Started as a fun experiment in the kitchen of a house in Perrystown, The Scratch are a 4-piece acoustic act from Dublin. Born from a shared love of acoustic guitar, metal and traditional Irish music, The Scratch have moulded triumphant melodies with the groove and intensity of metal. 

A 2017 busking trip to Rory Gallagher festival in Ballyshannon kick-started the journey, as a video of the band busking racked up an astonishing one million views in just a week and was shared around the world. An invitation to do a free show in Dublin’s Whelan’s followed, and then a string of Dublin headliners in increasingly bigger venues, each one sold out before doors, ending in an Academy Dublin show that sold out in four days. Their first UK show in The Camden Assembly was also sold out ahead of time.

Their first EP Old Songs was released in 2018, a collection of older instrumental material. Next up came stand-alone singles and crowd favourites Get It Right Up Ye and Punisher that summer.

2019 saw the release of The Whole Buzz EP as well as singles Cúnla and Flaker, with a marked development of their songwriting style and sound. The Whole Buzz further cemented The Scratch as one of the best trad revival / metal crossover acts in the country and one of the most exciting acoustic acts in the world with high energy acoustic riffs and soaring melodies littered across the 5 tracks.

2020 was to see the band tour the UK for the first time, play their biggest shows to dste around Ireland, as well as some of Europe’s biggest festivals. With the arrival of Covid-19 changing the industry and indeed the word for a large portion of the year, the band decided to take matters into their own hands and release their debut album Couldn’t Give A Rats three months early to give their fanbase something positive in a difficult time. The album has received critical acclaim, scoring a top 10 album in Ireland, a 4-star review from The Irish Times, and Hot Press describing it as one of the “boldest Irish debuts in recent memory”. 

The band just finished up their rescheduled UK/Irish tour. The tour was almost entirely sold out including a date at London’s Boston Music Room, and an unforgettable show in a sold out 3Olympia Theatre Dublin, their biggest headline gig to date. Sumer 2022 sees the band tackle nearly 20 festival dates across Ireland, The UK and Europe.

It is impossible to fully understand this band without seeing them in the live environment, where they challenge anybody to come to show and not leave with a smile on their face.

 

Press

“Couldn’t Give a Rats brilliantly splices humour with self-esteem-boosting lyrics and a brilliant knack for writing and performing songs with great arrangements, while turning their acoustic instruments into high-intensity tools. Think Rodrigo y Gabriela to the power of a thousand or two.” 

– The Irish Times, 4 Star Review

“‘Couldn’t Give A Rats’ as a debut album is as good as it gets and captures The Scratch at their best to date. Witty, charming, and masterful in its musical interplay and performance, the band’s growth to this point has been a joy to see and hear and there’s no doubt that the lads will keep the good stuff coming.”

–   Goldenplec 4.5 Star Review 

 With Couldn’t Give A Rats, the band have crafted one of the boldest Irish debuts of recent memory – expanding their sound and vision, while still holding onto the wild impulses that mark The Scratch as one of the country’s most spectacularly original talents.”

– Hot Press 8/10 Review 

“The Scratch have, steadily and relentlessly, been building a following. Now, after a brilliant sell-out Button Factory show, they may just be about to explode into real national prominence.”

– Hot Press

“A Scratch gig is unlike anything you will have seen before.”

– Hot Press 

“In a sense, The Scratch offer a collection of stylistic juxtapositions, superbly knitted together by a sense of instrumental inventiveness and magnificent raw energy. Thus, while their catalogue of recordings is highly impressive, it is only by seeing them live that you really appreciate the full scale of their appeal.”

–   Hot Press