Scout Gillett Steps Right Up To The Rock & Roll Circus
By : Josh Kitchen / September 21, 2026
Scout Gillett is pulling a Neil Young and currently occupying her days rockin’ in the free world. The Kansas City-born, New York-forged songwriter has spent years occupying just about every corner of independent music, whether making her own records, DJing, touring or booking shows for other artists through Road Dog Booking. Since relocating to Los Angeles, Gillett has been finding her place in yet another music community, both onstage and behind the scenes.
“I feel like I’m just now starting to do that in L.A.,” Gillett says of booking shows and tours in her new home. It makes Rock and Roll Circus a particularly fitting stop. Tomorrow at Reverie Bookstand in West Hollywood, Gillett joins a stacked collection of artists including Sedona, Escape-ism, Michael Rault, Pasty Face, Noah Nash of Uni Boys, Gossip Poet and more. “I’ve gotten so many people responding to that, and they’re like, ‘We’re gonna be there,’” Gillett says. “I’m like, ‘This is gonna be crazy.’”
The show also gives Gillett a chance to push back against the singer-songwriter and Americana labels that have often followed her. “There are pieces of that,” she says, “but really, it’s not my sound or my live show at all. I definitely love to rock.”
And rock she did at Gold-Diggers on Saturday night, supporting experimental rock and roll god Gary Wilson. Gillett and her band shredded and jammed through 45 minutes of raw, thrilling, emotionally charged Americana-drenched ballads and rippers, delivering one of the standout sets of the entire evening.
Six months after the release of her sophomore album, Tough Touch, I caught up with Gillett about finding strength in vulnerability, building a musical life in Los Angeles, reshaping her songs onstage and joining the Rock and Roll Circus.
Scout, your second record, Tough Touch, came out earlier this year and has been out for about six months now. What's it been like living with the record now that it's out there and belongs to other people, too?
Scout Gillett:
It's really crazy to think that it's been six months. I've been sitting with some of these songs, like "Tough Touch" and "Gonna Change," for a while and playing them live for a long time.
It was a really crazy process with recording, trying to find a home for the album and moving. I recorded some of these songs three different times in different studios, but then ended up working with who I originally wanted to work with, Stuart Sikes. I messaged him right after No Roof No Floor came out and sent him demos. I really wanted to work with him because he did Cat Power's The Greatest and Modest Mouse and The White Stripes and The Walkmen.
He was super honest at first. He was like, "No, it's not there yet." So I kept working it, and finally he was like, "Yeah, this is great. Let's go." I think he finally heard what my vision was for it.
I'll be transparent, too. I had a lot of grief this year with my family and people passing. I kind of released the record, went on tour in Europe, had a lot of loss and was focusing on being with my family. Now I'm like, "Oh yeah, I did release a record and should promote it."
I imagine dealing with that loss and life might also show up in whatever you make next.
Gillett:
Yeah, being human and being able to translate that into song, it definitely is showing up. I've been writing a lot. That's been something I've really been enjoying.
Has Tough Touch changed for you as you've been playing these songs live?
Gillett:
Definitely. The lineup changed a little bit after moving to L.A. Omar Schombacher, the guitarist, is still playing with me, and he's incredible. He has a project called Great Spiders. Then I'm playing with Nick Murray, who played with Thee Oh Sees and White Fence and Cate Le Bon, and Liz Wakefield, who I knew from New York like 10 years ago.
It's definitely my kookiest cast of characters that I've had for a lineup, but the best band. I really love all of them. They're family to me, so there's this different energy to the songs. I also have a keyboardist playing with me live now in L.A., Abraham Parker.
I've actually been thinking more about stuff from No Roof No Floor. When I released that record, I was writing a lot of the songs for Tough Touch and trying to figure out their sound. Now I'm like, "Oh yeah, No Roof No Floor was good. I want to play those songs again." I've changed some of them, adding different parts or changing chords. I've even thought about someday re-recording it so I could have my masters back.
Scout's Version, right?
Gillett:
Yeah, pull a T-Swift.
You're from Kansas City, then you were in Brooklyn, and now you're in L.A. How has moving through those places affected you and your artistry?
Gillett:
It's broadened my perspective and my experiences so much, and I feel really lucky. I never really thought I'd live in New York and also L.A.
New York was a dream of mine, and now to be here, the landscape has changed my writing and the flow of life. I went back to New York for two weeks in August, and I was there for almost nine years, so much of my life is there. It was so much fun, but I was like, "I don't know if I would move back." I like pretty walks with the smell of flowers.
I love my neighborhood. I love my little house. I was also in L.A. without a car for six months, which is kind of crazy, but I still loved it and made it work. I love how open and vast and beautiful it is here.
You've just played Gold-Diggers with Gary Wilson and then Rock and Roll Circus on the 22nd. Talk to me about these two shows.
Gillett:
Well, this is kind of part of me getting into it out here because I feel like I was still doing what I did in New York, which was playing every month or two. I said yes to the Gold-Diggers show a while ago. I'm a huge fan of Gary Wilson. I got into him in maybe 2018 or 2017. I was working at a record store, so probably 2018, and I was like, "Oh my gosh, this is amazing!" So when he asked me to play, I was like, "What?"
And then when Pasty Face asked me to play Rock and Roll Circus. I've worked with Escape-ism and Ian and Sedona in different ways, but it's such a good lineup. I was just like, "I have a show a few days before, but if you guys don't care, I don't care."
I've gotten so many people responding to that, and they're like, "We're gonna be there," and I'm like, "This is gonna be crazy." It's such a small space. I feel like it's gonna be really cool. So I'm really excited.
I feel like it's kind of starting to go more because I think I get narrowed into singer-songwriter, Americana, and there are pieces of that, but really, it's not my sound or my live show at all. I definitely love to rock.
That's something I hear all over Tough Touch. There's so much heaviness. "Control" has these sick synths, and my favorite track, "Cherry Blossoms," has this buildup that just explodes. It feels like you're really letting loose.
Gillett:
Thank you so much. I definitely wanted it to feel soft and vulnerable, but also heavy and cathartic at times. That was a big part of the record cover, too. The record is about finding strength in vulnerability.
And on the record cover, for people who don't know, it's you, and you're not wearing much clothing.
Gillett:
I'm wearing nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's a raw record.
When you're playing these songs live and seeing people sing them back to you, is there a song or moment where you've been surprised by the reaction?
Gillett:
I don't know about surprised, but I do see people cry sometimes.
That's gotta feel weird.
Gillett:
Like during "Blur," yeah. But it's good. It's like they're feeling it with me and getting through it. My songs aren't sad. They're about discovering myself and the breakthrough through the trial and tribulation of the emotion. It's like, these feelings brought me to this point.
It's been really amazing to see that. I've seen people sing along to stuff, and it's awesome. I just like seeing people react and engage with it in any way they're able to. That's why I love to perform live so much, just to feel that engagement with people.
At the Chicago show there was a girl who flew from Texas for her 23rd birthday to that show, and she knew all of the words. I was like, "What is going on?"
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