You could say it started with a simple little sample. When the Scottish punk/post-punk ensemble (the) Scars' debut single "Horrorshow" was chosen as the source music for the dance duo Lemon Jelly's 2005 smash hit "The Shouty Track", this brought forth a resurgence of interest and attention toward the influential group that, at the time of its existence, attracted the attention of such groups as Siouxsie & the Banshees and the early Human League.
Most of us know the Scars thanks to their two appearances as SOTW artists ("Fear Of The Dark", "All About You") and their former lead singer Robert King's appearance in the SOTW late last year ("Paper Heart"), but the sound evidenced in "Horrorshow" and all of their other pre-_Author! Author!_ tracks was rougher, punkier, harsher, yet still infused with a delightful pop sensibility. One of the groups to be influenced by this sound was a nascent Josef K, whose leader Paul Haig readily acknowledges this influence.
_Author! Author!_ was one of those classic albums whose scarcity has been due to total pigheadedness on the record company's part, but thanks to the various ex-Scars members, a deal has finally been settled to where the album will finally be released on CD format. The primary seller will be former Scars lead guitarist Paul Research, who maintains a pretty site devoted to his solo work and to Scars memories and news.
For more information:
http://www.scarsresearch.com/ -- Paul Research's site
http://www.myspace.com/thescarsscotland -- (The) Scars on MySpace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scars_%28band%29 -- The band's Wikipedia article

