Horn St.Albans Thurs August 25th

The Scratch entered in a flurry of guitars and hairy legs to play a blinding set at The Horn in St Albans on Thursday 25th. After the atmospheric, Sneaker Pimps-esque sounds of Moeker, The Scratch obviously decided to come out with a full frontal attack(thankfully not literally, even though lead singer Andy was exposing his knees to the world in a natty kilt and jacket combination. Eat your hearts out Trinny and Suzanna!).

The first few tracks really hit home, with the traditional 'I Relax to Spiral Scratch' anthem as a starting point. The Scratch know their influences and there's hints of just about every spikey guitar punk/pop band of the last three decades in there, but still with that spark of originality and determination that has become their trademark. The addition of some tinny beatbox sounds and a more relaxed vibe for 'Brainstorm' brought some variety to proceedings, but it's the pumping guitar pop that The Scratch really excell at. If you want some back to basics 3 minute rock songs to jump around to, then look no further.

REVIEW FROM STEVE ASH...

The Comedy - A Comedy

This certainly wasn't the most smoothly executed gig I've seen, but then it wasn't the best equipped 'venue' either, but having keenly read the Dave Trousers blog, over the last few months, I felt I had to check out the band. From my novice point of view, musicality apart they sure are a specticle, that said as a big Garage rock fan they also have the power too.



H.Manatee

Trousers down ....

Just to let you guys know, that due to artistic commitments I have had to relinquish my role as the Scratch's resident siccophant, in favour of a new 'Guest Reviewer' role from people selected from the crowd of the bands future gigs ... I will of course continue to biasedly extole the virtues of the fab four, but alas from now on from afar.

So any budding reviewers please send your Scratch eulogies to: info@ponylandrecords.co.uk and I'll publish them on my blog. Keep Rockin'

The Trousers
xxxx

When's 8.00 o'clock ever been 7.45!?!?!?!?

For me in these troubled times a) getting over 30 punters to a 7.45!!!!! yes 7.45 start to a London gig (hollyoaks is still on then isn’t it?) and b) getting followers of the next band on, to dance at that time, also tells me and should tell you that in a fair world, it won’t be long before The Scratch gravitate in a Phoenixesque flourish, out the door, turn left walk 100 yards and your there namely to the hallowed Astoria. It’s not to say they’re getting too big for their boots, in my opinion they are bigger than the sum total of all the boots, trousers, pants, thongs, g-strings and socks of the entire square mile circumferancing the Borderline. Mighty new material, renewed sparkle and a sprinkling of now classic older tracks makes these guys a must see when they are in town. Pigeon holes are for pigeons or school teachers, but if only to help those of you still not convinced by your converted mates desperate and deserved entreties … here’s a laymans idea of what you’re missing. From one angle you’ve got a Kaisers, Killers, new world indie popishness, from another side you’ve got a Primal Scream, PIL (death disco), dance pumpathon and from all sides you’ve got in your face guitar, bass and drum euphoria , topped off by leaping, swirving and squeeling and that’s just Grim’s pedals… how can you fail to be intrigued? Pick of the night for me were two newies debuted at the Horn last month, AJAX boogie woogie bugle boy from Watford Gap and the less unwieldely entitled Dear Maniac (Punk, Ska, Grunge and Frank Sinatra all in one song), plus the ever merciless X-Ray eyes. Oh and I almost forgot .... c) when the chear at the end of the set at 8.15!!!! (East(dead)enders) hasn’t even finished by then! … is the biggest of all the bands on the night, when everyone (who gallantly arrived slightly late ‘cos of less than clear directives from the venue) is stone cold sober! See you at the Comedy August 23rd, you'd be foolish not to find the time!

Dave T.

Back with a VENGANCE!!!!!!!!!!

