I Caught A Bad Case Of The Sin Disease
an album review of Scaterd-Few: Sin Disease (Alarma 1990)
Please allow me to introduce myself, well maybe not. Ladies & gentle lads we are here to talk about that thing that has been my lifeblood for as long as I care to recall. And that is music, sweet music. Over my head, I hear music, OH Lord!!
Laying in my bed with them Panasonic cassette earphones blaring in my head morning, noon, and night at the age of 12, 13,14, 15, 16, today, and tomorrow.
I was a Christian kid growing up, I grew up in a strict household but I still had an ear for my musical revolution. And this was the real beginning of that revolt.
I don’t know if you have ever perused the aisle of your local Christian book store, do those even exist anymore? But in 1990 you would find a great deal of well, now in hindsight what I recognize as mediocre fabrications of superior secular artists with some Jesus & scripture thrown in for good measure. They were trying, maybe they needed a bit of cannabis with that Jesus? BUT!! There were exceptions and this album was and still is one of those exceptions.
Scaterd-Few: Sin Disease became the album I played again and again. “Like the drums keep beating the rhythms to my brain, Lodi Dodi dee, Lodi Dodi dah.”
This is an escape. Forget it all. Forget about the context, forget about the references to Yahweh, and even the title “Sin Disease”. This album is experiential. Scaterd-Few was labeled as a punk rock band at the time although I don’t quite feel punk is an accurate description of their unique sound. I hear aspects of punk, alternative, funk, and metal. Whatever it is, it’s groovy. One of their big influences in the Sin Disease era was Bad Brains and they did some touring together as well.
The first track Kill the Sarx lets you know this isn’t your typical music affair, one thing you may notice pretty quickly is the vocalist Allan has an interesting vocal style that immediately pulled me into this band, as I grew up singing and this album opened my ears to a whole new world vocal expression.
Very invigorating guitar work, and I especially enjoy that funky, heavy bass sound throughout this album. Yes, I am a bass girl.
In regards to the title of this track, sarx is an old Hebrew word for the flesh, the selfish carnal nature of man ie the ego which can hide our godlike self; denying our enlightenment. I did get a distinct feeling these boys were no Christian fundamentalists even then.
An interesting tidbit from Wikipedia, Scaterd-Few only released one album on Alarma records (Christian music label) in 1990 and was later released from Alarma in 1991 due to the vocalist Allan Aguirre’s (aka Romald Domkus) admission in an interview that he smoked cannabis. I believe I watched this interview. “It’s a Christian cigarette”, eh Allan? I think it was Alarma records loss.
This album for me begins to add some Sriracha into the third track Begger, as the first two tracks are both under two minutes long. With Beggar you begin to hear the interesting flavors of this project with some guitar riffs that feel reminiscent in my mind to old Red Hot Chilli Peppers perhaps? They have been compared to Janes Addiction but I don’t get that, I’m not a fan of JA. This is a fun track with attitude.
The next track Light’s Out is another favorite, full of interesting starts and stops using quick seconds of total silence to draw you in. And when Allan (vocalist) goes into the line…
“ Please stop William
The wrong assassination
Gangs stir William
Not cool for boys like me
Bang bang bang
He was shot three times in the back of the head.”
…you realize this band is drawing inspiration from the life of the streets. This band originally hails from Burbank, California but become regulars in the L.A. music scene. The song is ultimately about racism and the ensuing violence it invokes. Not something you would hear from a band on a Christian label, not even today.
Allan’s vocals on those lines are utterly haunting and given its subject matter, it should haunt us. The tracks end with vocals that feel symbolic of the voices of children pleading “please stop the killing.”
In all, there are a total of sixteen tracks on this project with only three making it past three minutes. Those being Later (L.A. 1989), Look Into My Side which is a mellow, ethereal jam of a mystical woman which I am incredibly fond of, and lastly the odd over seven-minute track Kill The Sarx II (Apocolypse) which in all honestly, I usually will either stop at this track or start the whole album over.
In conclusion, if you’re one who has a taste for the gritty, raw energy of punk, with a heavy dose of funk-rock, add in some wild, unconventional vocals then I can most assuredly recommend you give Scaterd-Few’s Sin Disease an intentional listen, once, twice, or ten times perhaps? An ice-cold beer, or maybe a fresh bowl, and you are all set for the wonderment.
Who knows perhaps it could begin your musical revolution?
It is currently available on Spotify & YouTube.
