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Scratching Post |
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Photo: Scratching Post (Mark, Jef, Nicole and
Phil)
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Nicole Hughes
Guitar and Vocals
Mark Holman
Guitar and Vocals
Jeff Depew
Drums
Phil Zeller
Bass and Vocals |
| Biography |
Scratching Post was originally formed by singer Nicole Hughes in London, Ontario, Canada. After some wayward gigging and personnel hassles, she moved Scratching Post to Toronto, Ontario where she met guitarist Mark Holman and bass player Phil Zeller.
After finalizing the recruitment of the above rockers, the band released a full-length album entitled
Flamethrower in March of 1996. Flamethrower was produced by Rob Sanzo
(Treble Charger, Voivod), and released on the indie label, Squirtgun Records in Canada. It met with critical acclaim and an extremely loyal fan base began to grow. Due to Nicole's sweet as sin vocals and "in your face" guitar riffs, the album spent several months on the Canadian Campus Radio charts (reaching # 4!) Their infectious pop melodies mixed with hard edged metal caused the public to come up with the comparison that Scratching Post sounded like,
"Slayer meets The Go-Go's". Flamethrower was re-released in 1999 due to popular demand.
Scratching Post again joined forces with Rob Sanzo, to record the next album
Destruction Of The Universe. They managed to pull some strings and get the record mixed by rock legend Phil Niccolo
(Urge Overkill). With it's teasingly seductive guitars and Nicole's satanic-schoolgirl voice, Destruction of the Universe immediately shot straight up the Canadian Campus Radio charts, peaking at #2. The first single,
"Bloodflame", gave them their first top 20 commercial radio hit on Toronto's Edge 102 (CFNY). It spent 7 weeks on the charts! The video for "Bloodflame" got added into medium rotation at MuchMusic. The second single
'Rock Past It', also did very well at commercial radio and MuchMusic; the video featured an obsessed Scratching Post SUPER FAN played by cult legend, Stefan Brogren (Snake from Degrassi Jr. High), who's life-mission is to see the band perform.
In 1999, Scratching Post performed over 100 shows including an East Coast tour with the Headstones and a full West Coast tour with Big Sugar. Television appearances included performing on 'Open Mike with Mike Bullard', CBC's 'Jonovision', the Tom Green Show (to this day it is still repeated - including here in Europe) and a MuchMusic appearance that attracted 300 of their fans. It was during the "Year of Destruction" that Scratching Post made their Internet presence known. The band has developed a huge cult following due to Nicole's presence as the webmistress of
scratchingpost.com - a cult following that the band has nicknamed "the Scratching Post Army". The band maintains a philosophy that the fans are extremely important and hence, she responds to every single email she receives...eventually...
This brings us to the most recent album from the Scratching Post stable,
This Time It's Personal. Recorded, mixed and produced by Chris and Drew Peters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is a definite departure from
Scratching Post's previous recordings - it has been said "The past albums are sunshine/daylight records, This Time It's Personal definitely moves Scratching Post into the night/darkness". Although the pop elements still exist on this new release, there is a maturity, progression and experimentation in song writing and structure that is new to the Scratching Post sound - the first single
'Fade Away' is a prime example.
Scratching Post joined Corrosion of Conformity and Clutch on a cross-canada tour in February of 2001.
Look out for a bigger, better, meaner version of Scratching Post for 2003! |
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Gigs |
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FiveMilesHigh no longer maintains bands gig details.
For the latest gig information please follow the external links below. |
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