https://tunetrax.com/scott-pemberton Sat, 18 Apr 2026 12:57:07 -0700 https://tunetrax.com/scott-pemberton/blogs/119/the-rock-n-roll-of-uncertainty https://tunetrax.com/scott-pemberton/blogs/119
Scott Pemberton O Theory to play the Panida Theater as part of Winter Carnival kickoff

FEBRUARY 9, 2022






By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey
Reader Staff
A single conversation with Portland musician Scott Pemberton makes one thing clear: The line between living everyday life and being a song-writing creative is blurred.
“It’s what I do,” Pemberton said. “It’s my way of life — music is.”
Pemberton’s band, Scott Pemberton O Theory (which is leaning into its identity as SPOT for short), will play the Panida Theater on Friday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. as part of the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce’s 2022 Winter Carnival. Music lovers can expect a show thick with groove, as SPOT’s style is best described as roots music that blends jazz, blues, grunge, funk and psychedelia — often, it has been said, in a single song.
Improvisation lies at the heart of it all, as Pemberton, bassist Stefan Jarocki and drummer David Hagen all come from jazz backgrounds.
“I’m OK with people calling us a jam band. Sometimes we are. Sometimes at the end of a song I’m like, ‘OK, I get it,’” Pemberton said. “But I never thought of it that way — it was more like progressive roots or jazz with all the rest of our influences in it, and it became what it is.”
What exactly that is requires a listen — or two or three — to pin down. The uncertainty felt in attempting to define SPOT is keeping with the band’s name. Pemberton described O Theory (“operator-belief theory”) as “an uncertainty theory” in which “you face uncertainty with either complimentary ideas, parallel ideas or intersecting ideas … but one of those things will get you through it.  
“It works perfectly in music, in improvised music,” he added.
Thanks to this approach, no two SPOT shows are the same, even if the band plays the same songs.
“All the songs are like frameworks, or skeletons, that then we dress and present however the mood suits. Every time, every song is different,” Pemberton said, adding, “it’s like going on the same hike over and over — you don’t have the same experience. It’s a different experience every time. The weather is different, your mood is different, the person you’re hiking with is different, or you’re alone, or it’s raining.”
Pemberton’s work has drawn comparisons to famed guitarist Jimi Hendrix thanks to his dedication to the instrument — a comparison Pemberton finds flattering, since he believes Hendrix was “making the music, not playing the songs.”
“I’m honored by the comparison for sure, and I think one thing he was doing that I do is just always pushing — playing the guitar at the point of consciousness where … [you’re] improvising right at the front of your thought,” he said, adding later: “I’m taking different angles and concepts than maybe you’ve seen. Jimi did that, but I don’t do it like Jimi — I’m not playing behind my head or with my teeth or anything, but I’m trying not to be limited by the constraints of the instrument.”
SPOT is brought to the Panida by Mattox Farm Productions, which aims to bring a wide variety of live music events to North Idaho year round.
“These guys are great musicians, led by Scott, who is unbelievable with a guitar,” Mattox Farm founder Robb Talbott told the   Reader . “Their music definitely has a good-time feel that is made even better by the energy and excitement they exude while on stage.”
The SPOT show begins right after the 2022 Winter Carnival Parade of Lights in downtown Sandpoint, making it the perfect party to follow up the carnival’s kickoff, according to Talbott. The gig is also the first of many sponsored by Vyve Broadband set to provide two weeks of live music across local venues during the Winter Carnival.
As for the SPOT show, it’s a chance to see (and hear) Pemberton’s philosophy — on both life and music — on a North Idaho stage.
“I’m in the long game as a musician and artist, finding ways so that it’s positive for everybody and sustainable, so you don’t quit,” he said. “Quitting is the only thing that stops you from growing.”


