Scars on 45 consist of:
Danny Bemrose (vocals/guitar)
Stuart Nichols (bass)
David “Nova” Nowakowski (keyboards)
Aimee Driver (vocals)
Chris Durling (drums)
Making music was the furthest thing from Scars on 45 co-founder Danny Bemrose’s mind until the professional soccer player for England’s Huddersfield Town F.C. broke his foot at 21 and his world came crashing down. “I was in limbo, without knowing what to do with myself,” he says. It wasn’t the first time that fate would intervene in the band’s formation.
Danny put down the soccer ball and picked up for his father’s guitar. “I’m quite an obsessive person. I became kind of addicted,” he says. “I used to lock myself away to write songs and record on four-track recorder.”
After teaching himself guitar, Danny and one of his football buddies, bassist Stu Nichols, began playing together in various bands. “We were awful,” Danny laughs, but “we were always passionate about it and had this belief that we’d probably make it someday.”
Soon keyboardist David “Nova” Nowakowski joined the pair and the trio began recording demos and playing live around Leeds. This is where Oasis’ Noel Gallagher and country legend Emmylou Harris come in. “A friend of ours who was drumming for Noel asked us if we wanted to meet him,” Danny recalls. “He said, ‘This is Danny and Stu - they’re in a band.’ Noel said, ‘What’s your band’s name?’ and we said, ‘We don’t really have one.’ Noel said, ‘A band without a name? What kind of fucking band is that?’ and walked off.”
On search for a name, the nascent group ultimately picked Scars on 45, taken from a radio interview that Danny heard with Emmylou Harris, in which she recalled her father telling her as a young girl that she better not get any “scars on his 45s” as she played them.
The trio became the axis of the band, with other members coming and going. “We must have been through at least 500 members,” Danny says. And then, amid the revolving door, the second serendipitous event occurred that firmly set Scars on 45 on its path. Danny wrote a song that required a female voice. Out of the blue, Nova heard his friend Aimee singing along with the radio to The Cure’s “Friday I’m in Love.” Although she wasn’t a performer and had never sung in public, he was struck by her innocent, sweet voice. She ultimately, joined the band, ditching plans for a two-year trip around the world.
The band, now expanded to a quintet with the addition of Chris on drums, placed songs on A&E’s since-cancelled series, “The Cleaner,” and came close to signing a record deal only to see it fall apart at the last moment. Then came the moment they had been waiting for: “CSI: New York” selected the group’s song, “Beauty’s Running Wild,” for an extended closing scene. The music caught the attention of noted music supervisor, Alexandra Patsavas, who signed the band to her Atlantic Records-distributed label, Chop Shop Records.
So that's their story on how they came to be. All I know is that they prove yet again why I love the UK music scene so much. It's a brilliant EP....reminds me of Oasis meets One Republic meets Coldplay meets the Gin Blossoms. And then again their sound, despite reminding me of those aforementioned bands...is still uniquely all their own.
I'm thinking this band has big things happening in their future.....in the meantime you can hear their track 'Heart on Fire' on the ABC's Grey's Anatomy Soundtrack plus it's being featured in all of the show's TV promos.
You can follow the band on Twitter: @scarson45
Scars on 45 'Give Me Something' & 'The Way That We Are'...both tracks taken from their debut EP 'Give Me Something', out now.
Go buy it.
Now.
And if you're in Toronto you can catch Scars on 45 in live action....here are the details:
The Mod Club
September 23, 2011
722 College Street Toronto, Ontario
Line up: Marc Broussard, Scars on 45 & Chic Gamine
9:45PM
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