***Skip-Drums***
***"Dreamy" Steve Payne-Bass***
***Steven Kerchner-Vox
***James-Guitar/Vox***
For booking info email olscratchband@gmail.com
JAMES VS THE HAND GRENADE (Bourbon St Kookybidniss)
"Wizard Smoke" @ The Velvet Lounge!
Influences
BLACK FUCKING SABBATH!! Vitus, Spirit Caravan, Pentagram, Eyehategod, Sourvein, Melvins, Goatsnake, Electric Wizard, Sleep, C.O.C., Weedeater, Clutch, YOB....
Sounds Like
the rumbling gurgle in the bowels of the creator before the big bang released his intestinal pressures.
BIO:Beginning life in 2004, Ol’ Scratch began as a 5 piece monster in a garage in Northern Virginia. Playing metal with a sludgy southern tinge, they began playing shows locally in 2005. Switching bassists halfway through the year, the new lineup went on the road for a few tours and a ton of DC area shows supporting such acts as Alabama Thunderpussy, Trouble, and Dixie Witch. Early 2006 saw the release of "Blood Puddin’", a five song EP recorded at Harmonia Studios with engineer Greg Clark (Clutch, King Valley...) and mastered by Uncle Punchy. More shows followed, playing with doom icons Unorthodox, Earthride and War Injun. On the road again, they made a strong showing at 2006’s “Maine Stonerfest” and played shows everywhere from Maine to Florida. Late in 2006 the band recorded and released a split CD with Fredericksburg, VA metal band LORD, recorded by engineer Tim Otis (Admiral Browning, Black Canary...) and mastered by Vince Burke (Sourvein, Beaten Back to Pure...).
2007 brought big changes with the loss of another bassist, Steve changing from rhythm guitar to handle the low end duties, and their vocalist, Joel, mysteriously quitting the band. The new 4 piece lineup, finds Tim Otis (of Admiral Browning) temporarily on drums, Steven Kerchner (VOG, 7th Gate) on vox, Steve Payne on bass, and James Haun handling guitar. The new lineup shows the band evolving into a darker, heavier doom-metal style in the vein of Goatsnake, Weedeater and Electric Wizard with the release of their newest EP "In Nex Illic Est Vita". Two tours then proceeded in support of the new disc, Hell or High Water with prog/sludge outfit Admiral Browning, and the second, a solo tour, culminating in a blistering performance at 2007’s Stoner Hands of Doom 8 festival in Mesa, AZ.
Even more touring and recording are on tap for Ol’ Scratch in 2008. They are scheduled to enter the infamous Polar Bear Lair studios with analog recording wizard Chris Koslowski (Melvins, Pentagram, Internal Void, Earthride, Valkyrie etc..) to begin work on their first full length disc, tentatively titled "Cantos".
REVIEWS:
"Relentless, gut punching sludgefuck torture rock from a buncha hill dwelling hairballs from Virginia...It is music for dynamite fishing and fire eating, the call of backwoods savages to the great feast of fear and terror"
-Sleazegrinder
"damn heavy and mindblowing... like old High On Fire mixed with Clutch and Melvins...really dirty and filthy... for sure a CD I will listen to more than once.
-Daredevil
"Obviously a live band....Solace like riffing over a hoarse bark vocals"
-Stonerrock.com
"There is more than a hint of the DC doom... with a bit of Weedeater...and a bit of COC Southern groove. Lyrically, Ol’ Scratch is all about the darker side of existence. Not the anxiety and depression fueled by loss and despair, but the anxiety and depression fueled by drug deals gone bad, bad drugs, and bad vagina on drugs"
-Hellride
"I don’t care what anybody says about Virginia bein sorta cosmopolitan in spots. I’m telling you, the place produces monsters. Like this motley crew of yellow eyed doom-punks. In Nex Illic Est Vita (say the whole album title out loud and it conjures up weed-dealing demons) is a festering gutpile of sleazy Sabbath fuzz. Go ahead and dig in.
-Classic Rock Magazine 11/07
"Evidently, Virginia is the most evil and wicked state of them all. Sure, that Tom Jefferson guy was a Virginian, but it’s the state that spawned PENTAGRAM; therefore it must be populated with more witchy women and drug-addled freaks than any other state in the union. These days, about an hour northwest of PENTAGRAM-land, the shy and retiring sounds of OL’ SCRATCH can be found annihilating the silence.
This latest and mysteriously-titled EP is a tempting purchase for any fan of doom or sludge because every song has at least one fantastic riff. "Wizard Smoke" putts along on a tight bassline and subsonic rumbles a la EARTHRIDE. "Infernal Judgement" crawls like an earthmover, harmonized guitars weaving in and out of tandem around a crude, nasty chug. "Bottom Basement" sounds like a BONGZILLA tribute, complete with the mandatory spoken anti-weed samples. The only thing we can complain about is the disc’s brevity at four songs, so take a break from the Relapse website and look these guys up before their girlfriends put a hex on your ass.
rating: 3.5/5 -Peacedogman.com
have fun at the lounge i remember you guys sounded great there last time have fun and see you in october in the lou it looks like your last stop of the tour wich means we can throw a little shindig when its over bam blue ribbon and schlits for everyone
I gotta hear that new bottom of the well song again, that shit blew my mind and skivvies off. New Bottom Basement is gravy for a doom biscuit. Fucking thick!
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