For those of you who haven't picked up on the buzz, hearsay, and/or scuttlebutt, the rumors are true:  Scamper is set to reunite for ONE NIGHT ONLY, Saturday April 18 at the Middle East downstairs.

Our good friends and oft-naked rock-and-roll brothers Harris have decided to call it a day, and they asked if we'd consider reuniting to send them off in style.  Quite to everyone's astonishment, we consented.  You'll be pleased to know that we've already had our first rehearsal, and we seem to at least remember most of our songs -- if perhaps not every move of that sexy robot dance.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, February 27, and there is indeed a good chance of this thing selling out, so get on it, sweets.

More details as the big day draws near.

love,
Keith Nate Mike & Brendo
your once and future Scampers

This is it, folks.

SCAMPER SAYS FAREWELL
Saturday February 2, 2008

Middle East downstairs
472/480 Mass Ave, Cambridge MA

with special guests
Baker, Harris, and Aloud
$9 adv / $10 doors

Come see us synchronized jump one last time.

love,
Scamper
www.scamper.net

In case you missed this on Brendan's Journal this morning, here's the sad news.

---

As you may have noticed, Scamper does not have any shows scheduled for... ever. What I'm about to tell you is your classic "one big piece of bad news, three smaller pieces of good news" situation. You may want to sit down for this one...

Big bad news: Scamper is going on an indefinite hiatus. Keith's lifestyle as the Eastern Seaboard's most prominent door-to-door sausage salesman has made it impossible for him to continue rocking with us. So as much as we all love to hit that stage and entertain you, we're unfortunately going to have to order a round of banana martinis, pull up stakes, and call it a band.

Small good news 1: You haven't seen the last of Scamper. We are currently making plans for one big gala with our favorite local rockers for you all to come out and celebrate the glory that is the four of us. Our lawyers are still negotiating venues, co-stars, and nudity clauses, but we're tentatively pencilling the big goodbye show for some time in early 2008.

Small good news 2: I'm going solo, bitches! Before you even knew what hit you, the Brendan Boogie Band is coming at you like so much kung fu in your fucking face! I've got a MySpace page and everything. Go over there use friend as a verb to add me. The first show is Tuesday Dec. 11 at the the Bulfinch Yacht Club with the Rationales. Please come out and support me in my new project, or at least try to outnumber the rabid WWE fans that will be attending the Smackdown taping at the Garden that night. Although come to think of it - this might be the perfect opportunity to debut the song I wrote about Rey Mysterio Jr.

Small good news 3: I'm not the only one going solo. Nate will be starting HIS own band as well, although his busy astronaut training schedule has slowed the process him down a bit. However, once he masters the difficult "zero G sideburn-growing" maneuver, you'll be hearing big things from his new musical outfit as well.

So there you have it, folks. We're all sad and excited and nervous and grateful and a million other emotions that we'll be surely sorting out as the Scamper hiatus plays out. For now, there won't be any major changes to the website (I'll still be doing dick jokes) and we will update you with news as we get it.

We've just received the news that our tune "Barcelona" has been added into regular rotation by the good people at WFNX (101.7 Boston, 92.1 NH/Maine). This means that we're no longer relegated to a spin every few weeks on the Sunday night local shows; Scamper will now be peppering your airwaves a good 10-15 times all throughout the day. (And if people respond positively, who knows what could happen. 15-30 spins a day? 100? All Scamper, all the time?)

This is a pretty big deal for us rock and roll folk, and a great lead-in to our upcoming show at the Avalon Ballroom with OK Go and the Cinematics on November 16. Thanks, as always, for your unwavering support!

SCAMPER
The Boulevards
4 songs

The antidote to ten days of diluvian rain has to be Scamper's new EP, The Boulevards. With its indelible melodies wrapped in a chiming crush of guitars, the Tom Polce produced songs sound polished but have a kick. From the fleet riff of the flagship tune Barcelona, (which features Kay Hanleys stellar backups) to the tuneful chorus of Bruised by You, the guitars and voice take skillful turns providing the focus and the hooks. So You Know, an ode to parenting, is the sleeper of the EP, and shows that Scamper has lyrical depth to go with their musical moxie. (Glenwood - The Noise)

Hot on the heels of their crowd-wowing (and tiara-grabbing) performance at the 28th Annual WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble finals, local rock heroes SCAMPER proudly unleash their next great contribution to the betterment of mankind: The Boulevards EP. Produced by wunderkind Tom Polce (Letters to Cleo, Bill Janovitz and Crown Vic, as well as Scamper's Leave Your Glasses On), The Boulevards EP stands as a four-song aural assault of hooky polished power pop-rock, featuring the hot new single "Barcelona" with a guest vocal appearance from Boston rock legend Kay Hanley.

