• the217
• Music
• Catching up with...i:Scintilla

Related Media

i:Scintilla performs before winning the award for 'Best Heavy Band.'

• See Slideshow (2 images)

Related Artists

• I:scintilla's Profile »

Since starting their career in Champaign in 2003, i:Scintilla have brought their dark, electronic-fused rock sound to venues across the country — and the world. Returning for their first local show in over a year on Saturday, Nov. 7, i:Scintilla spoke with buzz about their time in town and two upcoming releases.

buzz: You recently toured with The Cruxshadows and Ayria. How was the tour?

i:Scintilla: The tour was amazing. It was a very long tour — we spent about three months on the road. We toured around the country, and we basically saw all of the states. We got to play in cities we’ve never played before, and we got to play for audiences that have never heard us play. The band gained a lot of new audience that way. The whole thing was really great. We also learned a lot about playing live, and how to master our craft. We got along with the [members of] The Cruxshadows and Ayria very well, and it was hard saying goodbye. This was definitely one of the best things that we’ve done.

buzz: I have to ask, where did the name come from?

i:Scintilla: [Laughs] Everyone asks us this question. Well, Jim had already named the band when [Brittany] got into it. But, basically the name of the band symbolizes a catalyst. It represents new ideas and the pursuit of one’s ideas and goals. I think the word “scintilla” showed up in one of Jim’s e-mails and he liked the word. The website scintilla.com was taken, so he came up with i:Scintilla as the name.

buzz: How do you feel about returning to Champaign for your first CU show in a year?

i:Scintilla: We’re really excited to come back. We’ve had really good shows and good friends and good crowds playing at [Cowboy] Monkey. We’re excited because this is where we got our start in Sept. of 2003. It feels good to come back to the place where we started to play a show. We’re also happy to play with Terminus Victor. They’re really good friends of ours, and it’s going to be a good show.

buzz: Do you have anything special planned for the show?

i:Scintilla: We’re going to be releasing the new EP, Prey On You, at the show. It’s not the official release of the EP, but we’ll have it at the show. And [at the show], we’ll be playing a few of the new tracks from that EP and some songs from our new album.

buzz: How did you guys find and develop your sound?

i:Scintilla: We all had different influences for ourselves and our individual sound. For the band, it was something that developed as we started, and it was just natural. It wasn’t like we sat down and planned out what sound we wanted. We knew that we were going to have female vocals and our music was going to be guitar-driven — it just felt natural. And I guess we’ve been getting more electronical in our albums, but our live shows are still going to be guitar-driven and heavy.

buzz: How is Prey On You coming along? Can you give us any details about the work?

i:Scintilla: It’s going really well. We’re finishing [the album] up. We have three new tracks, one of which is exclusive to the EP, and five remixes. The remixes are a lot more ‘dance-ier.’ We’ve been working diligently on the album, and we’re really excited to release it. We have one album coming out in December, and another one coming out around February of next year.