Vim Fuego For reasons unknown, Scatterbrain never hit the big time. The band had what seemed like all the right ingredients- an edgy, yet commercially viable sound, great musicians, a consummate showman for a singer, and damn it, they were great song writers. Their single "Don't Call Me Dude" was a cult novelty hit in 1990, which they followed up with the critically acclaimed album `Here Comes Trouble'.

However, Scatterbrain disappeared from sight some time around 1994. The final ripple on the surface was `Mundus Intellectualis', an EP recorded in a desperate attempt to keep a record deal.

In itself, `Mundus Intellectualis' is not far removed from either the debut or the 1991 album `Scamboogery', in that Scatterbrain's trademark zany humour and satirical view of society remained intact, along with the Faith No More/Red Hot Chilli Peppers style technical groove. However, it has a feel of desperation, a band drowning clutching at straws. Songs like "Everybody Does It" revisits subject material covered by "Logic", "Write That Hit" is "Tastes Just Like Chicken", part two, and unfortunately, there's no "Don't Call Me Dude" sized hits to be found. It seems too restrained, like the band was playing safe.

Scatterbrain kept their sense of humour though. "How Could I Love You" is a grubby love song, featuring the refrain "But baby, how could I love you if you won't lie down". The off the wall "Beer Muscles" carries on in the same vein as "Swiss Army Girl", Grandma's House Of Babes" and the legendary "Don't Call Me Dude".

No Scatterbrain release would be complete without a rendition of "Down With The Ship", the band's ever-evolving homage to their influences (read: rip off riffs wholesale). It's a fun little ditty, this time featuring Metallica, Jimi Hendrix, Aerosmith, Nirvana, Black Sabbath's "Paranoid", "The Star Spangled Banner", and Woody Woodpecker's theme song.

There's not a lot here to really impress. The enthusiasm shown in the band's earlier material seemed near on dried up, and the new ideas were thin on the ground, and Scatterbrain were trying too hard, forgetting how to enjoy themselves. Scatterbrain's career ended with a whimper, not a bang.

Vim Fuego Poor old Scatterbrain, cursed by that hoary old affliction, the novelty single. ‘Don't Call Me Dude’ is that single and is a tale of psychosis induced by the Californian predilection for calling people "dude". Basically, some dude (oops!) steals lead singer Tommy Christ's girlfriend, and every time he hears the word after that he flies into a homicidal rage. If that doesn’t make sense, listen to the song and it all becomes clearer, doo-wop intro and outro included. ‘Don't Call Me Dude’ received huge attention and was also well promoted on the back of a hilarious video. There was a bit more to Scatterbrain than just one song though. The whole of 'Here Comes Trouble' is a novelty from start to finish. Scatterbrain was well named, because some of the ideas on the album are... well... scatter-brained. ‘Earache My Eye’, the comically camp Cheech and Chong number, receives Scatterbrain's odd treatment. ‘I'm With Stupid’ is a song about growing a second head, which happens to be brain damaged. ‘Down With the Ship’ is kind of an oddity, borrowing and sampling from other songs, a lot like Weird Al Yankovic’s polka compilations. And Scatterbrain doesn’t sample just a few songs, but a LOT! Its fun to play "spot the riff" while listening to the song. You'll hear Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, and quite a few others. There's also a whirl through Mozart's ‘Sonata #3’. Then there’s a tribute to Tommy Christ's willy, a poke at censorship, the infamous single, and finally a tragi-comic beatnik take on why milkmen shouldn't drive drunk. There are zany ideas by the truckload, but what does the music actually sound like? Imagine Faith No More on happy pills and you won't be far off the mark. Far from the heaviest thing you'll ever hear, Scatterbrain skirts a fine line between thrash and funk metal. The guitar pairing of Glen Cummings and Paul Nieder are highly versatile, bassist Guy Brogna could slap it with the best of them, and drummer Mike Boyko seemed to enjoy his double kick drums. Unfortunately, Scatterbrain sank from view, not through lack of good ideas, but seemingly through poor timing. If 'Here Comes Trouble' had been released a couple of years earlier and they may not have been drowned in the plaid clad grunge tide.