The Chariot

So, it's 2002 and Norma Jean is playing Furnest Fest. Near the end of their set, Josh Scogin (who some consider to be the best frontman of all time) announces that he will no longer be singing for Norma Jean. So what happened from there?

“I wish I had some great story about a big fight or aliens or something,” Scogin said during an interview, when being asked why he left the band, “but really it was just something that I felt led to do.”
Scogin really had no reason to leave NJ, he just felt like his time was up with the band. But he didn't just want to stop playing music all together. He loved being on tour and playing shows, so he set out with the task of forming a new band.

In no time at all, rumor of a new band being fronted by the one and only Scogin starting pouring onto the streets of Atlanta. The bands name would be The Chariot, and they would be brutal as hell, but that is all that anyone knew. The buzz about the band kept getting bigger and bigger, yet there was still no word as to if the band would actually start playing soon or if a cd was to be released in the near future.

The line up of the Chariot was a little falty at first. They went through a few members, but soon it became a solid line up of Scogin on the mic, Keller Harbin on guitar, Josh Beiser on bass, Tony "Taco" Medina on guitar, and Jeff Carter on drums.

So, with their line up set, and a good amount of songs written, they hit the stage. Now for a lot of bands, this wouldn't be such a big deal, every band has their beginning and its not usually a huge thing, but then again, not every band is the Chariot.

The Chariot hit the stage with one of the most intense live shows ever to be seen by the world. Scogin would climb out of windows and hang by his legs from the rafters of the building. Keller and Taco would throw their guitars around so much that they had to be rebuilt after every show. I've seen video of Scogin doing back flips and climbing on top of the bass amp, only to jump off of it and into the drumset right in the middle of a song.

With such an intense live show, there was no way that this band could be ignored. They immidiately signed onto Solid State records and soon after that, they released a DVD. Thats right, they put out a DVD before their cd even came out so that people could experience their insane live show at home. The DVD is titled "Lady's and Gentlemen: The Chariot" and it is probably one of the best purchases that I have ever made.

Soon after the release of the DVD they hit the studio to record "Everything is Alive, Everything is Breathing, Nothing is Dead and Nothing is Bleeding." After being asked why the album was given that name in an interview, Scogin relplied with "The album title is pretty much just trying to break away from the ‘dead, dying, bleeding, bloody, stabbing, killing, shooting, hand grenading, dagger throwing, fire burning, flesh eating…’ you get the idea. It is just trying to say that life is actually okay.”

The album also wouldn't be your typical, well produced album. The Chariot decided to live track the whole cd, which means that instead of recording all the instruments one by one like you usually do when recording, they would just set up all their gear in a room, and play their songs live while recording them. This gave the cd a much more intense and raw edge which is what the band was going for. Listening to the cd is pretty much like seeing them live. You can hear a little talking here and there in between tracks, a few mistakes made on guitar, and plenty of feedback.

So, what amazing band would be complete without a line-up change, right? Soon after the release of the cd, Taco decided to leave the band because he was getting married and he wanted to stay home with his wife. And soon after that, Jeff left the band to pursue another band that he had been working with. Jeff really hated the whole hardcore thing and he really wanted to get into more of a straight up metal band. So this left the Chariot with only one guitarist and no drummer.

So the Chariot decided to deal with the one guitarist thing and to contact their friend Mark Nicks, the drummer of the amazing Indie/Emo band Cool Hand Luke (www.purevolume.com/coolhandluke) to play drums for them for their next tour. I actually got to catch them on this tour in Boston. They played with Underoath, Fear Before the March of Flames, and These Arms Are Snakes. I have to say, that was one of the best shows that I have ever been to. Seeing the Chariot and Underoath at the same show in a really small room is one of the more intense things that a person could do.

So after that tour, Mark went back to his band and the Chariot got their friend Jake to play for them full time. And that pretty much brings them up to date with today. They are on tour with the amazing bands Evergreen Terrace and As Cities Burn (www.purevolume.com/ascitiesburn) STRONGLY suggest that you check these guys out) at the moment and they also have a new EP coming out in December with two new songs on it and a few rerecorded songs off the old cd.

Also, as i said with Norma Jean, not only are these guys a great band, but they are wicked nice people. I've talked to both Keller and Beiser online and they are just really nice people. I also got to talk to Josh Scogin after seeing them in Boston and he was so down to earth. He doesn't let the fact that half of the hardcore world worships him as a god go to his head. I got to talk to him for a good 15 minutes, and it was actually a really good conversation about like how we both have the same name and how touring is and stuff.

You can check out more about the Chariot at Purevolume , myspace and at solidstaterecords.com

So yeah, thats about it as far as The Chariot goes. Next time I am thinking of maybe doing one on Underoath, but i'm not sure.

~Josh