When British indie pop act Scars on 45 bought a computer and started recording songs in a grungy spare room in Bradford, England, the band never imagined that one of those tracks — “Give Me Something” — would reach the top five on Billboard’s Triple A radio chart.
“The recordings that we did in our disgusting, small rehearsal studio… those actual recordings are on the album,” says Danny Bemrose, lead vocalist and co-founder of the quintet. “It’s quite a nice thing that we did it all ourselves, so we’re really proud of that.”
Bemrose and bandmates Aimee Driver (vocals), David Nowakowski (keyboards), Stuart Nichols (bass) and Chris Durling (drums) spent their first months together recording in the makeshift studio. “We soon realized that we would get a lot more out of things if we were to buy some equipment and record rather than spend every penny we had driving around England and doing gigs in London every two weeks,” Bemrose says.
Video: “Give Me Something” by Scars on 45
Several of the band’s tracks were later featured on TV shows “The Cleaner” and “CSI: New York,” catching the ear of Alexandra Patsavas. The music supervisor had recently joined forces with Atlantic to create the Chop Shop label through which Scars on 45 released the physical version of its “Give Me Something” EP (June 21). The four-song set was released digitally at the top of the year.
“It’s been such a huge roller coaster,” Bemrose says of signing with Chop Shop. “Our lives have done a full turnover in the last few months.”
Scars on 45’s music has since been featured on TV’s “Supernatural” and “One Tree Hill.” Playing shows in the United States since February-including Austin’s South by Southwest conference-the band will begin touring on the second leg of singer Marc Broussard’s national tour on July 14.
Inspired by groups like Fleetwood Mac, Coldplay and the Beatles, Bemrose describes the band’s music as melodic, heartfelt and uplifting. “We’re not under any kind of illusion that we’re doing anything that’s groundbreaking,” he says.
And Bemrose is the first to admit that no matter how well the band’s first single is doing on the charts, “we’re still a band that no one has heard of.” But Scars on 45 aim to change that perception. A second EP, “Heart on Fire,” will arrive in the fall, followed by a full-length album and additional TV synchs by the end of the year.