This post may just mark the biggest amount of time between two posts by the same artist/band. The last time I wrote about Noisettes was in 2013, the year this blog started, when I was initially using Blogspot/Blogger. At that point, a year had already passed since the band had released their last album. It’s now been 12, and it doesn’t look like they’ll be returning anytime soon. But the initial trio-turned duo made a mark in the UK at least. In the aforementioned post for the last Noisettes song I wrote about, ‘Bridge to Canada’ (it’s a good one), I dedicate a whole paragraph to ‘Scratch Your Name’ – today’s song. A lot of points I make in that old paragraph still stand though. But if you could refrain from reading it there so I can sort of reuse it here, that’d be great.

‘Scratch Your Name’ was indeed the very first song I heard by the band, and yes, it was through seeing its music video (above) on MTV2 one day. Unlike the smart-aleck 18-year-old I was back then, I don’t think the video is rubbish at all and I was probably just exaggerating to try and get a laugh or something. They did re-release the song as a single some time after though and got a fancier video in the process (below). But I do remember thinking it was very cool to see a Black lady lead singer in a band on the channel for once. Shingai Shoniwa had some soul in that voice, and she rocked too. The video showing up was probably the first time a Black woman-fronted indie rock band appeared on my screen in my experience of watching MTV2, and I’d been frequently visiting that place for at least two years by that time. Was 2006, started watching MTV2 in 2004, so that would make sense.

Like I also said in that old post, and agree with too, the track is a ‘proper rocker’. It starts off with one riff, plays another under the verses before exploding into the power chords for the choruses. Rinse and repeat, it’s a thumbs-up performance. I really like the harmonies between Shoniwa and guitarist Dan Smith as they sing the hook, ‘Scratch your name into the fabric of this world before you go/The skin will tear under the pressure, make it deep so it always shows.’ That’s an encouraging message if ever there was one. Make a name for yourself, make an impact in this world, with your life, in other people’s. It’s something to take on board. The track can be found as the second song on the band’s debut album, What’s the Time Mr. Wolf?, from 2007. I once had a physical copy of that album, but gave it away. There’ll be another song from it that I’ll be revisiting on here.