The Lynnster Zone

So, I need the attention of the music junkies, music geeks, music fans - all you people for just a few minutes. You know who you are. All you Pixies and Replacements and White Stripes and R.E.M. and Elvis Costello and Nirvana and Bowie and Stones and Stooges and Hoodoo Gurus and Cheap Trick and Clash and Ramones and… well, you know. Everybody.

Everyone who has ever said, “Lynnster, you really need to check out (Pavement, the Hold Steady, the Bottle Rockets, The White Stripes, and insert hundreds of other band names here).” All you former record store employees from back when there was still vinyl in the bins. And all the music folks I’ve gladly pushed and promoted over the years, I could use a little return of favor right now - y’all too. So again - you know, everyone.

All of you, I just need you to listen up for a few. This’ll just take maybe ten or fifteen minutes of your time, tops. I have something (or rather, someones) very important to bring to your attention, and they could use your help if you could spare a few minutes.

OK, so now that I’ve got your attention, I want you to think back to that whole six or seven or eight year period in the Nineties when you actually didn’t have to stay up until late Sunday night to watch the videos YOU wanted to see, and didn’t have to go searching the radio dial for a college radio station that actually had enough power to pick it up wherever you were - or one that was even on at that hour (unless you were one of the very fortunate few that had a 24 hour station nearby) - to get your fix. You know what I’m talking about.

If you were like me, you were probably seeing bands and artists that used to crash on your apartment floor, or that of your friend’s or brother’s or sister’s, in the Eighties when they came through town, now suddenly making it so big that they were playing stadium shows to thousands of people instead of little dive bars with 20 people tops most nights. For a while there, it seemed like everyone I ever knew, every band I had ever liked, and every band I had even just remotely heard of was making it big, or at least getting heard and by many.

Now come back with me to specifically around 1994, 1995, 1996 for a minute. I know you’re all hearing it in your head right now, but in case you need reminding (and of course, insert any number of Pearl Jam, Nirvana, etc., offerings in between to make it really sound right)… Soundgarden, “Spoonman” and “Black Hole Sun”. Oasis, “Wonderwall”. Weezer, “Buddy Holly”. Hole, “Doll Parts” and “Miss World”. Green Day, “Longview”. Live, “I Alone”, “Lightning Crashes”, “Selling the Drama”. R.E.M., “Bang and Blame” and “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?”. The Cranberries, “Zombie”. Better Than Ezra, “Good”. Elastica, “Connection”. Beck, “Loser”. PJ Harvey, “Down By the Water”. Radiohead, “Creep”. Smashing Pumpkins, “Bullet with Butterfly Wings”, “1979″, “Zero”, and “Muzzle”. Alanis Morissette, “You Oughta Know”. Foo Fighters, “This is a Call”, “I’ll Stick Around”, “Big Me”. Veruca Salt, “Seether”. Social Distortion, “I Was Wrong”. Stone Temple Pilots, “Vasoline” and “Big Bang Baby”. Scarce, “Freakshadow”.

Huh?

Yeah, I know. Only a handful will know the band Scarce. Mainly a few lucky people from the North Atlantic coast and thereabouts, some more in England maybe, and certainly some folks from Knoxville.

My point is that you SHOULD have known who this band was, and you SHOULD have known this song. You should have known them as well as most of the other bands and artists and songs I listed up there.

It’s a heartbreaking story, it really is.

Scarce came together in 1993, formed by Chick Graning, bass player Joyce Raskin, and drummer Jud Ehrbar (who would be the first of numerous drummers in and out of the band). Chick’s from Knoxville - we share a lot of mutual friends and acquaintances - and had had some success earlier in the Nineties with Boston band Anastasia Screamed. I’m a big fan of the solo stuff he’s put out in recent years too - but for now, let’s get back to Scarce.

Soon after Scarce formed, the trio was soon involved in a major label bidding war. They toured America, Europe, England, and Canada to much acclaim for their live shows. Their Red EP was distributed worldwide and landed in the UK charts, with songs like “All Sideways” and “Days Like This”.

