It has been over three weeks since The Scruff released their music video for new single ‘Vultures’ which has already hit an impressive 24,000 views. The Bedford-based trio are a high-energy infusion of indie, punk and rock ‘n’ roll and we caught up with frontman Adam Urwin to have a catch up on the single, grassroots venues and more.
The response has been through the roof and is arguably the best yet for any of the band’s releases as ‘Vultures’ is one of their best produced tracks yet. Its anthemic rock at its finest as the song addresses taking the freedom of speech too far has an impact on thousands of lives across the world.
Adam said: “We’ve been blown away to be honest. It was always going to be a strange time to release new music when you can’t go out and tour but we took a gamble and we’re really happy with how the song has been received.”
The YouTube video perfectly highlights this modern day phenomenon of the scathing comments section – so called keyboard warriors (there’s actually a separate video on that here). Friends and family put on VR headsets whilst on a running machine, football substitutes and ironing, amongst others and they then mimic those whilst the band perform in their hometown venue – Bedford Esquires.
‘It doesn’t seem to matter how far we travel, that venue just hasn’t been topped yet in my opinion’ – Adam Urwin, The Scruff
Filmed just before the lockdown, Adam said: “We actually filmed the video just as the virus was beginning to enter the country so there was a lot of social distancing and hand sanitizer being thrown around. It was pretty much the last thing any of us did before lockdown commenced and the video features a lot of our friends and family so it was awesome to spend the day with them before all this started.”
On his favourite scene, he added: “I really enjoyed shooting the football pitch scenes just because it gave us a chance to have a quick kickabout which broke up the day a bit. It also started raining just after we’d finished shooting that bit which was sort of the icing on the cake really.”
Music venues and festivals are under even more pressure than ever with high rents, noise complaints and lack of funding, but the Coronavirus has almost tipped it over the edge. The Music Venue Trust started a #SaveOurVenues campaign to save all 556 grassroots venues on the brink of collapse, including Esquires. Since that started in April, The Esquires more than doubled its fundraising goal and is among the 140 UK venues that have been removed from the red list…for now.
“Esquires is our Mecca,” expressed Adam. “It doesn’t seem to matter how far we travel, that venue just hasn’t been topped yet in my opinion but then I’m mega biased. We’re really lucky that our local community has raised the required amount to keep Esquires running so we have a place to go back to once this is over and we’re happy to have been able to play a part in the fundraising.”
There’s still a lot of work to do for the survival of the UK’s vibrant live music and with most festivals and love shows a write off this year, the current outlook is bleak, but it will bounce back.
In another recent video, the trio posted is a ‘would you rather’ feature where the frontman said he probably listened to ‘Vultures’ over 70 times. A question that has always interested me is whether musicians get fed up of their hearing their own music over and over again. Well, as Adam explains taking a break from it all if the therapy he needs.
“When we get home from touring, I have to have a break from listening to any of our music or it starts to drive me mad,” expressed Adam. “Hopefully it doesn’t have that effect on other people, but I’ve heard our songs more times than I’d ever dare to imagine. I don’t tend to feel like that with other music so would be interested to hear if other bands or artists feel like that with their own work.”
‘Gone to sh*t’ should really be put down in the history books as the most accurate description of 2020′ – Adam Urwin, The Scruff
Now, if you haven’t heard yet, then where have you been? But The Scruff have a debut album on the horizon and it’s almost near completion. The “songs are written and mostly recorded” Adam tells me but having to stay indoors has put a “spanner in the works” on the progress but as the end of this fiasco looming, it could be coming very soon indeed.
Finally, this year may have gone to sh*t but for Adam, Samuel and Jack there’s plenty up their sleeves.
Adam commented: “More music! We’re keen to release a few more singles in the coming months in the hope that by the time they’re out we might be able to start looking at getting back on the road. We’ve been doing a few live streams but it’s just not the same buzz as playing in front of a crowd so the sooner we can get back to that the better but sadly that’s not really in our hands at the moment.
“‘Gone to sh*t’ should really be put down in the history books as the most accurate description of 2020.”
Watch the music video below.
