as gathering some material for future videos and recording in 2020. Until then, stay safe!

Sixty Watt Scott – Black Cat Bone

by blackcatbone616

The pursuit of tone: testing out a few slides from Rocky Mountain Slide Co

I recently picked up a handful of crazy picks and some really cool ceramic slide bottles from Rocky Mountain Slide Company, courtesy of Todd Reeves, a friend of the band and recent contributor to the musical mayhem (you can see his debut with us Thursday May 7th).

The picks are made of bone, coconut shells, and some other mysterious space age materials. I found them to be interesting to play with, and liked the way that they altered my sound as a result. I am not sure if I will actually incorporate the picks into my sound, but the ceramic slide bottles were pretty interesting, and I am feeling more inclined to mix these into the set for recording and live shows. Here is a video review I made

by blackcatbone616

band update video on youtube

I posted a short video on our Youtube channel the other day to share a few of the things we have going on with Black Cat Bone. We currently have 5 shows on the books, and have been working on a new song or two, and with all the new blood in the mix some of the old songs are getting reworked a little as well.

by blackcatbone616

BCB opening for Bloodshot Bill @ Tip Top Deluxe

The kind folks over at Tip Top Deluxe in Grand Rapids MI have kindly asked us to open for Bloodshot Bill on Wednesday March 4th. The show is 21 and over and tickets are available online.

We couldn’t be more excited to do this show. Its a break in between runs of our Cats & Dogs & Bastards Tour that we have been playing with The Neighborhood Dogs, and Ernie Clark & The Magnificent Bastards. We have some hired guns helping out as BCB builds up back into a full band after a year of being a one man band. Brett Booher from Ernie Clark & The Magnificent Bastards has been holding down the bass for us while Jay Jankowski from Saint has been laying down the drums. We are also contemplating bringing in a surprise guitarist, and our go-to harmonica man, if things work out for everyone.

Bloodshot Bill wsg Black Cat Bone @ Tip Top Deluxe WEDNESDAY March 4th 7pm

Bloodshot Bill will most likely play solo again when he comes to town. When he plays as a one man band he is like a man possessed! Drums are wailing, guitar is squealing, greasy hair is flying everywhere, and the sweat is pouring as Bill makes sweet, sweet love to the microphone. Its a whirlwind of beer soaked psychobilly feakout. John Waters said Bloodshot Bill is like “Roy Orbison with a head wound”. We think thats a compliment…. and its pretty damn accurate!

by blackcatbone616

Ass Shakers & Heartbreakers

Ass Shakers & Heartbreakers is the first song written in 2020. It comes from an improv jam at the Old Dog Tavern that we performed as our soundcheck on January 25th 2020. The words are essentially my mantra, my idea of what the musical philosophy of Black Cat Bone should be. That there are only really 2 kinds of songs. If you can’t make them dance, you better make them cry! It’s really the reason I ever picked up a guitar in the first place. I am looking forwrd to recording this one with the band soon.

Sixty Watt Scott/Black Cat Bone

by blackcatbone616

New Year, New BCB (sorta)

2020 is off to a good start already… I’ve cut a station ID for Cowboy’s Juke Joint, which is a bad ass podcast supporting all kinds of gritty blues and swampy southern rock.

The band has been getting in a few practice sessions with the all-star lineup for the shows I have booked. Capt Brett Anarchy from Ernie Clark & the Magnificent Bastards, Jason Jankowski from Saint, and Spencer Chestnut have agreed to help me out on a couple these first few shows. Jay and Brett will back me up in Reed City on January 18, 2020, and Spencer will join us on January 31 at the Tip Top Deluxe show. Below is some video of our first session.

For 2020 I will focus on writing some new material, recording new and unreleased songs, and booking some shows in different venues. I am reaching out to a couple different musicians to build a roster of people I can rely on for shows and recording and taking things to new levels. I will be shooting video of it all as well, so look for that coming down the pipeline in 2020.

Scott/Black Cat Bone

by blackcatbone616

4 new shows in 2020

Ernie Clark & the Magnificent Bastards are on a wild streak of shows and have been very kind in bringing Black Cat Bone along for the ride on a bunch of them. They’ve put together 4 shows for 2020 that were announced today, and of course they’ve booked your favorite Rustbelt Blues band on the bill as well!

Ernie and his Bastards are about to release their debut album in 2020, in addition to playing as many shows as possible. This 4 show portion of their schedule is “the Cats & Dogs & Bastards Tour”.

It’s getting us out of Grand Rapids for 3 of the 4 shows, which fits nicely with my goal of not playing the same town all the damn time for the new year! 2020 will be fun year for BCB…. we have some songs in rehearsal for a recording project…. and a potential video shoot is in the works as well!

-Scott/Black Cat Bone

by blackcatbone616