]]> Wed, 09 Mar 2022 16:40:10 -0800 https://tunetrax.com/scott-pemberton/blogs/86/scott-pemberton-rollin-on-the-river-and-the-lake-by-tahoe-onstage https://tunetrax.com/scott-pemberton/blogs/86




Guitar god Scott Pemberton — fresh off performances at High Sierra Music Festival and Live at Lakeview in South Lake Tahoe — headlined Reno News & Review’s 2018 Rollin’ on the River at Wingfield Park this weekend.
“High Sierra was so fun,” Pemberton said in an interview backstage before his Friday night set. “First thing we did after setting up camp was hang out with Ernest Ranglin, and I’m a huge fan. Backstage, I was kind of nervous. He was checking out my guitar … it was special.”
Ranglin accepted the High Sierra Musical Festival Lifetime Achievement Award during his set. Pemberton considers him one of his biggest influences.
Pemberton doesn’t play reggae music, but he’s influenced by Ranglin’s musical construction and how he builds songs from the bottom up.
“Bass line first,” Pemberton said. “I consider the bass line of my songs the melody. I write a thoughtful, creative bass line, then everything else is frosting.”
Pemberton’s frosting is ridiculous and entrancing. He uses a stool on which to rest his strapless guitar. It either sits on its bottom, when he plays like any other person, or on its back, when he takes a palm-down approach and plays the thing like a piano.
He recalls the first time he tried this was in front of an audience at John’s Alley Tavern in Moscow, Idaho.
“Stuff always gets weird there,” Pemberton said. “It’s a place that cultivates music. It just happened.”
The next day, he thought to himself: “That was weird. I was kind of into that.” Then he tried it again at the next show.
“During shows, I let myself do what I want,” Pemberton said. “I take down the barriers and voices in my head that say not to do something. And I found myself repeatedly doing that.”
The over-handed technique has since become a highlight of his live shows. He can flow from blues to classical to hard rock without picking up the guitar. His soft voice accentuates country vibes, his ripping, detuned guitar brings the chunk. He creates kill-switch sounds like Buckethead or Tom Morello, except with the palm of his hand. He switches between beating drums and playing his prone guitar in less than a second. And like any virtuoso, the shredding comes with a mean guitar face.
“It changes the way I look at the guitar,” Pemberton said. “Because I play it over-handed, I see more of the guitar at once. Sometimes it’s easy to see the guitar in little chunks, but when I play like this, there are no chunks. I’m working the whole thing at once. It increases my abilities and what I can do.”
Before his second High Sierra performance, he had only done the technique live and never practiced at home. He has since honed the craft and became a hot topic at the fest. This year was his fifth appearance.
“I think that festival sets the standard,” Pemberton said. “It’s a delicate balance between running the festival incredibly professionally and partying. I love the playshops. I don’t know who I didn’t play with. It cultivates community between the musicians.”
From here, Pemberton tours through Montana and ends up eventually on the East Coast, where he’s opening for ZZ Top. Pemberton is playing Reno more and more, from the Off Beat Arts & Music Festival to The Saint (a venue he said “has it going on”) to The BlueBird with Reno’s Silver, which also opened this year’s Rollin’ on the River. The man is hopping around the country playing with guitar legends and made time to play a free event in our city.
The event was filled with the spirit of summer. And not just because it was hotter than hell. Shirtless folk in fold-up chairs filled the park from the stage to the Truckee River. I could hear Silver’s “Be Somebody” from my parking spot five blocks away. Remember when parking and traffic problems were nonexistent in our Biggest Little City?
Silver is the type of band that can make me enjoy a song by The Rolling Stones … almost. They played their catchy rock tunes and threw in a Petty cover and their country tune, “Wait,” during which I saw three cute old ladies two-steppin.’ Oh, Reno, you beautiful enigma.
                                                                                                                                                  — Tony Contini
Related story: Check out photos of Scott Pemberton’s Live at Lakeview show.


The Scott Pemberton Band rocks Wingfield Park in downtown Reno.
Tahoe Onstage photos by Tony Contini




Silver



Reno’s Silver opens the Wingfield Park show.
Tony Contini / Tahoe Onstage





















ABOUT TONY CONTINI







Photographer and journalist Tony Contini graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a bachelor's degree in journalism and a minor in art photography. He loves working with bands and telling stories. Photography portfolio: https://www.TonyContini.com





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