Just a little update from the ponyland side of the fence, Andy, John and Grim, were last night holed up in the bunker recording lead vocals for the six new tracks we recorded in May:
Ajax Boogie Woogie Boy from Watford Gap
Weirder than we are (Pedros song!)
Let there be us (super fast and 10% slower version!)
Don't play along (Not sure, does Filthy own it this week?)
Stavin off the wheres or the wise
Biting on my lip
So once the backing vocals are done in September, those babies will be in the can, ready for mixing!... our next session down Farm Factory studios, will hopefully yield:
88th day of run (Previously unheard by anyone but the band)
Homely Crackle (The resurrection of a 2005 classic!)
Desire to be thin (already a live fave!)
Down in the alleyway (surely a nect summer numero uno! - in a Happy Mondays stylee)
Great Adventure (already got Brian's car in mind for the video!)
So all in all, though Supers on his hols, weve got lots going on, prior to the DIY re-launch and Tour in ROCtober!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
The return. Endorse IT 2010 - No Sex, No Mud, Just Rock’n’Roll....
...oh and a few gallons of alcohol, cheesy chips and the colours black and yellow!
Hope youre sitting comfortably, here’s the little story of what happened when The Scratch played Endorse IT in Dorset 2010.
Dear Scratchers,
Friday 6th August, 1pm: The band arrived at Johns house. The three cars of the convoy were loaded to the hilt with all the usual festival paraphernalia, tents, sleeping bags, bin liners, beer, imodium and wellies, plus all our guitars, drum hardware, Steves giant packed lunch! and two new 30 foot guitar leads, one yellow (Johns) and the other a wasp like black and yellow custom made version (Andy’s)... more of wasps later!....
In addition to the band there were four other people in the gang for this current escapade. We’d searched long and hard to assemble a crack crew of merchandisers, photographers, videoers and pr gurus, so as to max our impact on the festival... Unfortunately, they couldn’t make it, so we ended up with Super Cockells mates Paul and Lee and die hard Scratchers, Lucy ‘Fakers’ Davies (although her fave song is now GAT, TAG... ATG!) and Francis ‘Scorsese, Bez’ Hemingway, (the incredible unsleeping man!)
I digress as usual... back to the action...
Hoorah, wed arrived and for starters, despite the forecast proclaiming apocalyptic doom... the earthy/wheaty track to the box office was firm underfoot, in marked contrast to our last visit to the fest in 2008, when we had to be towed in and out by a tractor! The 4 car convoy as it now had grown too, was unpacking tents. Super who was a veritable campsite virgin, was looking worried... with room service nowhere to be seen!
However his usually sunny demeanour returned quickly at the sight of our erections springing up everywhere... Grims tent was one of those trendy new pop-ups so only took approx 30 seconds, the others a little longer, but all was sorted within half an hour and it was time to visit the hospitality tent to sign in and get our drink and meal tokens!...
The organisers as ever had done an amazing job of hiding the 3,500 capacity festival behind a hedge, it was only as you walked past the artists camping that you could at last see the huge tented Desmond Dekkar main stage and experience the massive bass rumble!
Giddy by now with the excitement of a first girl guide summer camp, the hardened, combat ready, rock quintet entered the show ground in search of the Wildcat stage. By now it was 7ish (4 hours to blast off) and we were in serious need of an opening beer!...
With assorted beverages slopping in plastic cupped hands, we headed through the already electric atmosphere, last time (in 2008) wed arrived in the pouring rain and didnt see this great and growing fest in it’s best light, tonight was different, it was everything you could ever want: Music, beer tents, dance tent, food, interesting stalls and sideshows and best of all no frickin chavs, whos musical portfolio extended to little more than XFactor, Cowell and Shezza Cole!... This is proper!
Aussie Mike the Wildcat stage manager was a top bloke... (yeah just get your stuff here for 10)... The backline had been provided by the organisers, but us being a three guitar attack, Steve had brought his amp just in case.