Now, I like most of the punters at the Horn on Friday, was expecting a night of sweaty rock covers, beer that whatever you had, was sufused with a hint of Snakebite and because The Scratch were playing their first gig in 6 months, a welcome fix of experimental punk glamour. I was not disappointed... with the exception of sweaty, that is...cos the Horn on Friday night more closely resembled the refridgerated section of the local Iceland, infact the people I was lurking next to were complaining of the early stages of frost bite. Anyway enough blether ...I’ll get to the nitty gritty, if 6 months away results in a performance like that everytime, then I’m gonna push for them to split up and reform in 10 years. The Scratch tonight were fantastic ... transformed infact even since Christmas from edgy post punk princes, to the rockin, punkin, funkin, experimental king peacocks that they had always showed the promise to be. If DIY was the wake up call, judging by the new material, and the brilliantly enthusiastic response of everyone there, the next album promises to be amazing. All this was coupled with a near faultless performance and wild manic gyrations from the normally more passive John and Grim, it truely was the best gig I’ve seen in ages from anyone, let alone the local heroes. So onto The Borderline and hey they'd had better watchout in July, 'cos The Scratch are truley reaching a special moment in their existance. I've said it before, you've got to catch them now, before they all buy houses in Geneva and retire with more habits than The Abbey, I just hope people get off their arses and put their faith in the boys, 'cos pub gardens can be drunk in any day of the week, in any month, in any year. Special new tracks to watch out for ... Ajax Boogie woogie bugle boy of Watford Gap builds like a runaway rhino! and Glam, Ska, Punk, Jazz stormer and track of the night Dear Maniac, the most bizarre pop song i've heard since The Specials, Black Sabbath, Miles Davis and the Damned supergroup that never happened in 1979!!!

Dave

M83 - They're NOT a motorway

Last night I got a freebie for the Scala, having written a glowing report of Interpol a few weeks back I was delighted that said freebie allowed me to catch up with support band of that night french 'avant garders' M83, to the uninitiated they are a four piece of limited vocal application, but immense etheral power ... they reminded me of Mogwai in this respect circa the brilliant c'mon die young ... there are lot of bands using 'technology' at the moment and with the exception of the Scratch, M83 are one of the only exponents doing it well and they do it so well the hairs on the palm of my hand are still standing on end... I first became aware of the band on BBC 6 music in the shape of their awesome 'don't save us from the flames' single ... which joins The Coral's 'in the Morning', the White Stripes 'blue orchid', and the Scratch's 'Undercover' in my top 5 singles of the year! ... yes I know that's only 4 ... I'm waiting for (scoop) the'Logical Mind' 12"... watch this space? anyway back to M83 ... superb, scarey power, well worth a download. However ... the main support band ... beardy blokes and a girl ... THE WORST LOAD OF PROG B***OCKS I HAVE EVER EVER HEARD, how do such twats get decent gigs?

Undercover

At last ... word from the Scratch ... alas not a gig?!? ... but in the shape of a new CDR ep ... the very luscious Undercover ... If I was the sort who went crazed on a weekend and took all sorts of mind altering substances ... this would be the track that I would play, just prior to the unsteady climb to bed and again just as soon as I returned from a polite Sunday hair of the dog session to really round off a buzzing weekend. I'm not the first to mention it for I have heard others remark on the tear jerking nature of some of the sounds that gently fizz through your brain as the chorus glues itself to your subconscious, in fact I was so confident at the melancolic beauty of it I sent it to the society of the hard hearted and apparently their president drowned in his own saline!... 'Time to Say' ... is the second track and one i've heard on numerous occassions live and though it's not as in your face as some of the bands releases, I love its quirkiness ... if I had to define it as a country, it would be East Germany ... or probably East Berlin ... looking over the wall from the window of a hip club in some Post War wasteland... "til you're chewed up and made obscene, like the clothes we spend our lives earning". The final track is a real Scratch staple 'Out FAking the FAkers'... classic riff, manic howl and crunching guitars, add to this as ever, just a soupcon of the unexpected ... in this case a cockney rebelesque 5 part harmony! in the bridge and you have a cd worth the wait. You know how I feel about the Scratch and we all know I'm not the only one ... Soon to be available as a download from the excellent new improved webiste, available NOW at www.roughtrade.com ... how about a gig!?