Scorpion vs. Tarantula could be described as too rock ’n’ roll for punks and too punk for metalheads. Lead singer L. Hotshot is known for her big hair, dramatic eye makeup and tendency to get right up in the audience’s face.
They’ve played in all types of places, from record stores to Crescent Ballroom, but their sound is probably best enjoyed in the comfort of a dingy dive bar.
The Show spoke with L. after Scorpion vs. Tarantula performed for us at The Ghost of Eastside Records in Tempe. And just a warning — they’re a bit louder than the bands we usually feature in Tiny Desert Concerts.
Full conversation
SAM DINGMAN: I have to ask. There’s a break in “Heart Like a Fist,” where you say — perhaps jokingly, I’m not sure — “Music. Does it really matter?” What’s behind that question?
L. HOTSHOT: I think that’s just my snotty punkness coming out. I used to have a shirt that said, “I don’t care about music.” And another one said, “I’m not a musician,” way back when. I think it’s just the snotty punkness and that, what is the point of music? Is there a point?
What is the point of anything? But I will say if there’s a point to any of it, and that is this: Live shows, I think, especially after COVID, have been hard. A lot of venues have closed down. People don’t go out as much as they used to. I will say this. If you really want to feel what’s going on out there in the city, feel what’s going on with a genre or feel what’s going on just in a scene, go see a live show.
And it doesn’t have to be ours for sure, but go out there and support live music. There’s so many great bands out there and so many ways that you can connect with others that don’t involve a phone or don’t involve you sitting in front of a screen. It really, really will feed your soul. Promise.
DINGMAN: Amen. So when you started playing as Scorpion vs.Tarantula, how do you remember kind of knowing that you had found the sound that you wanted to bring out to shows? Was it there right from the beginning, or did it take a little while to find it?
HOTSHOT: I think I can’t speak for everyone in the band, but I can say for me, it’s a lot about how for me it’s all about a performance. This is a performance for people. It’s a performance. I’m not up there with my music stand and my notes and my lyrics. I’m not here to talk about things I don’t know anything about.
I’m here to talk about love and loss and defeat and low self-esteem and fighting through everything. And if I can project that to an audience and I feel that electricity back, I know that what we’re doing is true and real.
DINGMAN: So those themes that you are saying you’re trying to express in the songs as well as through the performance of the songs, are those themes you found yourself always writing about ever since you started writing, or did you find those themes through this style of music? If that question makes sense.
HOTSHOT: It does. I think I’ll try to answer it, and let me know. I got into music very late in my life. My mom was divorced. She listened to a lot of light rock. I knew a lot. If you need the words to any light rock song, I’ve got you covered. So it wasn’t until very late in my life
that I started getting into this kind of music. A friend of mine gave me a Johnny Thunder CD. I threw it in my car, and I almost drove into a tree. And I thought, “This is what I want.”
DINGMAN: So if I’m hearing you right, prior to that moment of getting that Johnny Thunder CD, you didn’t even think of yourself as a songwriter?
HOTSHOT: No, absolutely not.
DINGMAN: OK. OK. Were you writing about these ideas or these feelings in another form, or was it hearing that music that made you just kind of alchemize this energy into music?
HOTSHOT: I love to perform, and I like to be on stage. I thought at first I wanted to be a drummer. And I bought myself a drum kit — again, in Chicago, I went to a guy’s house. He said, "Come on in." There are a lot of boxes in the house. No furniture. I’m pretty sure it was stolen, but not really.
I’m just gonna go out on a limb and say it was. Got home, started drumming and started playing with some people. And then thought, “Wait a minute. What am I doing? I don’t want to sit behind here.”
So I started performing, and I think that’s when it started to come out. I think I’m naturally — I like to write. I have been a writer in my career. So I think that all kind of came naturally. And I think from a performance standpoint, it’s the two put together that works for me.
DINGMAN: Was there any early song that you wrote where you felt like you really got to that honesty you were just alluding to? That writing what you were really feeling, writing what you know, and you felt like, yes, this is my voice as a songwriter?
HOTSHOT: There’s a song in there called “My Own Worst Enemy.” And it’s a lot about being your own worst enemy. I wish. I wish I could, but I can’t. And I wish I would, but I won’t. A lot about self esteem and how we kind of beat ourselves up over things.
[CLIP FROM “My OWN WORST ENEMY” BY SCORPION VS. TARANTULA PLAYS]
When I wrote that, suddenly I was like, OK, OK.
I feel OK about this. And you know what? I’m not the only one going through this.
DINGMAN: So I have to say, L., something that’s very interesting to me about what you’re describing there is these are very tender feelings. You’re talking about. Insecurity, love, loss. These are feelings that I think of as, like, soft, delicate. And yet your music has this really, like, big rock sound, this very driving style.
You have a huge stage presence. You got the eye makeup going. You got, like, the spikes on your wrist and everything. I have the sense that that contrast is interesting to you. The kind of, like, hard exterior, soft interior. Am I reading that correctly that or no?
HOTSHOT: No one’s ever said that before, and I love that. And I think there is. I think sometimes to have those type of emotions. I’m a sufferer of depression. I know a lot of people are. When you feel that depressed, it’s very easy to tuck into yourself, to close all the shades, close the doors down, and say, “I don’t want anything to do with anybody. I don’t want to come out.”
What I feel is very therapeutic for me is to put on the makeup. Music is a very primal thing. Emotions are very primal. The way we interact with each other is very primal and cultural. Bringing that out, especially those type of emotions and owning them with makeup and spikes and saying, “You know what? This may be happening to me, but I can still be strong. I can still put it out there, and you’re getting me.”
DINGMAN: Well, L., thank you so much for this conversation. Let’s take a listen to one more of your tunes. What are you going to take us out on?
HOTSHOT: Sam, appreciate it and appreciate all that you and your team is doing. We’re going to take you out on “Short Leash.”