Right, we knew what we were doing, so it was time to return to camp Scratch to get our glad rags on. As we arrived back at base, Lucy and Francis appeared over the horizon and were soon detailed their tasks... Lucy was photos, Francis video and Super’s boys flyers and badges and the task or corralling Grim’s groupies into an orderly line!
We’d had word that it was possible to drive the equipment up to the back of the stage, so Steve who was driving back after the gig, due to a wedding commitment, took Super and the gear, while the rest of the gang, headed on foot, via a deposit of vinyl, t-shirts and cd’s to the official merch tent! (ooh exciting!)
We were by now completely zoned in and still incredulous that promoter and obviously a fan of The Scratch Lamma, had given us the penultimate spot on the 2nd stage on the festivals opening night!
The Soundcheck/line check seemed smooth, Aussie Mike was buzzing about like a helpful bee (not a wasp!), as Andy tried to locate the amp that had the footswitch on it... it was the Crate, with the Marshall cabinet...on plugging in the attack seemed a little ferocious, but in context of all the other noises around, workable and in any case, past experience of Endorse IT told us, in the soundman we trust!
Things were going so smoothly infact, that Aussie Mike suggested we hit the stage early. Following an into from our spectacularly attired bell ringing compare... John led us on, resplendent in his erogonously infused bright red shirt, the crowd went wild... and so we were off and pretty quickly it was clear that Andys amp (on stage at least) was taking the paint off the walls of the B&B that we’d passed 6 miles down the road on our way here!... however, as I said earlier, in the soundmen you trust and from the reaction of the crowd in the arena, the PA was pumping out a far different storey to them (thankfully)
... not only did we get a prime spot on a great little stage, we also managed to pack 18 songs into our generous hour long set!
1) Fakers
2) 4 Play
3) Biting on my lip
4) Desire to be thin
5) Rotten Soul
6) Supermodel
7) Weirder than we are
8) Sweet Surprise
9) Freakshow
10) Ajax
11) Against the Grain
12) Spiral Scratch
13) Critical
14) Teen Idol
15) Dear Maniac
16) Independent
17) You want the world
18) Gas Taps
As Lucy snapped away in the moat between stage and crash barrier, Francis flitted back and forth like a moth on a campers torch and Supers boys Lee and Paul, bopped, badged and corraled...
Unfortunately, all too soon the set was coming to an end. With Super nailing the beat, Filthy buzzing mischievous and waspish, Grim twitching in his Xray glasses and John grinding out an incessant bass rumble, never better shown than on a truly magnificent sounding Teen Idol... (we really must work out a 10 minute festival version!!!!) And in what seemed like a flash our 2nd appearance at Endorse IT was over! but not before Andy did the Gas Tap and leapt from the beer and water soaked stage, just to test the moat for next year! Rock and Roll!
And rest....
As intimated earlier, Steve would be driving back straight after, so we moved briskly back to base... to give him time to lay out his 3rd pack lunch on the passenger seat, while the rest of us excitedly skimmed through
Scorsese and Fakers handywork...
Great great stuff guys!... now it was time to celebrate, so as Steves tail lights disappeared into the night, it was time to make use of the dance tent and boy did we! Grim and John were spirited back to their acid house heyday as Super made up for lost time on the Budvar.
Who knows what time we arrived back to base?!... but it was definitely after 4am... Lucy had taken an earlier night, but it wasnt long before the drunken, guy rope tripping male contingent, broke the solitude with a nightcap in the bijou lounge area of Andy’s luxury four man and a waterfall of festival wee!
Saturday 7th - the next day
Soon (and all too soon!) it was morning, we were awoken by the unwelcome drear of the (frickin) Eagles blasting from some obviously drunk and seriously deluded fellow artist’s campervan!...
The good news though was that Super had survived, as had his boys who had even less sleep than us, but this was nothing compared to Bez Scorsese who had just lain there wide awake listening to the late night then early morning hum from the nearby arena... it was also with great relief that John and Grim emerged unscathed from their cosy popup, considering theyd shared it with what sounded like a wart hog being murdered by a wildebeest, killing a flock or narwhal all night... oh and I nearly forgot... the wasp attack!... Some minutes earlier, Francis had casually mentioned to a semi conscious, dishevelled and fully clothed Andy that he a had a wasp on his neck... Andy hadn’t at first registered, but soon did as the little and now dead bastard stung him mercilessly on the neck!
