Philly-Style #6

Too much Philly for one weeky? Sorry. Anyway, I've decided to parcel these Philly-Style things out individually, so that you and I may savor each morsel on its own. That occasionally means (for me and you) learning to savor things that might, at first recollection, not have seemed worth savoring.

To wit, the underrated and underremembered Scram. They were a formidable presence in a room, or at, say, a 4th of July Fireworks celebration, what with their many horns and so on. The great thing about Scram (aside from the fact that they were led by Archbishop Carroll alums the Mungan brothers, and that they were managed, at least for a time, by the Radnor High School (assistant?) soccer coach, Bob Denney) is that they had a social consciousness and an interest in issues and music of the international kind. I'd venture to say that that was rare in Radnor Township at the time.

In spite of their Radnor roots, Scram the ensemble were really a Philly band, and their eclectic sound made them a go-to as the opener for all kinds of local and touring bands of the punk, funk, reggae, and ska persuasions. So they set the table for Fugazi, Rollins, The Toasters, The Woodentops...they even opened for Buckwheat Zydeco at the Chestnut Cabaret. Here's a calypso-infused track from their second full-length on Internationalist Records, "Kingsessing Trials."

A couple of used copies here.

Scram - Forward, Onward