FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.


It's a Dirty Business
Scatter the Mud put in double duty
working for food on the table, and discs in CD Players
by Martin Kemp

Scatter the Mud CD release
Thurs, July 17
Uptown

It's a catch-22 that many musicians face. You can't quit your day job until you're established enough to make music a full-time thing, but you don't have time to become established until you quit your day job.

So you put in your time, play the shows that you can and slowly build up a base of fans (and maybe a few groupies). Along the way, you might even get lucky and find a record label to back your efforts.

The local boys in Scatter the Mud know that to get anywhere as a band, you've got to pay your dues. Or pay the piper, so to speak (except in this case, the piper's payin' right along with the rest of them).

Creating original Celtic compositions and putting their own spin on traditional tunes, Scatter the Mud have made a name for themselves throughout Canada, particularly since the release of their 1994 album In the Müd. And after doing time at Saturday afternoon jams around the city, the group was able to attract major label attention with the debut disc, which was picked up for distribution by BMG Music.

But major label distribution was a catch that Scatter the Mud threw back, opting instead to release their latest effort, entitled Never Time to Play, on their own.

Bassist, harmony vocalist, band hairstylist and business über-manager Conan Daly explains that, "About 80 per cent of the people at BMG wanted to do this (latest) recording, including the director of national promotion, but we didn't have the artist and repertoire guy on our side.

"He (A&R guy) was not really familiar with the Celtic genre; he's basically focusing on signing contemporary alternative pop acts."

Not getting the support they felt they needed, Daly explains that Scatter the Mud "agreed to disagree" with BMG, and the band and the label went their separate ways.

With the band back on their own, lead vocalist and guitarist Phil O'Flaherty says the album title - Never Time to Play - reflects the reality that "having a job takes you away from the time that you'd really like to spend playing music."

But despite the fact that members of the group must work in the salt mines to support their musical habits, Daly is quick to argue that "The Mud" is more than a part-time band.

"Looking at our tour schedule over the past three years, on the average we are doing 70 to 100 dates per year, which is a good amount of dates for a lot of full-time bands."

So how do you gain fame and fortune as a band while holding down other jobs? Piper Cam Keating explains that the secret is to "try to have the greatest amount of impact, given the time that you have available to you."

Another trick is to have fun while working for recognition. Fun that is often at each others' expense, admits flute / whistle / bodhran / accordion player Greg Hooper.

Says Phil O'Flaherty, "We remind ourselves that we aren't making very much money at this and we have to have fun to make it worthwhile."

Laughing, Daly adds, "We obviously want the personal gain and glory that a band brings, but it has to be fun, too."

Never Time to Play sees Scatter the Mud both hard at work and having fun doing what they do best, with a range of slower ballads to raucous jigs and rowdy bagpipe numbers. While remaining, for the most part, rooted in the traditional, the band did bring in hired-help Keith Glass of Prairie Oyster to add a touch of electric guitar, including a saucy bit of surf on "Dunmore Lasses." Thom Moon also dropped by to add percussion, as did Dave Horrocks, who has since become a regular Mudster.

It seems the labor of love has paid off. Daly describes Never Time to Play as "a little more fleshed out" than their debut album, with percussion on every track.

"The energy level is higher, and I think we were a little more willing to experiment on this one," he concludes.

With a sophomore album under their workbelts, Scatter the Mud are set to tour BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario over the next few months.

It looks like they have found time to play after all.

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