The Score appeared without warning on the Austin club scene in early 2004, from the ashes of perennial pop and punk favorites Stretford (Barry Anderson, bass) and the Dead End Cruisers (London expatriate Neil Curran, lead vocals/guitar, Graham Mills, lead guitar, Brent Schumacher, drums). Both groups had enjoyed considerable regional success; both logged serious miles touring the U.S. and both were sadly eluded by substantial commercial returns.
"The only vision we've got is blurred"
Tiring of the frenetic, and at times hyperactive romps that the Cruisers had made their stock-in-trade, Curran and Mills decided to indulge their love for Mod-era Who and The Faces (Small and otherwise) with a new group. Carefully skirting the sort of backwards-looking sensibility that has derailed many a studious rock and roll band, The Score opt for a raw, immediate sound anchored firmly in the present. Mills' soaring, woozy guitar, equal parts Ron Wood and '77-era Mick Jones, stagger over the Schumacher/Anderson rhythm section, a formidable machine fired by Curran's smart and melodic songwriting.
Where the Dead End Cruisers had been a cocktail of piss, vinegar, bluster and booze, The Score offer a decidedly different take on the rock and roll life, seen through the eyes of punks who have been there and back. The shoutalong, melodic choruses are still present, but less romantic, more cynical; consult "Whiskey Going Down":
"The last drop is bitter/the first drop tasted sweet/somewhere in between/I realized I was beat"
Curran, who has just completed a novel, has a knack for setting a scene and telling a story in punk's requisite three-minute context. The Score, in song, present a cast of characters and situations near the end or exhausted of the "good times" Ray Davies so regretted.
"But they don’t understand that this excuse for a man/Isn’t just a father he used to be a Face
He had the suit, he had the hair, A GS scooter took him where/He could show off his poise, grit & grace"
--"Youth Disappeared"
Of course, The Score on-stage are characters enough, Curran playing the dapper, nattily-attired Londoner, Mills the rock and roll wildman, stalking the stage with menace. Anderson is the straight man to the seemingly inexhaustible Schumacher. On the studio front, the boys have recently completed a four-song EP at Austin's own Bubble recording studio. Due for release mid-2006, it is a slice of controlled chaos, punk rock tempered with incisive wit and wisdom, only available from four men who truly know "The Score".
I hadn't heard the three newer songs. Great work. When will the album come out? I'll try to make the sat cruisers reunion but dealing with relatives for the holiday might get in the way....Hurry up and play Houston soon OK.
