Like his Tera Melos buddies, Sean Stout, is a native of Sacramento with a love of music and video making. He , along with Zach Hill, made the best video ever to represent the general malaise of life in the River City. We ask him some questions. You read the answers.
FLABmag: So where are you from?
Sean: I’m originally from Sacramento but have only been back here for the past year after about a two years split between the east coast NY, Philadelphia and then Portland.
FLABmag: What compelled you start TerrorEyes.TV? What’s your goal for the site?
Sean: TE originally started as a blog to post random odd videos that me and my friends where making, it wasn’t originally a music site. There were skate videos, weird arty videos, video interviews with artists, drawings, photos, whatever. It didn’t have a theme at all and was very disorganized. All I wanted was to make weird videos. At the time all my friends played music and that just ended up being the most accessible thing to me. So eventually I turned the site strictly into a music video site and it sort of just evolved from there. As far as a goal? I guess the goal would be to continue to try to expose people to new interesting music through interesting videos and make some friends along the way…
FLABmag: It looks like a WordPress CMS, is it? Do you do all the content management yourself?
Sean: The site is actually a Drupal platform, Andy Morin made it, I don’t know anything about making websites… I manage most of the content but also have Robert Khoury from seetheleaves contributing to the blog… I want more contributors though! Especially video contributors, they are just hard to find.
FLABmag: Who came up with the name “Terror Eyes”?
Sean: Well, I guess I did but I sort of stole it from my friend Judd. We where at a dance party a couple of years ago and Judd was making confetti of the rug and got super stoked and just yelled, “Terrorize the Night!!!” For some reason I though that was really funny and it sort of embodied what I was about at the time – if that makes any sense. So when I started the video site it just made sense to call it terror EYES… So, I guess in a round about way it was an unwilling collab… haha I don’t think Judd knows about that though.
FLABmag: What criteria do you have for featuring bands on the site?
Sean: Just that the bands are sincere in what they do and work hard at being musicians… I don’t even necessarily have to like the music as long as I can appreciate what the artist is trying to do.
FLABmag: You’ve made a lot of videos yourself, how did you get into that?
Sean: Growing up skateboarding, making skate videos and weird skit videos. Editing with 2 VCR’s and whatnot, I just really liked the process and just sort of never stopped since I was little…
FLABmag: Besides videos do you make any other art in other mediums?
Sean: I used to draw and paint a lot but have sort of fallen out of that… I still doodle if that counts as art… I try to take photos as much as possible.
FLABmag: Who designed the Terror Eyes T-shirt (it’s pretty cool).
Sean: My friend Tony Fauci drew that – Haha its awesome right!
FLABmag: What is your opinion of the Sacramento music/social scene?
Sean: Haha Sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it. Sacramento is filled with some of the most talented people I know. Its pretty incredible. I think its just hard to get people motivated. Sacramento is pretty easy living compared to other cities, which yields a lot of free time for people to create, but it also frees up a lot of time to just sit on a porch. The music scene is incredible. I just think it needs some cultivation.
FLABmag: Which venue in town has the best sound system? Is the most friendly/helpful to bands? Draws the best crowds?
Sean: Harlows sounds pretty good but it could always be louder and the vibe there is a little weird. I don’t really want to drink a martini while watching Deerhoof, ya know… Just kidding… Kinda… What venue draws the best crowds? In my opinion Townhouse or The Hub, but then again those are the two that I end up at the most. I think it has more to do with who is playing and who the promoter is. Arco arena is probably friendliest to bands.
FLABmag: So you made a truly brilliant video with Zach Hill for “Sacto Smile” (Face Tat, 2010 – a really insane album altogether – in a good way), what parts of Sacramento was it filmed in? And can you tell us about the storyline, How’d you guys decide on it?
Sean: That was filmed around Midtown and At the Funcastle house, also up by the river. There wasn’t really a storyline. Zach had the idea to just have a young girl losing her mind and breaking stuff. So we collectively thought up scenes and played around with different ideas until it started taking a direction that made sense, (if any of it makes any sense). It was a lot of fun.
FLABmag: Who is the vicious minx in the video (she is my hero!)?
Sean: That vicious minx would be Sacto native Liz Liles. She is a good friend of Zach and I. I have known her for years and years so when the idea for the video was originally proposed there was no question who it was going to be – it was just immediately her. She is probably the only girl I know that would be willing to wreck her whole house just to make a music video and all the while being really excited to do so…
FLABmag: Speaking of Zach Hill, how did you guys meet?
Sean: I met Zach through other mutual musician friends of ours.
FLABmag: How did you get involved with the Tera Melos guys?
Sean: I met Nick through Zach when we made those live Bygones sessions. Nick and I became friends and through him met the rest of the Melos dudes…
FLABmag: Do you play music yourself? If so, what instrument(s)?
Sean: I don’t actively play music, no. I mostly just stick to the video thing… I do know how to play the intro line to “Smoke on the Water” on guitar.
FLABmag: You just finished touring with Tera Melos & Marnie Stern, what are your plans for the rest of the year?
Sean: The plan for the rest of the year is to finish the tour documentary, make more live sessions… I dunno I don’t really ever have a plan. I guess just try to keep the ball rolling and get better at making films. There are about 11 music videos coming up. I’m going to be launching a small vinyl-only label….The plan is not to go crazy.
Bonus Question:
FLABmag: Any good road stories to share?
Sean: Oh man… haha there are too many… All the tour stories will be in the documentary. Hopefully that will be out by the end of summer. It’s going to be called “Ahwp Ba Ba Ta Ta Ta Ta” There is essentially an incredible story from every night.
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