Scraping the Barrel | |
|---|---|
| Creators | Third-Rate Reprobates |
| Genre | Punk Pop |
| Year | 1992 |
| Tracks | 10 |
| Length | 36:47 |
Scraping the Barrel
Background
Scraping the Barrel is the second studio album by the Third-Rate Reprobates and their first one created officially under the Dekaf Records label. It was released nationally in 1992 to much local fanfare around Ohio and beyond. It was a moderate success across the United States and allowed the band to tour nationally to promote the album. The album’s tracks followed the same style of introspective pop punk that they had become known for in their local area. Themes of young love, school, and life as a teenager in suburban America, spoke to many of their contemporaries across the US.
Along with their classic loud guitar and hard hitting drums, the band also tried their hand at a few other musical styles. The song Drive Time saw the band attempt a 50s rock and roll sound. They were inspired to write a song about their rusty cars as though they were high end all American cruisers. The lyrics told of how they cruised down dilapidated streets of their local town as though it was the Las Vegas strip. It was a great tongue in cheek satire of modern America and how far it had fallen. It was the most popular song on the album outside of the band’s core demographic, with many older listeners enjoying the song and being very surprised by the band’s other discography thinking this was their normal style.
Much like their first album, the band included a hidden track recorded by the band out and about. This secret track, Do A Kickflip, was a recorded by the band at their local skate park. Keys player, Dan Lochlan, was asked abruptly by a kid passing by to do a kick flip on his skateboard. Dan didn’t want to disappoint so tried the trick there and then. It resulted in him tripping over his board, and sliding down a ramp head first. The recording caught it all, much to Dan’s annoyance, and the other members of the band demanded it was included on the album.
Album Art
The album art was also created at their local skatepark. The band wanted something eye catching that represented youth culture on the cover. They liked the idea of promoting their local skateboarding scene so decided to use it for a photoshoot. They put up posters all around Dayton telling every local skater to come down to the skate park if they wanted a chance to appear on their cover. Around 100 people turned up hoping to get themselves into music history. The band each brought their own cameras to take as many pictures as they could in the hope of getting a few great ones they could use. At the end of the day none of them were particularly happy with what they had so far, so they arranged a jump competition. They laid out an old oil barrel and asked each competitor to do the best trick over it that they could.
After some good attempts and many accidents, the winner was crowned as 25 year old, Chuck “B-Roll” Brian. In true skater fashion when he completed the trick all the over skaters slammed their boards down in applause and some even threw their trainers at him as a sign of respect. Thankfully Lincoln got a great photograph of Chuck in mid air that the whole band agreed was the best picture of the day. They sent the print to the Dekaf head offices for their in house team to finish off the design. The result was this classic grunge album cover celebrating the band’s favourite sport of skateboarding. Chuck went on to become a local legend in Dayton and even got a few lucrative sponsorships from local businesses trying to get a piece of his popularity.
Track Listing
On The Skids (2:34)
Drive Time (4:12)
The Dreams of Teenage Thugs (3:29)
Do A Kickflip (0:26)
Chilli Dogs on 3rd St. (4:57)
Drop That Expression (2:11)
Locked In + Locked Up (3:48)
Square Peg (6:01)
H.O.B.O (3:22)
Burn Your … Whatever (5:47)