The main talk over breakfast in the artists area was the rough total of the 36 wee breaks during the night, that and some bloke who had the entire contents of Noahs ark knitted onto his Christmas Jumper... and lets not forget the rather gorgeous young lady serving up the bacon and egg butties....
with our main event complete the aim of our day was to be compus mentus enough to see the Damned at the Desmond Dekkar stage at 11.00pm whilst taking in all the varied delights of the fest... The best way to do that we figured was spend our beer tokens on red stripe in the bus bar! So with 12 hours and counting, we set off, Lucy took the lead with a flat looking local bitter!...
Now, as most of the gap between that first beer and the eking out of the last few coins we had left for a last one, involved drinking, Im going to merely list in no particular order what we did, Saturday 7th went something like this
... we saw the world smallest disco, drank budva and best bitter, saw a great band from Wales called El Goodo (great 60s vibe, bit like the Coral and Super Furries), Super had a kip (or so he said!), sold some vinyl, Francis got up, saw a great 3 piece on the punk rock stage called the Racketeers, posed for photos at the hats for £3 stall (Andy bought one!) oh and an official t-shirt with our name on the back!, more buvar, some cheesy chips, oh and did I mention that wasp sting... (just cos you couldn’t see a Mark then,don’t mean it didn’t happen!) there is one now!!!!, watched a tattoed skiffle band, danced in the dance tent, saw a good band with ‘poxy badges’ called the Subautomatics, with whom we exchanged said badges with some of our great DIY ones!... gave in two cds at the hospitality tent for Lamma (hope you got them mate?), we did the sports car squeeze (5 big drunk blokes in Lucy’s two seater car), the Budvar song, the Croucher song (all around, stuffin it down), did I mention that wasp?, beef stew and dumplings, chips and beans, Lucys sleeping bag with arms and legs, more Budvar, more chips... and finally, our target reached and all too appropriately for such a great weekend a finale of NEAT, NEAT, NEAT by the Damned.
And so that was tale of The Scratch and our visit to Endorse IT in Dorset 2010. Our second trip and hopefully not our last, but don’t just take our word for it, ask anyone who came along with us for their first trip, it truly is one of the best little fests around. Alternative and what it should be all about the music and having fun! With giant thanks we bade farewell on a glorious (typically the best weather of the weekend) Sunday to Lamma, all at Endorse IT for putting us on and for putting on such a brilliant fest. Big thanks to our extended crew and oh, did I mention that wasp?
x
Hope youre sitting comfortably, here’s the little story of what happened when The Scratch played Endorse IT in Dorset 2010.
Dear Scratchers,
Friday 6th August, 1pm: The band arrived at Johns house. The three cars of the convoy were loaded to the hilt with all the usual festival paraphernalia, tents, sleeping bags, bin liners, beer, imodium and wellies, plus all our guitars, drum hardware, Steves giant packed lunch! and two new 30 foot guitar leads, one yellow (Johns) and the other a wasp like black and yellow custom made version (Andy’s)... more of wasps later!....
In addition to the band there were four other people in the gang for this current escapade. We’d searched long and hard to assemble a crack crew of merchandisers, photographers, videoers and pr gurus, so as to max our impact on the festival... Unfortunately, they couldn’t make it, so we ended up with Super Cockells mates Paul and Lee and die hard Scratchers, Lucy ‘Fakers’ Davies (although her fave song is now GAT, TAG... ATG!) and Francis ‘Scorsese, Bez’ Hemingway, (the incredible unsleeping man!)
I digress as usual... back to the action...
Hoorah, wed arrived and for starters, despite the forecast proclaiming apocalyptic doom... the earthy/wheaty track to the box office was firm underfoot, in marked contrast to our last visit to the fest in 2008, when we had to be towed in and out by a tractor! The 4 car convoy as it now had grown too, was unpacking tents. Super who was a veritable campsite virgin, was looking worried... with room service nowhere to be seen!
