Artist: The Sympathy, Album: Long Way Down, Song: Distress

The Sympathy were a Toronto rock band fronted by Scott F. Bradshaw or as he is more commonly known, Scott B. Sympathy.  Scott didn't originally intend to adopt that name.  He actually intended it to be the name of his band.  However, it was misunderstood by the media and soon, everyone was referring to him as Scott B.  He tried to correct that in 1996 by changing the name of his act to The Sympathy, for this particular album, Long Way Down.  It didn't seem to change anything though.  Scott started out with his debut album in 1990, entitled, Neil Yonge Street.  The album featured Ian Blurton (see blogs 11/22/10, 6/30/11) on guitar.  He would gain some regional notoriety with his next release in 1993 called, Drinking With The Poet.  That's where I believe he hit my musical radar.  I was heavy in to the indie rock scene at that time and just wished I had the foresight to pick up a copy of the album back then.  His music is not widely accessible today and very difficult to find.  I find Scott's vocals similar to American artist, Webb Wilder at times.  He has a dark Americana sound and it shows through on this track, Distress.  Scott released a follow up album in 1999 before joining the band, Srato-chief (see blog 8/9/10) for a couple of releases.  You can follow him at http://www.myspace.com/scottbsympathy.  You can hear the song, Distress, on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oruwKIH1bsg).  The album, Long Way Down, is a difficult find today.  At the time of this blog, there were copies trading on Amazon between $5 and $50.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!