The Buzzcocks, T-Rex, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Kinks, Nuggets Compilations Albums, The Heartbreakers, PIL, Primal Scream, The Wolfmen, Marco, Blur, Happy Mondays, The Libertines, Dirty Pretty Things, Interpol, The Flaming Lips, Human League, Be Bop Deluxe, Adam and the Ants, The Fire Engines, Killing Joke, Sparks, Wire, The Rakes, Louis XIV (Band, not dead French King!), Subbuteo, The Mighty Boosh, Potty Pete, Devo, New Young Pony Club
Sounds Like
...absolutely top, old school punk rock, I reckon. [Clint Boon, XFM]
...all you want to hear at the end of the day is does it sounds like Duran Duran and the good news is that yes it sort of does had they of course ever been fed bad pills and suffered psychotic reactions! [Losing Today]
Night bus or Milktrain is a blistering set of songs that fuses retro and new wave punk and leaves me with a smile on my face after one listen. [www.subba-cultcha.com]
Overall, 'Night Bus or milk train' is a fine indie punk album. Whilst they draw greatly on their punk influences the album is simply not a rehash of a music genre that saw its finest hour thirty years ago. It's an album that is very fresh, and very now, and one which indicates exactly how much they deserved their title of 'best unsigned band'. [www.tastyfanzine.org.uk]
"Wonderfully edgy pop/rock with nu-punk attitude and wholesome retro intonations. Rammed full of typically British popability but with genuine global appeal." [www.toxicpete.co.uk]
The Scratch pump out lazily produced, low-fi punk numbers that have vocals snottily delivered and melodies that aren’t a million miles away from the naïve diary lyrics of the Buzzcocks [Artrocker Magazine]
Against the grain/Cool in an uncool way - Ponyland Records
Released 26th January 2009. “In short, devilishly cool stuff from the practitioners of perfect pop.” [Losingtoday.com]
"The Scratch coul 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." [Is This Music]
In fact it's the kind of album that might well be fondly remembered in a few years time if the band goes on to fulfil their potential, that currently makes 'Night Bus or Milk Train' that bit better than most of their contemporaries. [www.getreadytorock.com]
"I love The Scratch me. Not only have they got ace punk inspired tunes, they've got a great spirit. They'll go all the way, you watch."
Clint Boon - XFM
‘…guitar gold dominated their sound and their set is stuffed full of great tunes’
John Robb - Goldblade
"Wonderfully edgy pop/rock with nu-punk attitude and wholesome retro intonations. Rammed full of typically British popability but with genuine global appeal."
www.toxicpete.co.uk
The Scratch are a St.Albans based four piece who recently opened the, now legendary, Versus Cancer gig at the sold out 22,000 capacity M.E.N. Arena Manchester, supporting... Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller, Ian Brown, The Charlatans, Echo & the Bunnymen.
Formed in 2002, we are a band steeped in the DIY ethic, having released all of our material to date on our own Ponyland Records. Last year saw our second album, “Night Bus or Milk Train” follow up our 2003 debut "D.I.Y". We are currently working on tracks for album number 3. Apart from the Manchester Arena we have played numerous times at the Barfly in London and other London venues such as The Water Rats, Dublin Castle, The Borderline, The Hope and Anchor and The Metro, plus The Roadhouse, The Dry Bar and Night and Day in Manchester and just recently at The Endorse It, in Dorset and Box Rocks Nr Bath Festivals , plus numerous other dates from Sheffield to Cornwall.
2009 has already seen a single ‘Against the Grain’ released on 26th January on our own label, reach number 10 in the tourdates.co.uk unsigned chart. We’ve also had plays of our track ‘Numbers’ on Tom Robinson’s BBC 6 radio show and recorded a live session at BBC 3 Counities radio on March 6th. Gig wise we played Club Fandango in February and began a b-monthly residency at our local venue The Horn on March 27th, with a sellout support slot to Goldblade on the first date of their UK tour. The Second of these featured legendary XFM DJ Clint Boon as headline. Previous single ‘Destroyed by the look of love’ spent three weeks at number 2 in the tourdates chart and is now available through itunes and CDbaby. The follow up single 'You want the world' reached number 1 in the tourdates unsigned chart. on 21st June.
Ahoy there Scratch! Please check out our first behind the scenes "video blog" featuring rehearsal antics and gig info (you guys even get a mention!), have a chuckle and let us know what you think :-)
Yay, thanks for inviting us again guys. Really looking forward to it. Yep, as always, we'll try and make it as busy as possible... one step closer to a crowd surf and all that... :)
Saaay! Is this Craig Shields you're playing with from the St. Albans area? If so, I may know him. And is that the Distractions feat Paul Kearney you have on the 31st bill? I thought he was in Bangkok..?
The shirts are all hand screen-printed using water-based inks so they have a lovely soft feel and they don't hurt the Earth quite as much as solvent-based inks.
The shirts are all hand screen-printed using water-based inks so they have a lovely soft feel and they don't hurt the Earth quite as much as solvent-based inks.
Lots more media and general stuff will be added to the team section.
There will be many more locations added to the weather forecasts section, let us know if you want your area added and we will quite happily do it for you.
Oi oi rockas! We're playing a headline slot @ The Horn this Wednesday 1st July, supported by our good friends Kirsty Loves Sugar- also worth checking out and 2 other bands to open.
It would be mental to see you guys there to fire us up the more. And we hope you're still having a wild time.
Just popped by to say Hi, Hows things Goin, and thanks for the Download. The New single "You Want the World" is Cool, is it OK to add it to our Media Players on our Pages.
Indeed! Still reliving. Your new single is great, very gripping! And thanks for the copy of Night Bus... Still waiting to get it off Sean's filthy mits!
Just stopping by to say hello and give you some news. The new album 'Coolgilly and the Freakshow' from Centascope is now available worldwide from CD Baby and directly from the merchandise page of the official website. You can also get the album from Apple iTunes, MSN Music, Rhapsody, Napster, Amazon and many more.
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