However his usually sunny demeanour returned quickly at the sight of our erections springing up everywhere... Grims tent was one of those trendy new pop-ups so only took approx 30 seconds, the others a little longer, but all was sorted within half an hour and it was time to visit the hospitality tent to sign in and get our drink and meal tokens!...
The organisers as ever had done an amazing job of hiding the 3,500 capacity festival behind a hedge, it was only as you walked past the artists camping that you could at last see the huge tented Desmond Dekkar main stage and experience the massive bass rumble!
Giddy by now with the excitement of a first girl guide summer camp, the hardened, combat ready, rock quintet entered the show ground in search of the Wildcat stage. By now it was 7ish (4 hours to blast off) and we were in serious need of an opening beer!...
With assorted beverages slopping in plastic cupped hands, we headed through the already electric atmosphere, last time (in 2008) wed arrived in the pouring rain and didnt see this great and growing fest in it’s best light, tonight was different, it was everything you could ever want: Music, beer tents, dance tent, food, interesting stalls and sideshows and best of all no frickin chavs, whos musical portfolio extended to little more than XFactor, Cowell and Shezza Cole!... This is proper!
Aussie Mike the Wildcat stage manager was a top bloke... (yeah just get your stuff here for 10)... The backline had been provided by the organisers, but us being a three guitar attack, Steve had brought his amp just in case.
Right, we knew what we were doing, so it was time to return to camp Scratch to get our glad rags on. As we arrived back at base, Lucy and Francis appeared over the horizon and were soon detailed their tasks... Lucy was photos, Francis video and Super’s boys flyers and badges and the task or corralling Grim’s groupies into an orderly line!
We’d had word that it was possible to drive the equipment up to the back of the stage, so Steve who was driving back after the gig, due to a wedding commitment, took Super and the gear, while the rest of the gang, headed on foot, via a deposit of vinyl, t-shirts and cd’s to the official merch tent! (ooh exciting!)
We were by now completely zoned in and still incredulous that promoter and obviously a fan of The Scratch Lamma, had given us the penultimate spot on the 2nd stage on the festivals opening night!
The Soundcheck/line check seemed smooth, Aussie Mike was buzzing about like a helpful bee (not a wasp!), as Andy tried to locate the amp that had the footswitch on it... it was the Crate, with the Marshall cabinet...on plugging in the attack seemed a little ferocious, but in context of all the other noises around, workable and in any case, past experience of Endorse IT told us, in the soundman we trust!
Things were going so smoothly infact, that Aussie Mike suggested we hit the stage early. Following an into from our spectacularly attired bell ringing compare... John led us on, resplendent in his erogonously infused bright red shirt, the crowd went wild... and so we were off and pretty quickly it was clear that Andys amp (on stage at least) was taking the paint off the walls of the B&B that we’d passed 6 miles down the road on our way here!... however, as I said earlier, in the soundmen you trust and from the reaction of the crowd in the arena, the PA was pumping out a far different storey to them (thankfully)
... not only did we get a prime spot on a great little stage, we also managed to pack 18 songs into our generous hour long set!
1) Fakers
2) 4 Play
3) Biting on my lip
4) Desire to be thin
5) Rotten Soul
6) Supermodel
7) Weirder than we are
8) Sweet Surprise
9) Freakshow
10) Ajax
11) Against the Grain
12) Spiral Scratch
13) Critical
14) Teen Idol
15) Dear Maniac
16) Independent
17) You want the world
18) Gas Taps
As Lucy snapped away in the moat between stage and crash barrier, Francis flitted back and forth like a moth on a campers torch and Supers boys Lee and Paul, bopped, badged and corraled...
Unfortunately, all too soon the set was coming to an end. With Super nailing the beat, Filthy buzzing mischievous and waspish, Grim twitching in his Xray glasses and John grinding out an incessant bass rumble, never better shown than on a truly magnificent sounding Teen Idol... (we really must work out a 10 minute festival version!!!!) And in what seemed like a flash our 2nd appearance at Endorse IT was over! but not before Andy did the Gas Tap and leapt from the beer and water soaked stage, just to test the moat for next year! Rock and Roll!
