Passion, vulnerability, and the thrill of the stage: Scarlet Demore at Lollapalooza

Scarlet Demore is the light of the punk scene in Chicago. An up-and-coming post-grunge group, taking the Midwest by storm with their electric sound and have made their Lollapalooza debut, marking them officially as hometown heroes. With their debut album on the rise and many more shows to come, we sat down with them before their performance to talk about what it means to play a hometown show, and how its changed over the years.

What do you remember about your first performance in Chicago? How would you compare it to now?

Alex Gonzalez: It was Penny Road Pub in Palatine. It was in the middle of nowhere, just woods, and then a venue that looked sketchy as hell. We didn't know much about the Chicago scene or how to book shows, so we just asked around an got booked.

Cat Ayala: We played with Authentic Vines, that's Joel's other band. I was really scared, but that was when Alex threw up before every single show. Alex used to throw up before every show for the first ten of them, or more. We were just scared shitless and had to beg our family and friends to come. Going from that to this is a huge change. There's been a lot of growth in between, and we have a great new lineup.

What is something you wish you could tell yourself a year ago now that you’re playing on one of the world’s biggest stages?

Alex Gonzalez: It's gonna be fine.

Cat Ayala: It's gonna be fine, it's just a ton of baby steps. You just can't give up. You just have to keep going.

Performing at Lollapalooza is a huge milestone in your career. Are there any other signs that you feel like you've made it?

Alex Gonzalez: That moment where you can just get off from stage without touching not a thing. Oh my god. That happened the first time for us, that was a surprise. That was like last Friday.

G Pasaro: I feel like my moment was at Thalia Hall because I like Dr. Pepper specifically, and they asked me if I wanted anything, they got me two of the personal bottles of Dr. Pepper and they put them in the fridge for me.

Cat Ayala: Playing Thalia Hall was also a really big moment for me because that was one of the first times where we went out on stage and people were stoked before we even had to say anything, and that was wild. Just to see people be so stoked for something that you created and are a part of.

G Pasaro: And that we're so stoked about, too. Like, it's nice when people are matching the energy. I will say something I love about this band is everyone has so much fun on stage. And so it makes me have more fun on stage.

Alex Gonzalez: I thought it was crazy when we started to regularly get crowd surfers, and then I thought it was even crazier when they started to crowd-surff me!

That’s something I’ve noticed with your set, you guys always have a very engaged audience. What do you want first-time listeners in the audience to take away from your set?

Cat Ayala: I want people to have fun during the set. I hope they see us have fun. Even if you walk away, not listening to our band after, I just want you to have the most fun during those 40 minutes as you can really just like, forget about all your shit and just dance a little bit.

Alex Gonzalez: want somebody to leave thinking like, ‘man, I want to be in a band. I want to go learn an instrument. I want to go on a stage’, you know. Sometimes it just takes seeing one performance. And that immediately will alter your entire life. You just go, ‘I'm gonna go buy a bass tomorrow’.

How do you think you all have changed as musicians from your early days to your first Lollapalooza?

Cat Ayala: I think I've been more comfortable with being more vulnerable and kind of like writing about my own experiences. I think when I started I was kind of scared for people to be able to look into my head and the more that I've been able to do this and the more people that I meet, the more comfortable I am with being more explicit and vulnerable about what's going on in my life. I feel like a lot less alone than I did when I first started. I used to write and think, ‘Oh, maybe I don't put that line in because it's too much’. I don't feel that way anymore.

Joel Smith: Just writing more for myself. And not worrying about what somebody else might think listening to it. Is that, man, that was like That's the worst. Yeah. Trying to, trying to filter it through what somebody else might think is just like torture on yourself.

G Pasaro: I feel like there's this track that people can fall into where they're like, ‘Oh, I want to make something like really popular’ And then those songs don't end up doing as well as the things that you are passionate about. What people like is passion and being connected to what you're making.

Jeremiah Elam: What I've learned from the band is honestly is to pick your spots. Not all the songs have to be about you, especially now, because I never played in a band with a lead singer before. So it's always been multiple musicians and everybody has to lead. So that's what I've learned the most.

Cat Ayala: Jeremiah has been with us for a short time and he's killing it, he's been helping us write some tasty new songs.

That was my next question: What do you all see looking forward now that you’ve hit this huge milestone?

Cat Ayala: We want to take a little bit of a break and finish this record that we're Writing. I think we're really ready to commit to a full-length record and it's been like the coolest things. I thought it was gonna take a lot longer, and then one day at practice we just kind of looked up and we already had like nine songs. We have more to write and I'm not saying it's gonna be like a 20-song record, but I'm excited to get back into the groove of writing because I think with this lineup, it's just something I've never been able to experience and I think it's so magical. I’m really excited for and I love the songs. I love the songs.