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The Scare - oozevoodoo

“Oozevoodoo is about cleansing and rebirth,” claims Scare frontman Kiss Reid. “It represents the rebirth of this band’s hunger. All the lyrics are about situations that plague a person and bring them down, and by our playing these songs we are oozing all that bad stuff out.”

Oozevoodoo is The Scare’s second album. If you want to use the usual rock journo cliché, it’s the follow-up to 2007’s Chivalry. But in real terms, oozevoodoo is so much more.

A thrilling, 10-song burst of livewire rock, packed with grit, infused with groove and coated in sleaze, oozevoodoo takes all the frustration, soul-searching and hard yakka of the past few years and rewires it into one of the stand-out albums of 2009.

Since forming on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast in 2003, The Scare have partied hard and toured even harder. They’ve flown around the world by the seat of their pants, survived in the freezing back alleys of Birmingham, England, sleeping on couches or on floors or in gutters. They returned to Australia and released their full-length debut, Chivalry in 2007, only to have it fall largely upon deaf ears, thrusting the group into a period of intense self-scrutiny.

Oozevoodoo is the answer to what ails ‘em. A quantum leap from Chivalry, it is neither a carbon copy of anyone else, nor a mere pastiche of The Scare’s influences. Featuring a heavier attack, simpler rhythms and more ambitious vocal melodies that circumvent the traditional, the lyrics to each song act like mini scenes in a wider epic.

The reinvigoration of The Scare also marks the production debut of Silverchair / Dissociatives supremo Daniel Johns. Having formed a special bond after meeting at a mutual friend’s studio, Johns invited the group to spend some time at his Newcastle home, which is where the initial seeds for oozevoodoo were sewn.

As Johns recalls: “They came up here and within a day of being here we wrote ‘I’m Desperate’. In my house, smashing away incredibly loudly, annoying my neighbours.”

In December last year, the band and Johns spent 10 days recording at Mangrove Studios on the NSW Central Coast, assisted by well-respected local engineer Chris Townend (Augie March, Art Of Fighting, Portishead). Johns’ aim was to help bring out The Scare’s essence in terms of both punk attitude and pop aptitude, capturing the new batch of hook-laced tunes in a pure, warts ‘n’ all fashion.

Mixed at BJB Studios, Sydney by Johns and Townend, and mastered at Sterling Sound, New York by Steve Fallone (Sonic Youth, TV On The Radio, Yo La Tengo), oozevoodoo is a gritty, punchy, real-sounding rock album packed with substance.

Set for release on August 7th, oozevoodoo is set to dispel many demons. Documenting several years of desperation, it’s no doubt the start of the next exciting phase for The Scare.

As Kiss says: “After oozevoodoo, after all the bad stuff has come out, that’s when a whole new future opens up.”

Oozevoodoo is out September 4th through EMI.


The Scare is:
Kiss Reid – vocals
Liam O’Brien – guitar
Brock Fitzgerald – guitar
Wade Keighran – bass
Sam Pearton – drums