And rest....
As intimated earlier, Steve would be driving back straight after, so we moved briskly back to base... to give him time to lay out his 3rd pack lunch on the passenger seat, while the rest of us excitedly skimmed through
Scorsese and Fakers handywork...
Great great stuff guys!... now it was time to celebrate, so as Steves tail lights disappeared into the night, it was time to make use of the dance tent and boy did we! Grim and John were spirited back to their acid house heyday as Super made up for lost time on the Budvar.
Who knows what time we arrived back to base?!... but it was definitely after 4am... Lucy had taken an earlier night, but it wasnt long before the drunken, guy rope tripping male contingent, broke the solitude with a nightcap in the bijou lounge area of Andy’s luxury four man and a waterfall of festival wee!
Saturday 7th - the next day
Soon (and all too soon!) it was morning, we were awoken by the unwelcome drear of the (frickin) Eagles blasting from some obviously drunk and seriously deluded fellow artist’s campervan!...
The good news though was that Super had survived, as had his boys who had even less sleep than us, but this was nothing compared to Bez Scorsese who had just lain there wide awake listening to the late night then early morning hum from the nearby arena... it was also with great relief that John and Grim emerged unscathed from their cosy popup, considering theyd shared it with what sounded like a wart hog being murdered by a wildebeest, killing a flock or narwhal all night... oh and I nearly forgot... the wasp attack!... Some minutes earlier, Francis had casually mentioned to a semi conscious, dishevelled and fully clothed Andy that he a had a wasp on his neck... Andy hadn’t at first registered, but soon did as the little and now dead bastard stung him mercilessly on the neck!
The main talk over breakfast in the artists area was the rough total of the 36 wee breaks during the night, that and some bloke who had the entire contents of Noahs ark knitted onto his Christmas Jumper... and lets not forget the rather gorgeous young lady serving up the bacon and egg butties....
with our main event complete the aim of our day was to be compus mentus enough to see the Damned at the Desmond Dekkar stage at 11.00pm whilst taking in all the varied delights of the fest... The best way to do that we figured was spend our beer tokens on red stripe in the bus bar! So with 12 hours and counting, we set off, Lucy took the lead with a flat looking local bitter!...
Now, as most of the gap between that first beer and the eking out of the last few coins we had left for a last one, involved drinking, Im going to merely list in no particular order what we did, Saturday 7th went something like this
... we saw the world smallest disco, drank budva and best bitter, saw a great band from Wales called El Goodo (great 60s vibe, bit like the Coral and Super Furries), Super had a kip (or so he said!), sold some vinyl, Francis got up, saw a great 3 piece on the punk rock stage called the Racketeers, posed for photos at the hats for £3 stall (Andy bought one!) oh and an official t-shirt with our name on the back!, more buvar, some cheesy chips, oh and did I mention that wasp sting... (just cos you couldn’t see a Mark then,don’t mean it didn’t happen!) there is one now!!!!, watched a tattoed skiffle band, danced in the dance tent, saw a good band with ‘poxy badges’ called the Subautomatics, with whom we exchanged said badges with some of our great DIY ones!... gave in two cds at the hospitality tent for Lamma (hope you got them mate?), we did the sports car squeeze (5 big drunk blokes in Lucy’s two seater car), the Budvar song, the Croucher song (all around, stuffin it down), did I mention that wasp?, beef stew and dumplings, chips and beans, Lucys sleeping bag with arms and legs, more Budvar, more chips... and finally, our target reached and all too appropriately for such a great weekend a finale of NEAT, NEAT, NEAT by the Damned.
And so that was tale of The Scratch and our visit to Endorse IT in Dorset 2010. Our second trip and hopefully not our last, but don’t just take our word for it, ask anyone who came along with us for their first trip, it truly is one of the best little fests around. Alternative and what it should be all about the music and having fun! With giant thanks we bade farewell on a glorious (typically the best weather of the weekend) Sunday to Lamma, all at Endorse IT for putting us on and for putting on such a brilliant fest. Big thanks to our extended crew and oh, did I mention that wasp?
x
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