Whatever Happened to Friday Night? - losingtoday.com

The Scratch
Whatever happened to Friday nights?
pony land
Description :
Five St Albans based dayglo decorated spike topped sorts tuned into radio sets from a yesteryear era where pop was at its zenith and songs of the day became a generations vocabulary rather than the here today forgotten tomorrow production line wannabes of now. Handcrafting rumbling sorties of purring party pack hybrids whose turntable trouncing brew is a mainlining feast of psychedelicised garage glam new wave mod, the Scratch like you and me remember those long far off days when the transistor was your first true love.

At 32 minutes in length ’whatever happened to Friday nights’ may appear comparatively short changing in an era of hour plus releases. However I’m firmly in the quality over quantity side of the fence. Eleven sub three minute gems lie in wait within this finitely cut cutie, trimmed of its fat and potently lean, these nuggets are throwbacks to a long since mourned and distant golden age of pop - perhaps the last - an age where pop inspired and invigorated, where tunes indelibly cast a long penetrative shadow upon the would be listener and so to instantly preserving a moment in time forever to be cherished and carried from the adolescence to the aged.

There’s no hiding the affection we hold for the Scratch - they have for several years - in fact as far back as their debut release ‘I relax to spiral scratch’ if truth be told - proved a much welcomed shot in the arm to our peculiar listening habits. One of a small select number of bands of whom we can honestly put up our hands and say without the need to pause for consideration whose releases are eagerly lapped up, excitably prized free of their wrapping and packaging and immediately made the centre of attention on the hi-fi when they arrive at our gaff.

Why - you might foolishly ask. Why ‘tis simple. The Scratch possess a pop knowingness, call it a rarefied pedigree, a craft perhaps - that echoes and taps into something curiously unseen and intangible, something you can’t quite put your finger on - yet that certain something that reaches inside and causes your nervous system to jangle and tingle with a strangely familiar delight.
The songs impact with an effervescent radiance that’s immediate and spontaneous, all to often ridiculously catchy (a la ‘girl’s world’ with its decidedly off kilter pub rock sprucing very much countering a path familiar to fans of Dr Feelgood albeit as though consorting with Brinsley Schwartz borrowing heavily riffs laid by the Modern Lovers) and insanely infectious, for those whose teeth cutting exposure to pop was the late 60’s mods such as the Small Faces and the Move, the glam rock of the early 70’s via T-Rex (the sassy and slinky riff scowls of the lip curled sneer like ‘freakshow‘ with its metered drop dead gorgeous blossoming kaleidoscopic eruptions), Sweet and Cockney Rebel or maybe late 70’s new wave a la the Buzzcocks (the ‘love bites’ era Shelley / Diggle thrill drill contagion of the anthem for narcissists ‘you want the world‘), Soft Boys and the Motors - ‘whatever happened to Friday nights’ will seem and feel like the years peeling away.

In fact ’whatever happened to Friday nights’ will read like a greatest hits package of sorts to the Scratch faithful with most of the cuts having featured previously as either the lead or indeed flip cuts of recent singles from the swoon driven throb of the power drilled florescent friction of the Flamin Groovies like hip hugging grind of ’against the grain’ to the (still sounds to us like) Supergrass at the height of their powers recalibrating old Buzzcocks gems as their own exuberance of ’destroyed by the look of love’ with its fuzzed up uber cool 60’s shade adorned psyche shimmies. Elsewhere fellow sources of fond admiration around these here parts the Bordellos are recalled as are Freed Unit, Cockney Rebel and the top table elite of the Elephant 6 Collective on the fuzzy and kooky bubblegum crookedness of the immensely insidious ’flicker’ while new cut ’freaks of the daylight’ sees St Albans opting for a spot of breezily light headed lazy eyed countrified loveliness which a fair few of you may well as a result be prompted to dig out your cherished copies of Blur’s ’modern life is rubbish’. Add in some grinding monochrome sapped glam kraut drilled fringe parting classicism via ’teen idol’ and finish the set off with perhaps at the twist of an arm the sets best moment - the Marriott / Davies hoodwinked by the Damned mod pogo shoe shuffle ’too busy thinking about me’ and you have yourself a certified speaker spanking statement of raw intent.

Key tracks -
All of them.
www.thescratch.co.uk

What can we say Mark... you are the star!
x

You want the world reviewed by tastyfanzine.org.uk

There’s something refreshingly uninhibited about The Scratch. Their tracks are quite minimal but all in completely different ways. ‘You Want the World’ is old school and punky, a little like the Undertones (‘Teenage Kicks’ is even referenced in second track, ‘Independent Unrepentent’). Then they throw in a proggy track like ‘Teen Idol (for 300 million)’ – bafflingly obscure and brilliantly leftfield.

