Scott Bishop

Having been the founder of Slippy Keane, Scott Bishop’s first solo endeavor (essentially twelve songs of “beer-soaked stories for the hung-over and broken-hearted”) written in early 2003, fall of 2003 and in the spring of 2005, is clearly a labor of love. Throughout, influences are evident— ranging from the Beatles and Velvet Underground, to the Who, and Buffalo Tom. Bishop also pays homage to Bob Mould in the appropriately titled “Kitten’s Got Curves,” with lyrics “…and talk about music from my younger days/ Do you think they know who Husker Du was anyways?/ They can play some video games at the Zen Arcade...” Listener accessibility is clearly the key to success. Of course everyone can relate to having an attraction and/or relationship with an age difference, as is seen in “Kitten” or has had many a “sad bastard dinner” such as those spoken of through the melancholic sarcasm of “Dinner #2.” The disc itself transitions smoothly from heavy hitting tunes to acoustically driven, introspective numbers—all of which are radio-friendly in their own right. In the end, Bishop has managed to achieve what most can only dream of in a first effort. - Julia R. DeStefano, The Noise