Scars
Author! Author!

Why does someone at 7 in the morning turn on the light and the PC in the kitchen and attempt to write about a forgotten Scottish new wave group from the eighties? Simple, because they have nothing better to do and because even now, when a melody spontaneously comes to mind to hum while in the shower, it often turns out to be by the Scars.

New wave is also remembered because many groups, encouraged by the punk scene, realized it wasn't that complicated to make a record: you just had to want it. Furthermore, major record labels opened their doors because they understood there was money to be made there (the story repeated itself later with the Grunge phenomenon). However, alongside memorable albums, there was an even larger quantity of scraps and junk. Paradoxically, music magazines of the time gave them the same space as masterpieces because back then many critics embraced everything indiscriminately, always in search of novelty and the next big thing no matter where it came from: alongside Joy Division and Cure, garbage like Blue Rondo a la Turk, Modern Eon, Dissidenten snuck in. Let's make it clear right away that the Scars belong to the first category.

This record, which now peacefully rests somewhere, was truly a surprise at the time. It rivaled, not just on my turntable, with the legendary "Talk Talk Talk" by the Psychedelic Furs. Our guys had already done something. A handful of 45s, two of which also appeared on the compilation "Mutant Pop" by Fast Product (one of the first English indies) alongside Mekons, Gang of Four and so on. "Horror Show" in particular is phenomenal for how it anticipates certain sounds later pursued by Blur by at least 10 years: a piercing and whining guitar on a raw rhythmic backdrop and a primordial punk angry voice, just for fun. John Peel also fell in love with them and invited them for a Peel Session; typical of the never-forgotten John to become morbidly passionate about groups completely outside any circuit: see Fall, Nightingales etc. (but no Strange Fruit record published).

Finally, in 1981 the first and only album, that Author! Author! which portrays them on the back cover dressed like poor Duran Duran, a bit ridiculous if we want. At first glance, one might attempt to assimilate the Scars to the new-romantic current of the period: nothing could be more wrong. The album partly reprises the themes of "Horror Show", semi-tribal rhythmic base, clear guitar phrases, almost shouted vocals, a sense of languor still creeps in now when listening to these tracks. If we want to catalogue their music, we can define it as crystalline power pop, sunny. Tracks like "Leave Me In The Autumn", "Fear Of The Dark", the chanting "Obsession", the jewels "Everywhere I Go" and "All About You" can still be appreciated calmly 27 years after their release.

The Scars also have a MySpace page, and it's reassuring to know that still so many people remember them with affection and gratitude.