A Sit Down With Scott Lucas of Local H at Aftershock

Aftershock Festival took place last weekend (Oct.10th-13th) in Sacramento, CA and I had the opportunity to sit down with Scott Lucas of Local H after their set to discuss the band’s current undertakings. The acclaimed 2-man band was excited to make their first appearance at Aftershock while celebrating the recent re-release of their now cult-classic album What Ever Happened to PJ Soles?. Local H made their appearance at the festival in the midst of a 20-year anniversary tour commemorating the 2004 release of the album.

Local H had an early set time at 12:30 on Friday, but that definitely did not deter any of their loyal fanbase who made it out for the festivities that weekend. They played the DWPresents Stage, which was the newly added 5th stage to the ever growing festival grounds at Discovery Park. The sun was out and energies were high within the crowd. I took notice of the fact that despite the band’s 30+ years in the scene, the crowd was diverse and scaled across many generations. This was a clear testament to the band’s strong musical influence and ability to retain their relevance for over three decades. 

Local H is known for being able to incorporate as much finesse with just their two members as many bands are able to do with an entire ensemble. Lucas is a multi-instrumental musician, as well as a vocalist, and has nurtured this band for his entire adult life. He walked me through the band’s decision to produce the re-released version of Whatever Happened to PJ Soles? and why the album holds so much significance to him. He also gave me a sneak peak into the Local H movie, entitled Lifers, that he directed and produced. The movie just debuted in Chicago on Oct.15th and may be coming to a city near you, but is showing in very limited release.

You’re on the tail end of a tour right now, can you give me some insight into how it’s been and the response since the re-release?

Scott Lucas: Yeah, we’re doing one of those anniversary tours, which everyone’s doing and put out a 20th anniversary record for Whatever Happened to PJ’s Soles?. It’s fun because it’s my favorite record of ours and we get to play it in its entirety every night. Then we just play a  bunch of whatever people want to hear, we do a bunch of requests. So it’s been great. I love the record and we’ve got a couple more dates and we’re done.

What about that record, in your words, is so meaningful and special to you?

Lucas: It’s when we started taking 100 percent control and we made a complete indie record from top to bottom and it’s sort of like a handmade record. You can listen to it on headphones and hear all the care that went into all the individual sounds. It’s not smoothed out. It’s not meant to be played on the radio. It’s, it’s a record that’s made to be experienced one on one. I love that about it, you know, and at the time when it came out not everybody recognized that or loved that but now it’s come around. 

It’s become somewhat of a cult classic record, would you say this was the album that ‘put you on the map’ so to speak?

Lucas: No, it took us off the map basically. We kind of took ourself out of rotation or something. I mean, we took ourself out of the game basically with that record. At the time It was like, ‘oh you need to make this kind of song to get on the radio, do this, do that.’ And we were like, we’re not going to do that because it’s embarrassing and nobody cares. So we’re going to make a record that we care about and if you care about it, great. If you don’t, sorry, the other records are there. 

That’s really interesting. So, now that you have come out with the rerelease has it had a different response this time around?

Lucas: Yeah, it’s super satisfying. I mean, we’ve done these tours before with a re-release.  Sometimes it’s with the record that, you know, is your big record or is the one that put you on the map and that’s always cool. But a record like this is cool for me because it’s finally getting its due and finally being recognized that it’s better than people thought it was at the time.

And this is also the first time that it’s been on vinyl, correct?

Lucas: Yeah. I mean, it always should have been on vinyl, you know, because it’s about the nostalgia that’s not just looking back on things that weren’t important. It’s about the things that really matter when you’re young and holding onto that and not letting yourself get jaded.

So it always should have been on vinyl for sure but it was coming out of the 90’s and nobody was buying vinyl then. In that time, the vinyl boom hadn’t really re-ignited yet. This time around it’s been selling fast and we are already going to the second pressing. 

For those who may not know of or be super familiar with who PJ Soles is, can you tell me about what inspired you about her or why you chose to name the album after her?

Lucas: She’s somebody that was super important to me and my friends. She was in Halloween, Carrie, Stripes, Rock’n’Roll High School, and the Ramones movie was like a big deal. So to us, she was a huge star. A lot of people might not have known who she was or who she is but it’s like, oh, I know who that is. So, I grew up liking cult figures and people under the radar. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that I ended up a cult figure myself cause that’s what I like. I don’t think I’m bigger than PJ Soles ever was, you know? So it was more about what she represented to me. 

Seeing that you have been around now for over 30 years, how do you continue to keep up the momentum when it comes to making music and constantly going on tour, etc?

Lucas: You just gotta love it. I mean, what could be better? It’s so lucky to care about what I do. It’s amazing and it’s just always remained the priority for me this whole time. You know, it’s not work, not really…except that it is. It is. My back is killing me. There’s definitely a lot of work involved.

As for keeping up the energy, that’s just good business, right? If you play a bad show, people won’t come back and I want you to come back. So, we really do try and I think that’s all anybody can do. 

What do you think the progression of the band or the evolution of the band has been like since you started to where it is?

Lucas: I just try to make good records, records that are important to me and hopefully they’re important to somebody else. Whether we were on a major label or not, that was always the plan. I fly my flag and hopefully somebody salutes. 

Now that the re-release is out and you’ve gone on tour for it, what is next for the band moving into 2025?

Lucas: We have one more show and then we’re heading back to Chicago, and on Tuesday we have a premiere of the local H movie, Lifers. So the plan for the rest of this year and next is to take that movie on tour. It’s not gonna be streaming and you can’t buy it. If you want to see it, you have to come out to a theater…an honest to God, real theater. You can’t watch it on your phone. But you can come watch it with me at your local indie theater.

Photos courtesy of Jake Miller