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MUSIC

HISTORY

Scrimshaw’s first album Uphill Journey was named by Brian for the progression of their sound over the years. It consists of 16 songs recorded over a period of six or maybe seven years. During that time, Scrimshaw never talked about what each other was doing; they just worked on their own sounds and hoped it all came together. Eventually, the songs did sync, and the “hands off each other” approach allowed freedom to reign in the music.

 

In the late nineties and early 2000s, Scrimshaw worked on the Mirage project, and they took a deeper look at production. That album took approximately two and a half years as they worked on it every week. More than 3000 CD’s have been produced and distributed…

 

In the middle of Mirage’s two and a half year project, Scrimshaw took a quick side trip into the land of Audiosyncrasy, which was recorded in one afternoon and mixed over the next two months by Brian and Marlin as a surprise for the rest of the band.

 

Not long after Mirage was complete, Brian and Marlin did a side project at home, coincidently called Home Grown, with a few guest appearances by Tracy and one bass track by T-Bird. Home Grown gave Marlin a chance to try recording brand new tunes and some very old ones in a much different recording environment.

 

Buried Treasure came almost 15 years after completing Mirage. Scrimshaw considers Buried Treasure to be the very best recording they ever did, which took a little over three years to produce. From the early 2000s until about 2014, Scrimshaw came up with another dozen new tunes that they felt were some of the most creative that they ever put together. Perfecting their playing styles, production philosophy, and acquiring some cool, new equipment, it became apparent that they needed to go back to the studio and produce another album. Thus, Buried Treasure came slowly and sometimes painfully into existence. Scrimshaw thinks it was well worth their time, money, and effort. They sincerely hope that you will too!

 

Fast forward to 2019, and Marlin decides to record all the tunes that Scrimshaw never played or left behind many years ago. These became two solo albums that join the ranks of Home Grown. They are Marlin 11 and Tongue of Wood. The 15 songs on Marlin 11 consist of Marlin and his acoustic guitar (with the exception of the song “Everybody”.) Marlin exclusively used a 1970 Lesley Amp with individually mic’d speakers panned left and right, to create what he calls his signature swirl. Side note – Marlin 11 does not sound good in mono!

 

Tongue of Wood is unique because Marlin played all the instruments to create a full band, except for drums (of course) that are played by the one and only Scrimshaw drummer Brian Decker, who did a masterful job of adding drums in after everything else was recorded. Brian’s willingness to experiment with new sounds and his accomplished drumming during the whole process contributes greatly to the end result of amazing rhythms throughout.

 

In 2021, Marlin, Brian, and Jeremy went into the studio for one rock-n-roll weekend. The stated goal was to produce as close to a live sound as possible, a sound where one could close their eyes while listening and be transported to a dark corner of a small club. We believe Scrimshaw’s Jammin’ with Jeremy accomplishes that effect. This was in stark contrast to Scrimshaw’s highly produced and all-time, forever-favorite album, Buried Treasure!

 

This makes up the current offering of music on this web page: Uphill Journey, Audiosyncrasy, Mirage, Home Grown, Buried Treasure, Marlin 11, Jammin’ with Jeremy, and Tongue of Wood in order of completion. Enjoy the audio journey!

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