Table Scraps is a raw, dark yet delightful, fuzzed out garage rock hailing from Birmingham. We caught them after their first show in France at La Mécanique Ondulatoire organized by Freaky Loud Things and scored their sweet cassette More Time For Strangers that I will be blasting from my dad’s truck on the Olympic Peninsula very soon. For all of you without an awesome pick-up, all of the vinyls and CDs include a download. Their debut album ‘More Time For Strangers’ is out now, but Table Scraps is one of those bands you want to catch live and inhale their energy. Table Scraps is Poppy, Scott and Tim.
When did you first meet?
Poppy was living in Birmingham and Scott lived next door. Poppy and her dad came around knocking suggesting that they start a band together. And here we are.
It seems like something embarrassing my dad would do. You were initially a two piece set. How many other two piece bands to you actually know? Everyone is so shallow, they were probably comparing you to the White Stripes.
Believe it or not, we know a lot. People are so fickle. Scott used to have short hair and a quiff and people were like “rockabilly”, six months later he had long hair and people were like “Nirvana”. And we were the exact fucking band playing the exact fucking songs. It like, come on man, say White Stripes and fuck off.
Why did you add bass to your initial sound?
It was two piece but bass was added to the initial sound when Scott needed some skeleton surgery (a long story short that ended with the quote “we are definitely not shoeglaze” in a literal sense).
We were originally a two person group, it seems cool for the first five minutes, but then for a thirty minute set, its two people just working really hard. You are just so busy, it’s not really fun. So we needed to add someone.
“I had so much time after my surgery to write songs and riffs, now we can do crazy stuff like get on the Eurostar to Paris, borrow some amps off a lovely guy and play gigs, which we couldn’t have done before with all of our drum kits and equipment. “Scott added.
Where does the name Table Scraps come from?
I really wish there was a deeper meaning. We needed something that was punk and we hate people being a bit too precious about things. We make music, record (as best as we can) and get things out, no need to be precious or wordy, dwelling on things. We said to ourselves we need something like “table scraps” and we were all like “yup”.
Table Scraps sounds like a dive bar.
Dive Bar was our second choice. Dive Bar is a fucking great name. When you google Table Scraps you get pictures of us and pictures of dogs looking at food.
You are from Birmingham, there is a quite a scene at the moment with Swim Deep and Peace.
You have done more research than people who have interviewed us in Birmingham. We played this big festival in Birmingham (Beyond the tracks), and it was the first time that I heard all these bands from the area. They are from the outskirts and usually add Birmingham to the description for something gritty.
Is Birmingham the new London?
Only if its because people are moving there because they can’t afford London. And lets face it, London is awful, it’s a shit hole, we all know that. No, its not.
What did you think about the audience tonight (in Paris)?
Fucking great, just a bunch of pint glasses held in front of their faces, that’s all we really want. Its like we found our kindred spirit.
What do you all do for work besides music? Unless you are lucky.
We all freelance.
Like Nathan Barley media types?
We are from Birmingham, so you can’t be like Nathan Barley. Poppy and Tim do video and Scott is a carpenter like Jesus and Harrison Ford.
I always get confused thinking that Jesus fishes.
None of us fish, he is cooler at carpentry than fishing. He was a cheat at fishing. I like how we have moved into Christianity the moment my stigmata is hurting today, I fell off the cross.
