Love, The Scruffs - brief historical note
“Love, The Scruffs” began in 1998 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Earlier in late 1996, Stephen Burns had recorded his first full record in over 10 years (which will be re-released as “Back From The Grave—The Scruffs”). At this time Burns was living in New Orleans, in relative proximity to Alex Chilton who recorded the first demos of half a dozen on the songs on this record.
Burns was considering an all new Scruffs lineup and new album. Los Angeles and Vancouver, British Columbia were considered as possible recording sites. From Los Angeles, Burns drafted Wil O’brien from The Andersons as an additional guitarist. At Chilton’s bequest Burns visited Glasgow and became acquainted with some of the musicians there in groups such as Belle & Sebastian, Teenage Fan Club and V-Twin. CaVa Studios, owned by Brian Young, seemed a natural home for Burns and he retreated to New Orleans to write the material for “Love, The Scruffs” (which amounted to some 40 songs which were edited down to a dozen).
In late October, 1999, Wil O’brien visited New Orleans and rehearsed some songs with Burns. In November Burns left for Glasgow where Francis MacDonald of Shoeshine Records, Teenage Fan Club and solo fame was to play drums on the new recording. Tapped for bass was Davie Scott who, at last minute could not play (he later played piano on “Hit Me When You Want To Go” from the “Swingin’ Singles” album) and Burns had a problem.
Friend Jason MacPhail of V-Twin provided the solution and hooked Stephen up with Bobby Kildea (V-Twin, Belle & Sebastian) and, with one day rehearsal in Glasgow, the group cut the bulk of the songs in about 5 days in the studio at CaVa. (Two songs feature Stephen on solo acoustic guitar and were added a few weeks later). While Wil O’brien was able to be in Glasgow long enough to provide stellar guitar work on 6 or 7 tracks, the remaining lead guitar was done by Stephen, Bob Kildea, Norman Blake (Teenage Fan Club) and Stevie Jackson (Belle & Sebastian). String arrangements for three songs were written in Memphis, but performed in Glasgow at CaVa studios.
Recorded by engineer Geoff Allan, “Love, The Scruffs” was taken to Ardent studios in Memphis, Tennessee in February 2000 for mixing by John Hampton and Geoff Allan with Stephen. The album was first released in Japan on Nippon Crown in late 2000 or early 2001.
Several songs capture the early Scruff feel, notably, “It’s Your Heart” and “You Can’t See Your Way For Clear”. A favorite song of the crowds today is “A Girl Can Make You Cry” which had Stevie Jackson on tremolo guitar. Designed as a postcard of various “love” songs, it ends with the notorious “I Hate Love”.
Jangly guitars, driving drums and bass and The Scruffs were back in business on “Love, The Scruffs”. The recordings and mixing were semi-magical moments and Burns embarked upon two tours of Japan in 2001 and 2002. But, in moving forward to the next album, “Swingin’ Singles”, Burns was forced to put together new versions of The Scruffs due to new commitments facing both MacDonald and Kildea. The early magic of the reformed Scruffs was lost and it took Burns almost a year to form a consistent Scruff lineup while continuing to record songs for what would become “Swingin’ Singles”.
“Love, The Scruffs” is a special recording in the vein of “Wanna Meet The Scruffs?” Burns found himself living in Glasgow by the April 2001. “Love, The Scruffs” was released, followed by a Japanese tour in the fall of 2001. In early 2002 Burns set about writing material for the next project only to find that he no longer had a band. Dark days in Glasgow ensued while Stephen continued to record songs and reform The Scruffs.