Scrawl were formed in 1985 by guitarist Marcy Mays, bass player Sue Harshe and drummer Carolyn O'Leary in Columbus, Ohio, USA. Low-key shows, the first as support to the Meat Puppets, gradually built a substantial local fanbase. Their debut album, Plus, Also, Too, was released in May 1987 on local independent No Other Records, after finances were secured through friends. The critical reception was strong, Village Voice journalist Robert Christgau awarding it a B+ rating, commenting "As female-identified garage-rock, this never attempts to glorify its ineptitude with swagger or poetry - it has the guts to make plain that ineptitude isn't so damn far from vulnerability.' The positive press led to a contract with Rough Trade Records US in March 1988. The first results of their association was He's Drunk, recorded at Prince's Paisley Park Studios in Minneapolis. Promoted by a support tour with Firehose, once again it found support in the alternative press. A second album for Rough Trade, Smallmouth, was then recorded at Fort Apache Studios in Boston with Gary Smith (Throwing Muses, Pixies, Chills, Walkabouts) as producer. Issued in the spring of 1990, it secured more restrained reviews, though the group was now a prominent fixture of the college radio scene. However, at this time their relationship with Rough Trade began to sour. Four cover versions were recorded with producer Steve Albini for a promotional EP release but the record label shelved the idea. Tempestuous negotiations over the release of Scrawl's fourth album were then aborted as the group decided to leave the label - now on the verge of bankruptcy. Again working with Albini, the group's next release was the seven-song mini-album Bloodsucker. Despite strong reviews and dates with the Afghan Whigs and My Bloody Valentine, the group found it difficult to escape the perception of them as underachievers. In May 1992 drummer O'Leary left the band. Scrawl's first song without her, June 1992"s "Misery (Someone Is Winning)", preceded a tour undertaken under the banner "Foxcore My Ass". As that legend suggested, Scrawl were deeply suspicious of the current "Riot Grrrl" associations foisted upon them by a trend-obsessed media - though many of the musicians involved in that movement openly acknowledged their debt to the group's late 80s recordings. It was the end of 1992 before a new (male) drummer, Dana Marshall, could be found, at which time the group negotiated a new contract with Simple Machines Records (Southern Studios in the UK). Albini was once again recruited to oversee their January 1993 sessions in Chicago which resulted in the release of Velvet Hammer. A dark record, "primarily about isolation", its sombre mood was similar to that of "My Curse', a song Mays sang on the Afghan Whigs" Gentleman album, released at the same time.

Listen to Scrawl at Finetune.

• I'm Ready

• Afghan Whigs
• Green River
• Deftones
• Green Day
• Bettie Serveert
• Blake Babies
• Superchunk
• Tanya Donelly
• Throwing Muses
• Edith Piaf
• Elliott Smith
• Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers
• Rufus Wainwright
• The Mars Volta
• Ut
• Weezer
• Fountains of Wayne
• The Shins
• Cake
• Foo Fighters