Welcome back to Label, the stories, rumors, and legends of tooth and nail records.

I'm your host, Matt Carter.

Scott Mellinger joined Zayo to replace Brett Debtor as a guitarist when Brett left to form the Juliana theory.

This was between Blood and fire and liberate.

Now, Scott immediately brought a new element to the band and helped them arrive at their signature sound,

but Scott's influence didn't stop there. Despite being in a band with a legendary frontman like Dan

and a legendary drummer and personality like Jesse, Scott emerged as a leader and became something like the point guard or quarterback.

Now, many bands have this kind of role as an all-purpose or a utility member who doesn't get the most attention in the band,

but truly understands the band as an entity or a system that needs to be operated at every level.

In this case, Scott was able to stabilize

one of the most important but chaotic bands in the scene. And wonderfully, we can all appreciate

what Zayo is and the fact that they put together such a streak of longevity. It was truly

unexpected given their early years and the amount of environmental change that has occurred since the late 90s.

Zayo's about as legendary as it gets in our world, and I think you'll really like getting into Scott's head.

He's a great thinker, and there's lots to learn from his temperament and style of decision-making,

and I always feel privileged to have the opportunity to speak with him in any

context let's do it hello scott it's good to see you, man. Yes, what's up, buddy?

Yeah, man, you're looking good.

Oh, I feel so much better. I had gallbladder surgery like in 2019.

And from that, like I just started eating better. So I lost like 40 pounds or something crazy.

Wow, you lost 40 pounds in this last year and when everybody else gained 40 pounds last year, do you know that?

Well, it's a fight now because I've got to be careful.

...