Birmingham, England’s Table Scraps are a duo that sound like more than the sum of their parts. The racket they make on their debut album More Time For Strangers is that of a Gothic Ty Segall; a hollowed-out, ghostly Stooges haunting Blue Cheer on some abandoned, dilapidated Michigan farm. This is dark, bellowing garage rock coming from deep depths only the damned know. Table Scraps are a cross between the new wave of British Heavy Metal and the counter-culture, cult-driven devil garage rock of the late 60s America. More Time For Strangers is an all out rock and roll bloodbath.
It doesn’t get much more rock and roll than “Electricity”, the opening salvo on Table Scraps debut. Part Judas Priest, part Ty Segall’s Slaughterhouse, and all attitude it’s like a motorcycle death trip into Death Valley. “Bad Feeling” is dark, dreary metal with a hint of Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox in the vocals. In fact, there’s a lot of Bradford Cox in the overall gritty sound here. “Motorcycle(Straight To Hell)” sounds like its title. It has the vibe of some exploitative Russ Meyer film from the late 60s; lots of Harleys, lots of violence, and lots of sex. This is a chuggin’, drivin’ tune that’ll surely get you a speeding ticket listening to it in the car. “Vampyre’s Bite” sounds like Alice Cooper fronting Thee Oh Sees. It’s a shaggy, dark rocker. “Bug” is a filthy, fuzzy mess of garage and punk all rolled up into a noisy package, while “Dead Scene” gets Table Scraps heavy metal groove on to end the album on a filthy high note.
Scott Vincent Abbott and Poppy Twist create a massive, crumbling wall of sound with a stand up drum set and a guitar running through four overblown amps. Songs range from cryptic and gothic to all out dirty rock and roll, with that thru line being the gritty spirit of 60s DIY garage rock. According to Scott Vincent Abbott, in regards to taking care of production duties, as well as artwork and music videos themselves, ” We wanted to maintain creative control”, said Abbot. “And it gave us the time to figure out how to make the record dark and brooding, or screaming and explosive, in equal measure.”
Mission accomplished.