Firmly entrenched in the digital revolution, Scamper's follow-up to their critical darling 2004 debut full-length will be exclusively available through the miracle of modern science that is digital distribution: initially on iTunes, followed by Napster, Yahoo Music, Rhapsody and Virgin Digital. Just as Scamper has touched five continents and counting of this earth with the first season of the Scamper Podcast, so shall The Boulevards EP reach across cultures and unite the feuding fiefdoms of all nations under the flag of radio-friendly rock.

[Editor's note: While we love the feel of a shrink-wrapped, 5"x5" cardboard artifact, costs and overhead suggest that we give iTunes and company a shot at being our main distribution channel. Buying The Boulevards EP online will only encourage and empower us to make more music. The goal may be to release our second full-length album, with perhaps -- or perhaps not -- another batch of four songs released as a separate EP. Either way, we need to see that people will buy music, our music, in this format to keep the boat afloat. Hopefully you can find some change in the digital cookie jar to help make it happen. Comments, complaints, and suggestions on release formats can be sent to keith at scamper dot net.]

The Boulevards EP can be purchased at iTunes; details in our store.

Oh, and for those who would like to see it, here is the full artwork.

Scamper, Rudds, and Campaign rumble on

By Marc Hirsh, Globe Correspondent  |  April 17, 2006

WBCN Rock n Roll Rumble seminals
At: Middle East, Friday and Saturday

Sometimes it's all in the luck of the draw. The lineups of the semifinals of this year's WBCN Rock 'n Roll Rumble, which took place Friday and Saturday at the Middle East, showcased one night of unpredictability and one of inevitability as eight bands fought for three slots at this weekend's finals.

Friday night went to AOR heartthrob popsters Scamper, while no-frills bar band the Rudds took the win on Saturday. As evidenced by synth theorists Campaign for Real Time nabbing the wild-card slot, Friday's competition was the more hard-won and unpredictable, with a slate that was more eclectic and, perhaps not coincidentally, stronger. Rumble host Shred confirmed that the voting from the five judges was all over the place, with three of the bands getting at least one first-place vote. The audience was divided as well, as the announcement of Scamper's victory was met with almost as much dissent as approval.

We're All Gonna Die started the semis off with slightly prog-flavored metal. Undeniably tight, the power trio wound its way through multi-part songs like a grungier Queens of the Stone Age. Scamper, on the other hand, sounded more like local rockers Waltham playing dress-up as the Click Five. With its tight harmony vocals, agreeably poppy material and the choreographed routine performed by bassist Brendan Clarke and guitarist Nate Rogers as Keith Michel sang the first verse of ''The Proof Is Altogether Too Late," Scamper could have been the band playing in a prom scene of an early-'80s teen film.

Appomattox followed with a tense ball of high-tension-wire guitar, chunks of discordance and shuddering rhythms. Campaign for Real Time seemed to put the lie to the current crop of new wave revivalists like the Bravery and She Wants Revenge. A riot of information on the small stage, the band was like post-grad electroclash, taking new wave's synth washes, danceable rhythms and mechanized guitar scratches and finding something new to concoct out of the ingredients.

Shred described the voting on Saturday as more decisive, and indeed, the winner seemed clearer and less debatable. As the most straightforward rock 'n' roll band of the semis, the Rudds distilled much of the best pre-punk rock of the 1970s, from Todd Rundgren to Elvin Bishop, into a spirited set. Despite the simplicity of their presentation, they had more of a sense of old-school showmanship, with leader John Powhida's simultaneously fey and sexually charged persona just outsize enough to celebrate the transformative power of rock.

With the twitchy energy of guitarists Matt Scott and Jon Day, Harris funneled a hint of a math rock sensibility into angular songs populated by jagged fragments of space. The band closed the evening with an ultimately futile last-minute assault on the Rudds' ascendancy, building drama with an audience-participation chant that continued even after the band left the stage and the house lights and music came back up.

Taxpayer's airy, anthemic guitars washed over the room while the rhythm section gave the music just enough sharpness to grab hold of. A cover of Cheap Trick's ''Surrender" didn't serve the band as well, with those same guitars dulling the song's edges. Eyes Like Knives had better luck with the Alan Parsons Project's ''Eye in the Sky," which worked well with a similar airiness, but the band's originals were less focused and vocalists Scott Toomey and Rebekka Takamizu seemed detached when they sang.

Thank you to everyone who wished us well, came to the show, sent good vibes, or sent congratulations on our win at last night's WBCN Rumble show. 

The other bands (Taxpayer, Mach 5, and Plan B) were class acts and great performers, top to bottom.  Extra thanks to Taxpayer for the loan of the bass -- you saved our asses, good sirs.

More love from Brendo here.

See you at the semi-finals.

Photos below courtesy Johnny Arguedas.

From the twisted genius of Henry Beguiristain (Aloud) comes Scamper as you've never quite seen them.

Show me that smile again

Best viewed with a serious appreciation for Alan Thicke.