Rolling Stone - Feb 2000

The band Local H, which dropped from four members to two in the early 1990s, is now down to its last founding member. Drummer Joe Daniels, who co-founded the group with frontman Scott Lucas, has left the group. He's been replaced by Brian Saint Claire, the former drummer of Triple Fast Action. "It feels fine," Lucas said in a phone interview when asked about the departure of Daniels, who he's known since high school. "He wasn't digging it anymore. That's pretty much it." He said Local H will carry on as a two-person band, with Lucas on bass and guitars and St. Claire on drums. "Brian is a great drummer," he said. "It's not like anything's missing. He was always one of my favorite drummers, right up there with John Bonham."

Will the group sound different with Daniels gone?

"Absolutely not," Lucas said. "That's the reason it is still Local H. If it was something different, I would have started a new band. I'm not going to change the way I play guitar. Brian is a great drummer. It's not like anything's missing." In 1998, the group released Pack Up the Cats (which was originally going to be titled "That Fucking Cat"), a follow-up to their gold-selling 1996 release, As Good As Dead. The band is still working on putting out an album, but first it needs to find a label, having parted ways with Island Records. "We're not on a label right now," Lucas said. "We're fishing."

The group has also been touring and writing songs. Lucas is looking forward to playing Winter X Games 2000, a gig he's familiar with. "I've been there a couple times before," he said. Although not an X Games addict like some musicians associated with the event, he's always enjoyed playing the events. "For me it's just the kind of thing where I get to play and get to ski for free," he said.

Erik Espe