TABLE SCRAPS: PRIMAL GARAGE ROCK

Stalwarts of the Birmingham music scene, Scott Vincent Abbott and Poppy Twist, are kicking out the jams and getting down to basics with their stripped-down scuzzed-up raucous blend of primal garage rock.

How did Table Scraps come into this world? Was it a natural birth?
Scott: I moved into the terraced house next door to Poppy and discovered that our houses were virtually mirror images of each other. Elvis shrines, Cramps memorabilia, bookshelves and plastic flamenco dancers…
Poppy: So the birth was both natural and supernaturally spooky and preordained. There is no such thing as coincidence.

Tell us about your music, who would dig it and why?
Scott: One guitar, three drums, four amps, fuzz pedals, shouting and spilt drinks.
Poppy: Who’d dig it? Who wouldn’t?

Musically, who fuels your fire and floats your boat?
Scott: Ramones, Misfits, Black Flag… blah blah. The old stuff is probably so obvious that it’s not worth saying.

Poppy: My boat has been floating on Telegram and The Fat White Family’s LP.
Scott: Metz and Pissed Jeans both flick my switches lately. And Guantanamo Baywatch from Portland Oregon; best band name ever.

You’re a very stylish couple of cats, who would you say your style icons are? Whose wigs do you dig? Where do you get your threads?
Poppy: I trawl the web for Frederick’s of Hollywood tat, knockoff Westwood and moth eaten bits of Mr Freedom. Locally – Top Banana in Kings Heath, Birmingham imports lots of cool stuff from the States. The wigs we dig? Kiss!
Scott: Usually boots and biker, plus whatever smells the least.

You’ve got that old DIY punk vibe going on with your posters and tapes, is that important to you?
Poppy: Being a band that creates its own world is important to us – and our world is built of collage and copyright infringement… We’ve Xeroxed a little ‘zine of our flyer-art family to sell at shows… so people can catch up.
Scott: And tapes are a relatively cheap way to start getting things out there. We might have to do our own range of cassette players for people to play them on though!

The music scene in Birmingham is thriving at the moment, tell us three of your favourite local bands and three of the city’s best kept secrets.
Scott: We’ve been fans of God Damn forever, and we got hold of Female Smell’s split single with Comanechi and love it.
Poppy: ‘Summer Daze’ by Kaleidoscopes has a cool bassline…Birmingham’s best kept secret? Wolverhampton!

You’ve earned a reputation as an electric (not literally) live band, raw raucous rock n roll. What’s your most memorable gig?
Poppy: Most memorable was probably travelling down to Soho to see what turned out to be the last ever UK show by The Cramps. It was at the Astoria and they opened with Mad Daddy. I’m still incredibly sad that Lux isn’t with us anymore and there will never be another ‘new’ Cramps album.
Scott: Thee Ohsees at The Basement (R.I.P) was spectacular a couple of years back. Tripped out but still totally punk.

What do you have planned for the future of Table Scraps?
Poppy: I’ve chased shadows through the purgatory of the music bizz quite enough for one lifetime, and I’ve sat through planning meetings that would stun and jade any sentient life form. Planning is for the birds – we do the stuff that comes along and see where it goes.
Scott: More shows, more damage, more volume. If less is more, just think how much more ‘more’ is going to be.

Maryam Snape