We Speak Music
Iconic Japanese guitarist Tomoyasu Hotei features on ‘Sensei’ by Freddie & The Scenarios!
Freddie & The Scenarios is nothing short of a supergroup. On record and future live plans, the line-up is a musician’s dream, and the record vibes seamlessly across genres, creating its own form of indie, dream pop, world soul sounds that’s parts Beck, and Bach. Not totally, but you get the idea, all the songs were written by Freddie, and he conducts the band as though a full orchestra.
The album consists of twelve tracks of joy, pain and just about everything in between. Freddie’s guitar is flawless, and hopping for the first time onto vocals delivered with an earnestness that touches genuinely. Backed by a brass section and other musicians, Freddie describes working with Vaccine’s old drummer and other past and new friends as follows,
“Pete is such an incredible drummer. He’s phenomenal – calm and so conversational, he just speaks with the drums. In fact, all the musicians on this album were people I’d just unconsciously earmarked over the years. Ethan Johns, the producer, played percussion and he’s the best percussionist probably in the country. Then we went to Mexico and recorded the brass section with players there because we thought if we got a bunch of English brass players, it wouldn’t sound like what we’re looking for. It’s this certain sound. The same way there’s Mexican boxing, there’s a certain fire to it you can’t really replicate.”
And it was, indeed whilst living in a curious time in Mexico City in 2019, Freddie had several serendipitous encounters with some of the musicians living and working there, especially around the city’s Centro Historico neighbourhood – Diego Herrera from Mexico’s legendary Caifanes, who has become a mentor, resident string and brass arranger Dan Zlotnik, and Moises Garcia, the trumpet player for Mexican hero, Juan Gabriel, among many others. These encounters inspired ‘Answer Machine’, a celebration of creative freedom and collaboration, life, growth, and restoration.
The album was recorded in both Mexico City and Somerset and somehow captures both perfectly.
After the album’s release, The Scenarios will tour Mexico in April, with plans to bring the live show to the UK later this year. Freddie explains,
“I want to do a small amount of shows and do them really well and make it really, really interesting, the music business in the ‘60s and ‘70s was much more based around records and when people did play shows, they were amazing. So I only want to play a small amount of shows with the best people.”
We Speak Music
SCARECROW’s John Blaze Delivers a Career Milestone With “Twisted” and Earns Josie Music Awards Song of the Year Nomination
John Blaze has spent nearly four decades fronting SCARECROW, the New York hard-rock outfit he founded in 1989, and in 2026 he delivered one of the most ambitious releases of his career with “Twisted.” Now, the song has reached another major milestone: “Twisted” has been nominated for Song of the Year in the Metal/Alternative category at the Josie Music Awards.
The nomination places Blaze and SCARECROW among this year’s recognized independent artists and songwriters at the Josie Music Awards, with the awards ceremony set to take place at Nashville’s legendary Grand Ole Opry. For an artist whose career has been built on persistence, independence and decades of hard-rock storytelling, the recognition gives “Twisted” an entirely new chapter.
Written by John Blaze and Chaffin, “Twisted” pulls together a lineup of guest players that reads like a rock family reunion, built around Blaze’s long-standing friendship with Dee Snider and the legacy of Twisted Sister, a band woven into SCARECROW’s story from its earliest days.
That connection goes all the way back to the beginning. SCARECROW’s original lineup featured guitarist Eddie Ojeda, best known for his work in Twisted Sister, and the two camps have remained connected ever since. “Twisted” makes that history explicit: Dee Snider appears on the record with guest vocals during the track’s climactic second verse and chorus, lending the song an instantly recognizable jolt of arena-rock power.
Snider isn’t the only marquee name in the credits. Mark Wood, founding violinist of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, contributes electrifying violin work that gives “Twisted” a cinematic sweep uncommon in modern hard rock. Rounding out the track are TJ Jordan on lead guitar and Bobby Marks on drums, creating a powerful, road-tested foundation behind Blaze’s signature gritty vocal delivery.
The Josie Music Awards nomination feels particularly fitting because “Twisted” isn’t simply another SCARECROW release. It brings together different eras of Blaze’s musical life while pushing the band’s sound forward. There’s history in the recording, but there’s also urgency. It doesn’t sound like a band looking backward. It sounds like one with unfinished business.
For Blaze, the nomination also represents recognition of a career that has largely been built outside the traditional machinery of the mainstream music business. Independent rock artists rarely survive for decades without a fierce commitment to what they do, and SCARECROW’s longevity speaks for itself. From the band’s early years and its 1991 debut, through the Blood, Sweat and 20 Years retrospective and the theatrical production I Am SCARECROW, Blaze has continued developing a world around the music rather than simply releasing songs.
That makes the Song of the Year nomination especially meaningful. After nearly four decades of building SCARECROW, Blaze now heads to the Josie Music Awards at the Grand Ole Opry with one of his most ambitious songs recognized in the Metal/Alternative category.
And there’s something wonderfully appropriate about the song that got him there.
“Twisted” connects SCARECROW’s beginnings to its present, reunites Blaze musically with figures tied to the band’s history, and demonstrates just how much fire remains in the project. With Snider and Wood contributing to the record and Blaze still driving the band he created from the ground up, the track feels less like a nostalgic reunion than a statement of survival.
Now it’s also an award-nominated song.
For John Blaze and SCARECROW, nearly four decades into the journey, “Twisted” has become more than another entry in the catalog. It’s a career milestone — and this September, that milestone is taking SCARECROW all the way to the Grand Ole Opry.
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