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Underground star Scratch surfaces with debut single The Leaders, The Liars "You've either got to be the first, be the best or be different. I plan to be all three." - Scratch, February 2015When acoustic-folk-punk Jack "Scratch" Graze first decided to forge a career in music, he stood atop a hill near his home in London's rough Brixton area and took a metaphorical look across the world of music, searching for the niche that would allow him an empty space in which to firmly place his soapbox. A guy with a message, he knew he didn't fit in with the music scene of the 21st century, where love and the protection of the status quo stifle both life and the desire for change. "When we first decided, me and my mates, that we wanted to write some music and get some songs out there, the idea that anyone would want to listen to us and what we were saying seemed completely ludicrous to me. We weren't the picture of perfection that shows up on MTV or that, and what we were singing didn't have that little pleasant tone that would make people want to buy it. It wasn't really catchy or that, just quite angry." The belief that his music wasn't forged for the mainstream, or even general consumption, was the driving force behind Scratch getting into the world of "squat gigs", where musicians break into unused buildings and put on impromptu shows. "The reason we decided to do squat gigs was simple. I didn't think anyone would want to come see us, and I certainly thought that there wasn't a promoter in the world that would want to book us. At the end of the day we was just a group of young white guys playing acoustic reggae stuff with a weird punk edge to it. It was strange. Over time that style's changed and what we've done is come to own our own sound, but yeah...at the start it was a mental concept that anyone would ever want to see us, so we thought we best just put our own shows on really." As it happens, Scratch's misgivings about the band's potential was misplaced. Their secretive and illegally organised shows quickly became something of a buzz in the London underground scene, and before they knew what happened, they were playing to a couple of hundred faces in warehouses, abandoned offices, empty houses and unused Tube stations. "Yeah...yeah it was crazy. The only reason we wanted to play shows at all was so we could like get our anger out. When you come from a place like Brixton and you've had to deal with the crap of struggling working class life for years...man, it's hard. It's hard," he nods poignantly and thinks for a moment. "We just wanted to sing about class divisions and that. Not even to get a message out there, but just to get our own frustrations out. It was a louder version of writing a blog or doing a diary, I suppose. But then before we knew it, people started coming along. What was like just us and our mates became like mates of mates, and then further. We've been lucky that the world of social media has been good to us. You can spread the knowledge of underground music quite easily through those channels if you've got a good network, and we have. Now we're playing to like two or three hundred guys a night when we play. A few nights a week."Having heard a few of Scratch's songs when I became one of his show's attendees a week earlier, it's clear that the guy has a rather cynical view of capitalism and the division of classes in a massive city like London. "It's like....when you've grown up in a one parent family when you've seen your mum have to work three jobs, six days a week just to make sure we could have nice things, and then you see these people in the City getting massive wages for doing nothing, and bonuses for fucking up. It's like massive insanity to me. I just wanted to have somewhere to rant and complain about the fact it's such an imbalance and such a fucked up situation. For me, it's not about anything more than having a voice. I want change, sure, but I'm not one of these people who is gonna stand in the centre of London with a big cardboard sign banging on and shouting and fighting with the police. At the end of the day, I generally love life, but I still want change. My message is about just telling the politicians and the capitalists that we're watching them. We can have fun with it as well."Talking about the message behind his debut song, Scratch said that it explores the notion of being unemployed and a "Robin Hood style comeback" against those at the top of the tree. "This song is like about how some people are hung up on unemployment and that. It takes you through a few different phases, from how a jobless person can lose relationships because of it, to how someone who does work looks down on them and then finally how they're seen in the eyes of the people at the perceived top of the food chain. I'm lucky in that I've always been able to make a wage from doing this. It might be illegal, to put gigs on in a squat and charge people to