Destroyed by the look of love - losingtoday.com

The Scratch ‘destroyed by the look of love’ (pony land). Damn (ed), damn (ed), damn (ed) we’re so mightily pissed at ourselves because somehow we’ve managed to inadvertently mislay this babe much to our embarrassment and save it from a fate worse than - well in our gaff - death - that being the unheard mountain of CD’s currently hiding the floors of two rooms and several work surfaces. The Scratch should need no introductions in these pages, pardoning the French but they literally piss melodies so razor sharp, acutely addictive and drilled in threads of a vintage golden era new wave flavour that we here suspect them of having access to a time travelling device. Sadly we only have a one track promo of this their three track download only release - the gone missing in action cuts being ‘flicker’ and a live demo take of ‘not your friend’ (which we will enquire about in a begging letter and report back with haste in future despatches). Mind you we’ll forgive them just this once because the lead out cut ‘destroyed by the look of love’ is frankly worth the entrance fee on its own. This babe is primed and charged with the kind of wickedly audacious exuberance not heard around these parts since Supergrass started re-branding old Buzzcocks ditties as they’re own. And talking of the Buzzcocks the Shelley / Diggle et al reference markers aren’t lost on us here because ‘destroyed by the look of love’ has a definite ‘love bites’ edge to it albeit subtly smoked in the irrefutable shade adorned soft psyche hue of 60’s fuzz shakers the Shadows of Knight while cut pristinely with one of the most drop dead chorus’ this side of a garage beat pop styled Sundazed re-issue. Between you and me I think the blighters are toying with us.

Against the grain reviewed by Mark @ Losing Today

The Scratch ‘against the grain’ (ponyland).
The return of one of our favourite turntable obsessions of recent years, the Scratch have on more than one occasion flattened us into states of jaw dropped fondness within these pages. Despatching a high end pedigree of pop grooved new wave the Scratch sound like renegades from another pop age time tunnelled into the present and brandishing an impeccable arsenal of hook laden nuggets and whistle-able sub three minute anthems whose prime directive it would seem - aside that is wearing your stylus blunt - is to drive you to the limits of distraction. Both ’against the
grain’ and its flip cut ’cool in an uncool way’ bristle with the trademark class of Scratch releases of yore, the former seductively swooning ’n’ swaggering and proving to be a hitherto instantaneously shot of delirious radio friendly new wave buzz laced power pop over-turing that catches light with the same acutely knowing melodic
symmetry of the much missed Motors from yesteryear albeit here found peaking over the shoulder of the Flamin’ Groovies and comparing notes whilst shoehorning into the mix some neatly drilled strut riffed ear candy and MOR harmonies.



In sharp contrast the hot rod boogie of ’cool in an uncool way’ yelps, coos, pouts and preens its way in to your psyche and burns the grooves in the process to sound not unlike a preened, primed n’ stripped to the bone early career Reverend Horton
Heat who aside sounding like some 50’s wet dream homage sublimely manages to not only veer into the same retro glazed avenues similarly occupied by Pirroni’s much admired Wolfmen but craftily echoes of the ghost of Bators former charges the Dead Boys and the Lords of the New Church while happily showing off its Vanian like Damned / Phantom Chords implants. In short devilishly cool stuff from the practitioners of perfect pop.

Girl's World/Sweet Surprise single reviewed by insiderguides.net

I have a bit of soft spot for The Scratch, some would say I have a big soft spot and it lay’s between my ears! But anyone that has picked up a record by Small Faces may join my ever increasing band of misguided souls that believe going backwards is the way forward!

Rating 7/10

Girl's World/Sweet Surprise single reviewed by Mark at Losing Today

Is there no stopping these dudes, not content with sending our hi-fi into states of unparalleled bliss with their previous visit to these pages with the stylus sizzling twin set 'critical mass' and 'dear maniac' - so good it was we're still bearing the scars. As though refusing to let off you hook St Albans finest now stump up to brand new spanking cuts in the shape of 'girls world' and 'sweet surprise' which we've just noticed is cut on a limited edition red wax 7 inch which we'll have to nail as our own in the coming days. Another faultless foray into record world, the superbly airy 'girl's world' sees them in mellower moods, still very much time slipped in the 70's though this time assuming a decidedly tasty countrified pub rock element to their creative canvas that unless we're very much mistaken sounds not unlike the Modern Lovers shimmying up to the Flamin Groovies to gouge out battered and punch drunk Faces riffs with Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds coolly heading up things at the controls. Flip the disc for the decidedly more forthright and rollicking 'sweet surprise' which it has to be said comes flying out of the traps at such a blistering pace it leaves you breathless and pinned helplessly to the far wall of your listening space, a rampant bar room bruiser that craftily tweaks and tinkers with the gung ho mentality of Stiff's finest the Damned as though on this occasion finding themselves squaring up to the Dead Boys with Pete Shelley sneakily taking up the mic amid the ensuing melee, scorching stuff.

Night Bus Or Milk Train review by Gordon Matheson in Is This Music magazine

On the surface, The Scratch could be just another indie band, but once you get past the first three or four tunes on Night Bus Or Milk Train, you realise that something a little bit special is going on here. They come across like a mildly nu-punk version of The Coral, tightly crafted guitar pop music interwoven with the odd synth or sample - not overused in the slightest. ‘Stranger’ even takes a different course and sounds very Eighties, like Midge Ure with new toys on Christmas. The guitar work is excellent, there are some damn fine riffs on this record and they seem genuinly keen to do something just a little bit different. In every verse you can hear shades of influences ranging from The Libertines to The Human League. The real gems are in the second half of the album, ‘Out Faking The Fakers’ and ‘Smell The Gas Taps’ being highlights. It’s a fine effort from the Manchester quartet, and one that sounds like things are only just beginning.