Lou Scarrs
Lou Scarrs' schedule for his former musical project looked like a young musician's dream come true: Glastonbury in the UK, check. SXSW in the States, check. Aussie Festivals: Splendour In The Grass, Big Day Out and Golden Plains, check. With all this, spurred on by substantial airplay on Triple J, it seemed like he had it made but the time had come for the former Money For Rope guitarist to follow his own sound, take the leap and go solo. “Going solo felt like jumping out of a plane from 20,000 ft. You take that leap and you feel elated that you had the balls to jump. But then you panic and try and roll over mid-air a couple times to double check there's a parachute on your back”. Lou Scarrs
Scarrs enlisted fellow Aussie, producer Oscar Dawson (Holy Holy) to help shape the songs and sound. The entire debut EP ‘What We Do’ was recorded at Dawson’s Abbotsford Aviary studio’s. “One thing I loved about working with Oscar was that he was able to really build on a song's strengths. A few times he'd take a tiny idea I had tucked away deep within a demo and we'd build on that. It was exciting to me that sometimes the part that I thought best in song got trumped by a little tidbit I had covered in reverb in the background.” The result was four raw, resolute tracks, true to Lou Scarrs new sound.
‘All I Ever Knew’ the first single to drop is a hard hitting no bullshit record, which harvested rave reviews;
“This sounds big. Y'know, the sort of song that you could hear blasting from the work site or that you might find on the Batman Forever soundtrack” Triple J Unearthed Dave Ruby Howe
“What We Do comes right at you with a bang: powerful vocals over hard-hitting drums contrasting with soothing strings, and a crazy catchy chorus” Glamglare
“The colossal bass and drums thunder from the get-go in a seductive amalgamation of brit-pop and big beat that somehow finds yet another gear in the powerhouse chorus to bring it on home” With Guitars
Following up with three unapologetically honest singles ‘Lapdog’, ‘Measure Up’ and ‘What We Do’ Scarrs takes you a on a journey of resurrection, love and rock ‘n’ roll. Influences can be heard from powerhouse artists The Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand throughout the scorching debut EP.
Italian blog Noisyroad describes ‘Lapdog’ as “ irrimediabilmente catchy” which
translates to “Lapdog is irresistibly catchy” and this couldn’t be more spot on. A manifesto of sorts the opening single is straight to the point with Scarrs laying it all on the line with lyrics 'filling my lungs, I'll take the best of the ones all around me and then I'm gonna make it my own” all the while entwined with twisted guitar hooks and stand out drums parts.
‘What We Do’ tells a tale of tumultuous relationships and the toll they take. There's a real Jekyll and Hyde-ness to the lyrics “sometimes I love you so much, sometimes I hate your very touch...”
Last but not least and Scarrs personal favourite ‘Measure Up’ is his very own pep talk track, lyrics “get up off the canvas and keep truckin” perfectly compliment Scarrs raw and dominant vocals.