come in and that, but at least I ain't stealing or selling drugs and guns and that, you know? But I've seen how unemployment can affect other people and it's shit, man. It can take down the strongest relationship, and it makes people think of you as scum. It's why I choose not to work in the traditional sense. I make my money from gigs and a little bit of busking. Because do I fuck want to be in the system." As well as standing up for the unemployed, Scratch also addresses graffiti and other street artists in the track, claiming that they are the purest forms of art, the real voice of the people. The release of the track The Leaders, The Liars sees Scratch bring his music out of the live scene for the first time ever. Despite having an extensive back catalogue of songs, the singer has never recorded any of them, preferring to keep them for live performance. "It never really occurred to me to record any of my stuff, to be honest. I just went out there and played what I was playing for people. I liked that. But you can only spread a message so far like that. If my words can get out there further, and people can get some form of enjoyment from that as well, then it's all good. I don't want people to think that my music is all about being some sort of political commentator and someone with a need to rant. I do have a message, but I like to have fun with my songs, and I want people to enjoy it and be able to laugh at the little jokes and quips, even dance to the beats and the hooks, as well as drawing a serious message from it as well. That would be pretty cool. Most of all though I want to be heard. To do that, you've either got to be the first, be the best or be different. I plan to be all three."We say: Scratch's debut is a rather energetic acoustic folk-punk track that mixes quirky lyrics and fun jokes with a rather serious look at the world, all played over a fun acoustic guitar track. The choruses with layered vocals are as catchy and singalong as you could hope for in a punk track and the verses are a drunken ballad that engages and endears. A real charmer.
 Artist: Scratch Title: The Leaders, The Liars Album: N/A Genre: Acoustic, folk-punk Label: N/A Produced: Self All lyrics and music by: J. Graze Additional guitars: Paul "Watto" Watkins Drums: Zav Banjo: PxL Sounds likes
Bold = Group vocal Italics = Spoken word Could you still love me, Would you still touch me, If I was fucking poor? Yeah I've been talking a big game all of my days, Cos I'm shit scared that you'll show me the door, Lies on the tip of my tongue, Knives in your back, And still you come back for more, I'm all for second chances and repentance and that But even Jerry Springer would take cover from this war So I lift my hat up to all the leaders, to all the liars, the fat cats
To the ones who whore for bonuses while we take to the streets with baseball bats
A salute to all the winners, to the taggers, and the ones who write a tune
Cos those parasites will need to know the truth and I feel like it's coming soonYou know what? I ain't going to another jobseekers interview, I'm already fed up telling you bullshit about how many fucking jobs I've applied for just to appease your notepad...So perhaps I'll never clock in 9 to 5, Who knows if I'll ever work another fucking day, Maybe I'll never create a masterpiece on canvas, But that's all fine with me cos I prefer spray paint anyway, I know you look down from your glass castles in the sky I've heard you say I'm just a waste of space, In different ways, you know, you and me we're both just high, The only difference is that I've got a smile on my face So I lift my hat up to all the leaders, to all the liars, the fat cats
To the ones who whore for bonuses while we take to the streets with baseball bats
A salute to all the winners, to the taggers, and the ones who write a tune
Cos those parasites will need to know the truth and I feel like it's coming soonIf you wanna hear it I'll tell you I'm a poet, just don't look at me like I'm below you cos I ain't wanking in a polyester hell hole of a marriage every night, yeah...Waking up before the morning's done, Feels like something I don't miss, I'm sorry I've not come to class, mate, I'm afraid I'm still a little bit pissed, See this ain't your world filled with champagne and prawns, This is two quid for three litres of cider and passing out on lawns, So don't go asking me if this is how I see my life, Cos I might never work a day but I'm glad I'm not your wife, I'll lay it out there, life's for living, We'll take what we want, Cos you can stomach the giving So I lift my hat up to all the leaders, to all the liars, the fat cats
To the ones who whore for bonuses while we take to the streets with baseball bats
A salute to all the winners, to the taggers, and the ones who write a tune
Cos those parasites will need to know the truth and I feel like it's coming soon Edited by user 18 February 2015 01:45:35(UTC)
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