Scheer - Great 90's Alternative Rock (Garbage, Bush, Breeders, Veruca Salt, L7)

MUSIC Here's a nice little treat for fans of 90's rock. A seemingly forgotten, highly overlooked Irish band called Scheer.

90's "Alternative Metal" confusion

The label "alternative metal" they often got slapped on them, might give the wrong impression to today's audience. Keep in mind this was the 90's, long before the dreadful "nu-metal" genre was invented. At this time, alternative metal was instead most commonly associated with bands like Faith No More and Living Colour, along with their grungier peers of the Seattle scene; Alice in Chains and Soundgarden.

But to me, Scheer has more in common with bands like the early Foo Fighters and Bush, as well as other female fronted acts such as Veruca Salt, The Breeders, Elastica, Letters to Cleo, L7, Lush, and perhaps even Garbage, than anything close to modern metal music. I can also hear some similarities to the stuff Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur makes today, which I also warmly recommend.

Check out the tune below for a Scheer taster *drumroll*.

Scheer - Wish You Were Dead

From the album 'Infliction' (1996)


The biggest mistake they made with this video was to cut the lovely guitar feedback at the beginning of the song, leading up to a brief drum part. It adds a lot of suspense and does a great deal for the track overall.

The video itself ironically looks a lot like Garbage's 'Vow' on a tighter budget...

Garbage - Vow video

From the album 'Garbage' (1995)


After producing Nevermind (Nirvana) and Siamese Dream (Smashing Pumpkins) alike, I'd guess a rawer sound like Scheer's was probably what most people would expect, as they heard Butch Vig had started a band. Instead, as we all know, he surprised us with Garbage's blend of electronica and shoegaze with punchy riffs and catchy choruses, much reminiscent of early Curve (another great band for Garbage fans).

Scheer began recording their second album in 1997, only a year after the debut LP Infliction came out. But due to a contractual disagreement with their record label 4AD, the release of the follow-up album was postponed indefinitely. The aptly titled ...And Finally appeared in mid 2000 on the band's own Schism Records label.
God knows whenever we'll ever see them again...
~theJo

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