In 1995, following a support tour with Hole in Europe and on the verge of seriously making it big with their debut album, Deadsexy, Chick suffered a brain aneurysm and lapsed into a coma for several weeks. The record company pulled the Red EP from the shelves in the UK. Scarce had been scheduled to play Big Day Out in Australia, which is a big deal for non-Australian bands to score a slot down there - that got canceled too.

When she initially put the “Freakshadow” video up on Scarce’s MySpace profile, Joyce said this:

Just wanted to share the video for “Freakshadow”, which was shot about a month before Chick’s brain hemorrhage. I placed it before the “All Sideways” video thinking how poignant it is to see Chick before his hemorrhage and a few months after when the Sideways video was shot. I remember watching this video while Chick was in a coma and crying because it shows so much of his charm and personality, and at the time he wasn’t moving at all.

Here’s the video for “Freakshadow” - the hit that never was:

Chick eventually recovered & astonishingly, Scarce kept going as a band till 1997, playing two major US tours—even though this meant Chick relearning all his guitar parts and vocals from scratch. But the strain of his illness took its toll on the band, and eventually Chick and Joyce went their separate ways.

Let’s pause again a moment for the video for “All Sideways”:

There are a lot of heartbreaking stories in rock & roll, I know, but this is one of the more heartbreaking I’ve ever known. And especially heartbreaking to me that this band’s music just didn’t get heard like it should have, and that most of you didn’t know this band and these songs like all the others I mentioned above from the same time period.

Fortunately, this tale has a happy ending - or coda, as it were.

Writing a book about the band called Aching To Be (available through Amazon) led to Joyce contacting Chick, and then to Scarce’s re-forming, ending nine years of silence. Songwriting is already under way for a new album, and some of the band’s old material, along with previously unreleased material and pre-A&M demos, are now available. With no expectations but to savor being a real band again, and no one to answer to but themselves, Scarce finally have the happy new beginning they deserved all along.

There’s one problem, though, and here’s where I - and Scarce themselves - could use your help.

At present, Universal Music Group has refused to re-release the band’s debut CD, Deadsexy - not the physical CD itself nor making it available for download/purchase. It’s a fine album and it deserves to be out there and to be heard. Especially by those who have never had a chance to really hear it before.

YOU guys - all you music fans and others - YOU deserve to be able to have an opportunity to hear it, download it, buy it, own it, etc. There are a few used copies of the old release floating around, but not that many, and this record just deserves another chance - and the chance it never really had the first time.

Here’s where you can help. If you can spare a couple of minutes to fire off an email to (email and info removed - see update below!) - requesting UMG release the Deadsexy CD for purchase & download purchase - Joyce, Chick, their manager Teresa, everyone involved would really appreciate it.

And I personally would appreciate it too, as I’m dying to get this CD on my MP3 player, you know.

Those of you who know me (online or off) and frequently talk music with me, you know I wouldn’t steer you wrong. Bottom line is it’s a great record, and it needs and deserves to be out there. Anything you can do to help get it out there, and to spread the word - thank you.

In the meantime, here’s what else you can do Scarce-wise:

• You can check out Scarce’s MySpace profile and listen to (and even purchase for download) what music is currently available by clicking HERE. (“Sudden Downtown Polo Club” is a particular favorite of yours truly.)
• You can buy Joyce Raskin’s awesome book about the band, Aching to Be, at Amazon by clicking HERE.
• Also go to Chick’s MySpace profile by clicking HERE and check out some of his solo work. I love his stuff and Scarce has already been incorporating “Dead Bleux” into their sets, that’s awesome.

All right, that’s enough from me for now but again, if you can spare a minute to (email and info removed - see update below!) - and politely request that UMG release the Deadsexy CD from Scarce, again, it is very much appreciated! Thanks for listening and watching and reading (and hope you enjoyed)!

UPDATE 05/29/2008:  Happy to report that I’ve just learned from Joyce that UMG has agreed to let Deadsexy be licensed, so no further correspondence requesting its release is necessary!  It will soon be available on iTunes (and I expect the usual other sources).  Thanks so very much to everyone that assisted with this effort to get Scarce’s old music out to the masses - Joyce & Chick appreciate you all SO much (and me too)! :)