Jacket Thief (Scott Reeder of Fu Manchu) Released  Debut Album “Lights Out On The Shore”

Photo courtesy of the artist.

Scott Reeder’s Jacket Thief has released a debut full-length album,”Lights Out On The Shore,” on September 29.

Started in the Winter of 2021 and completed in early 2023, “ Lights Out On The Shore” is a 12 song cycle written and performed by Scott Reeder, drummer of the band FU MANCHU. Having treaded many stages and studios over the past 22 years laying the foundation for the titans of “fuzz-wah” rock over 5 studio releases and playing live with artists as varied as Orianthi and Social Distortion, Scott has stretched into a melodic heavy and lyrically dense area of songwriting, rich in harmony and memorable riffs.
 
Collaborating with Grammy winning producer/engineer Ryan Mall (Dropkick Murphys, Old Crow Medicine Show/Gaslight Anthem), Reeder played all the instruments on the album and sings all vocals. The songs were crafted over a couple years’ time and over the course of the sessions a rough theme began to emerge, starting with the opening track “Flying Too Low”
 
“I had a re-occurring dream when I was young kid before I had ever seen an ocean in real life” says Reeder. “I would be flying low over the water and the sky in front of me would be grey, but I could see in the distance a light of some kind, and that was my guide..I would follow the light and always arrive safe on the shore. When we were working on the first song, I had only an instrumental track of acoustic guitar, bass drum and Wurlitzer organ for bass. On a drive home from the desert one night, the lyric came as I was listening to a mix in about 10 minutes and I realized I had the theme for the album.. and the soundtrack to that dream from years ago.” 
 
So followed the rest of the songs with Mall’s sonic guidance. Over the course of thirteen “Saturday Sessions” spread over a year and a half, they crafted a complete album experience. “We would usually do a song a day” says Reeder. “I would start with drums and just build the song from there laying rhythm and bass guitar, then vocals at the end of the day. It was a great way to work when we had the time, no pressure involved. We started to see we had a really good picture, almost cinematic at some points and got pretty excited by the results”
 
The album has a great feel of movement throughout with the heavy crash of “ Some Kind Of Murder” and “ A Stitch In Time”, the leaden throb of “ Daylight Apparitions” and the drop-tuned drone of the title track “Lights Out On The Shore” All of the lead guitar duties where handled by Reeder’s bandmate Bob Balch, save for the tracks “ Everything But Right” and the epic float away track that ends the album, “As She Drifts.” Mitchell Townsend (Matt Costa/Jack Johnson) conjured up the spirits of Stephen Stills/Manassas era slide guitar and layers of harmonic sea creatures for those songs. “I’m super lucky to call both of these guys friends and they are such monster musicians that I could not have asked for better. There’s no way I would be as happy with the record if it was not for their contributions” 
 
The album also features 2 songs co-written by longtime friend and songwriter Michael Rosas, “The First Ones From The Skies” and the album’s first single “TLFN.”
 
“Those are two songs that have kicked around in some form or another for a while that we worked on together that I just wanted to finally record on my own. Michael is a brilliant songwriter and always pushes you to do your best, so I wanted to honor that with a heavy performance on both songs. I hope to write more with him in the future”
 
As for a favorite track, Reeder choses the languid “Furs and Fires” as his go to. “That song turned out better than I ever could have imagined. I did not have a three part harmony planned for it, it was all studio inspiration and Ryan being so easy to record vocals with” Even though the lyric seems obvious with its references to chemicals to “take the pain away” it’s not a song about escape but a but a song about being present to enjoy it all, and knowing when to draw the line. “It was kind of a big step for me in lyric writing to be able to say what I wanted to without saying too much and beating the listener over the head.. there’s enough there that you can think a bit but still enjoy the ride and drift..”
 
With even the photographs that adorn the album artwork being taken by him personally, “Lights Out On The Shore” is a true hand crafted statement from Reeder and all involved. And just the beginning for JACKET THIEF. “There’s more music and songs by people I like that I would like to collaborate with and bring in so it can be an ever evolving project.. but I hope people enjoy what we have so far. I like the fact that I could sit down and play you the entire album with one guitar and the songs would still be strong songs. That’s the test.”

Source: thoughtswordsaction.com