Blokey, yet deep! football afficianardo, master in the art of foolishness and hair dye, resembles a cross between Marty Feldman and Jim Dale. 70's Punk, Glam and Grunge protagonist, obsessed by Marc Bolan. Amazingly twisted bugle, can smell round corners.

Bookish, Guinness swilling veggie. Lover of 60s Psych, Punk and Glam, famed for his extremely weak vocal strength(Imagine John Major ex-Conservative PM, on satirical 80s TV show Spitting Image, saying 'More Peas, Norma.'

A man utterly obsessed with capturing the perfect recorded sound. The rest of the band leaving him in a state of constant despair! Into gadjets, geekery, jiggery pokery, wigets, plug-ins, downloads, an ebay expert. Last bought a record in about 1979, I think it probably was a Rush LP? LOVES sugar, addicted to Zantac. Medical scientists from all over the globe are already involved in a bidding war for his corpse.

Young and small. A child prodigy brought up by two small Bears and a cougar in Portsmouth, 'Whitty' showed immediate promise for a career in showbiz, writing his first Sonata aged 3, he was then snapped up by legendary Scouse playwright Phil Redmond, as understudy to the understudy of Roland Browning on Grange Hill, a talent.

Formerly known as The Count (due to a misprint) was changed to The Baron, on account of his expansive wealth, and a penchant for wearing a monacle in the bath! Interests include: Fosters, Carlsberg, Hoffmeister, Carling, Skoll, Castlemaine and any own brand two for one 3.5% or weaker lager. Always carries the can!

Back in 2002, John, a man who had with the help of Grim and other members of Jump achieved a charting dance track at the height of acid house, was musically frustrated, and marginalised to his mini back bedroom, office/studio thing, surrounded by vinyl 7 inch singles, cables and assorted instrumentation. Basically his musical career seemed over.

Andy, though still vital with his grunge/punk rock outfit Mamajamas could see the writing on the wall, despite great reviews and many returns to the Barfly in Camden, the band was beginning to splinter with the lack of a breakthrough. His career hadn't even got going!

Blimey, what a sad couple of burkes eh! Until the two of them were thrown together at a mutual friends birthday pub crawl of Soho. This is ground zero - the whole evening, much to the annoyance of girlfriends and fellow party goers, renders the two insperable, lamenting the loss of Punk spirit in the music industry, and discovering a lot of musical common ground.

This relationship was cemented over the coming weeks at circuit training sessions, followed by beers at Bar Rocca in Crouch End and further discussions, leading ultimately to the involvement of the aformentioned Grim. The enigma, the maverick, guitar genius and Zantac kid. Grim as explained, had been with John in Jump but like him, had been kicking his heels, showing little interest in anything other than buying up most of the guitars ever advertised on ebay and eating a poor diet.

The final piece to the jigsaw was The Baron. The trio had been writing and recording for nearly a year when the yearn for a live gig grew too great and the search for a drummer had to get under way. There were a couple of names bandied around, but either they weren't committed, should have been committed or didn't have a kit. Andy knew of a guy who was a mate of a girlfriend of a mate of a partner of a mate of the Queen of Sheba, who had an affair with Queen Victoria.

It so happened (fortunately for the bands progression) that this guy was The Baron, who was at the same wedding a few weeks later and who following a little petty theft from the outside bar, was convinced that it would be a good career move to team up with the previously monikered, Pony Virus now recently re-christened The Scratch.

The Scratch's debut single, was self released on 7inch vinyl and a homage to The Buzzcocks DIY masterpiece The Spiral Scratch EP. I relax to Spiral Scratch came out in November 2002. It got some great reviews and did well in Rough Trade as sale or return - likened by Nigel the main buyer to The Dead Boys classic Sonic Reducer. That was followed up in 2003 with the debut album DIY a hugely eclectic album, veering between Grunge, Punk, Dance, Baggy and Indie.

2004 saw the next single 'X-Ray Eyes' out on 10inch, a highlight being the top review of it in Wire magazine. Further singles followed in 2005, with Undercover and Logical Mind, together with remixes by DJ friends.

2006 saw the first release of the album Night Bus or Milk Train. It wasn't until 2007 however that a breakthrough finally came. Thanks massively to Clint Boon, Inspiral Carpet and XFM Manchester DJ, with who's help the band were voted winners of XFM Unsigned and as a result appeared on the Versus Cancer bill with the likes of Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller, Ian Brown, The Charlatans, Echo & the Bunnymen at a capacity 22,000 M.E.N. Arena Manchester.

The Scratch began attracting a much heightened media profile culminating in the re-release of the album Night Bus or Milk Train, a more 'coherent' offering than DIY, Shining through the 12 track album came the bands eclectic influences ranging from The Clash and Blur through to The Flaming Lips and Happy Mondays.

Late 2007 saw the release, by popular demand, of single Numbers (the track that won XFM and unsigned and made famous at the M.E.N.) which walked straight on to many University radio playlists and was added to playlists on Orange Radio, Radio 2XS, CRMK Radio and dozens more. A succession of live acoustic sets followed on radio shows around the UK, including an XFM session, culminating in the band's TV debut on Manchester's Channel M Breakfast Show at Christmas.

The band can now name check Clint Boon (XFM) as a firm fan of the band. Having appeared on his show three times, including a session and an acoustic spot. Plus towards the end of '07 he appeared on TV talking exclusively about The Scratch to rubber stamp his approval.

Since the debut gig in April 2003 at the Travellers Rest in Apperknowle, The Scratch have played at a myriad of venues up and down the country including shows at: The Metro, The Barfly (Camden), The Hope and Anchor, The Borderline, The Dublin Castle, Rhythm Factory, Turnmills, The Water Rats, Night And Day (Manchester), Roadhouse (Manchester), The Dry Bar (Manchester).