This past weekend I was catching up on my Cleveland rock history and found myself on the Scat Records website. Scat, now based in St Louis, was originally formed in Cleveland and released records by some of the most important Ohio artists of our time: Cobra Verde, Guided by Voices, The Electric Eels, Prionshake, and The Mice.

The Mice were a power pop who were active during the mid to late Eighties, still a few years before I could talk my folks into letting me go to an all ages show. They were one of those bands who were hard to peg, and didn’t fit neatly inside any tight genre. Their music was too rabid for power pop and they didn’t have the right image for punk. They had two releases, one EP and one LP, before parting ways due to the proverbial musical differences.

MP3:The Mice – More Than I Can Talk About [download] MP3:The Mice – Not Proud Of The USA [download]

File udner what goes around comes around. “Not Proud Of The USA” gained popularity during the first president Bush, and it works amazingly well if you’re not a fan of W’s United States.

One last note before we leave. While we’re talking about Scat Records and Prisonshake, we just may see the first new Prisonshake cd since 1993 by the end of this year.

The Mice on Scat Records
The Mice (Wiki)

photo by John Rodriguez