12/13/2022 0 Comments Scrawl velvet hammer![]() ![]() I won't lie - I heard of Scrawl though The Afghan Whigs. Her vocals on "My Curse", for many a highlight of that album, led to a great deal of exposure for her band. It even earned Marcy Mays a guest spot as the abused, defiant female voice of The Afghan Whigs' own tour-de-force on twisted, co-dependant, emotionally abusive relationships, Gentlemen. It earned them a major label deal with Elektra, despite the band having absolutely NO commercial potential, and saw nearly every one of the band's ideas perfected. It was Velvet Hammer, released in 1993, that made Scrawl's legend. Their 1992 EP, Bloodsucker - by which time their original drummer had been replaced by the sole male member in the band's history, Dana Marshall - suggested a break-out was imminent. Scrawl arrived at their peak just as riot grrl as a movement became a media sensation. All the hallmarks of that short-lived yet massively important genre were in place in Scrawl's music before long - sloppy, noisy guitar playing defiant, feminine lyrics that dealt unflinchingly with topics like rape and domestic abuse and passionate, furious performances. Scrawl, or as I like to refer to them, 'The Most Overlooked Band of the 1990s', were an all-female trio from Ohio that pre-empted the riot grrl movement by several years, releasing their debut Plus, Also, Too in 1987. Given that this is their last album comprised entirely of original material, we can happily conclude that Scrawl bowed out with heads held high, at the peak of their powers.Review Summary: Scrawl's 1993 offering remains a bleak, touching indie rock masterpiece. She does wounded, defiant, and steely better than almost anybody. Dana Marshall's drumming is still very good, and Marcy Mays' voice is still a weapon a lot of bands should be jealous of. There's a few more driving rockers on this one - "Hunting Me Down", "The Garden Path", "Louis L'Amour", "He Cleaned Up" - which give the album a personality distinct from any other Scrawl record I'm familiar with. Both versions of "Story Musgrave" are excellent, the opening 'He would look down at laugh/At the thought of a crash' immediately arresting, the pay-off of 'I'm smart enough to know you have no use for me/Sure enough to know you will one day' heartbreaking. Taken alone it's a very good song, but it derails the album by appearing at track 4 here. And "From Deep Inside Her" doesn't seem to fit in to the album, being a little too happy for its own good. ![]() "What Did We Give Away?" is a weak closer, thrown into sharp relief by the fact that it's preceeded by the gorgeous "Story Musgrave (At The Piano)", a song fit to close any album. "He Cleaned Up"'s constant, furious repetition of 'He cleaned up/She took him back/He ***ed up/She kicked him out' is clearly meant to convey a relationship that just goes round in circles, but the song's drive toward repeating these lines as fast as possible becomes annoying. Yet, what sets this apart is the presence of 3 songs that let the side down, keeping this at arm's length from challenging Velvet Hammer. "The Garden Path" is similarly excellent, and when the lovely chorus of "I'm Not Stuck" hits, it seems that this may even top their previous masterpiece. "Good Under Pressure" kicks things off by getting straight into the heart of matters - it's a sloppy rock song about domestic abuse, just like "Take A Swing", the highlight of Velvet Hammer. ![]() The songs, though? Largely, it's business as usual. The jangling chords that appeared so often on Velvet Hammer have taken a back-seat, replaced by newly foregrounded doomy arpeggios that, as always, have a slight hint of Daydream Nation-era Sonic Youth about them. The differences come from the label - this has better production and a tighter sound, though Steve Albini is still responsible for the 'recording'. Travel On, Rider was the band's major label debut on Elektra/Asylum (back when Asylum was still a folk-rock label), following the grand statement of one of the finest albums of the 90s, 1993's Velvet Hammer. Still, what commercial potential did they ever think Scrawl would have? #Scrawl velvet hammer full#Clearly, by 1996, riot grrl had taken its full effect, so the signing was, in truth, probably just a knee-jerk reaction by Elektra - Scrawl were, after all, a predominantly female band with a defiantly female outlook and several female fans, and they'd been a part of riot grrl events for years, having earned the adoration of subcultural fanzines. Luckily, Scrawl navigated the pitfalls and made a strong follow-up to Velvet Hammer.Īfter nearly a decade of wounded, naked, painfully confessional lyrics and a decidedly lo-fi, post-punk musical outlook, Scrawl must have been wondering how the hell they ever wound up on a major label. Review Summary: The major-label debut is often the killer for indie bands. ![]()
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