Sonic Concoctions: Scam Likely Expand Their Musical Palate on New Album

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When it comes to creating most egg-based dishes, the yolk of the egg often plays a critical role in a successfully made meal. “Egg yolk in cooking is used a lot for coagulation and making things cohesive and come together in recipes,” says Denzel Dondiego, lead guitarist of Milwaukee’s indie punk four-piece band Scam Likely.

Yolk is also the name of the band’s sophomore album. On April 13, the band celebrated its release at Milwaukee’s Vivarium. The group came up with the name while making potato salad during a break in album sessions. “I looked down and I just pointed at the egg, and I said ‘Yolk,’” says lead singer and rhythm guitarist Charlee Grider. “When people ask, they say, ‘what's yolk?’ I say, ‘well, it's the goddamn center of the egg, that's all it is.’ I'm not going to bullshit you with some story that it means this big thing. It's just the middle of an egg and looks cool on paper.”

For Cary Dean Elger, the band’s drummer, “Yolk to us means a rebirth, when things break and then you see them, and you take apart all the most intricate parts and you break things down to their details. I think that definitely could be getting to the center of something or just sort of stripping away parts of something,” says Elger.

Punk, Folk, Funk

Grider says the band started out with a strictly punk driven fast sound because “that's what we saw getting attention in basement shows and we just wanted to play a gig. But then quickly we were able to take all of our different music backgrounds and merge them and create the sound you’re hearing on [our 2023 debut album] Getting Worse but importantly what people hear on Yolk. Yolk is really a conglomeration of our backgrounds and how we grew up.” Adds Elger “I think that has really helped shape the sound. You could get a little punk, you could get a little folk, you could get a little funk in there. It could be a lot of things.”

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Describing their developing chemistry, Elger says it’s like “all of us are coming together in the center of an egg.” The group of friends has found success musically drawing from a very dynamic and collaborative approach to songwriting. They’ve further gained confidence through opening spots with bands such as Yard Act, Frank Turner, and Speedy Ortiz.

The album captures the band’s growth in two important ways. First, the band spent more time developing songs compared to Getting Worse. It allowed them to further explore and experiment with their sound and grow ideas more naturally. For example, the band’s song “Nosebleed” grew into a completely different song compared to its initial demo that Dondiego created. It took months of fine-tuning to reach its final state. 

“We take a lot more time to think about structure and other elements besides just melodies and chords and how they fit together, but also how we can utilize these other elements of songwriting to kind of try and make our songs sound more like us,” says Dondiego.

Bassist Thierry Diatta says the band’s debut turned out as it did because it was created “out of necessity.” With Yolk, the band felt more freedom. “Now it's like, ‘alright, what's the absolute best can bring out of now that we're not so much under pressure just to fill out 40 minutes, let's think about what we can do better.’”

Eventful Year

The album’s personal lyrics draw from a very eventful 2023, and as Elger says “tumultuous ever-changing year” for band members. Things were happening quickly—including several major breakups in the band—and they felt they had to adjust on the fly with all the changes. They had to grapple with who they were after these life events. Without realizing it, many of the lyrics are part of their grieving and reflection processes. 

“I think we’re being more honest this time around,” says Grider. I feel like while Yolk still is lyrically palatable and showy, it is more honest and more true. I feel like that's going to make the performances really fun because I personally will be just so much more into the content. I think at times maybe we got a little too wrapped up in trying to say the exact right thing poetically.”

Adds Diatta, “We’re writing about what it's like to be people who are our age trying to do stuff right now. It comes off as very authentic because we are really writing just about day-to-day stuff.”

On lead-off single “Winner,” the band shows off its dynamic nature creating a sonic friction that builds up during the song. The band’s goal for the song (and album in general) was to have more build in the song and as Grider says “going through the flow of it and feeling different things throughout the song” rather than something fairly straightforward. 

Yolk marks a bit of victory lap for the band, as it’s their final project as a Milwaukee group. In August, they will be moving to Chicago. “We love Milwaukee and wanted to see it through with the community that we have been so graciously welcomed into,” Grider says. “Diatta and I are in school right now, and we're graduating this year. So, it’s kind of a good excuse at the beginning of a new part of life after being done with college, let's move onward and let's see where we go.”

For now, they’re excited to play in Milwaukee, especially at Vivarium. Says Diatta, “It really feels like we're at the start of something special when a new venue opens up and you're a local and you get to headline your own show.”