Mrs. Scabtree

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Mrs. Scabtree
Mrs. Scabtree performing live on one of their two only concert performances.
Mrs. Scabtree performing live on one of their two only concert performances.
Background information
Origin Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Genre(s) Alternative rock, heavy metal, rock
Years active 1993
Associated acts Marilyn Manson, Satan on Fire, Marilyn Manson and The Spooky Kids, Jack Off Jill


Mrs. Scabtree was formed in March 1993 and was the second side project between Marilyn Manson and Twiggy Ramirez. Manson played drums, while Ramirez shared vocal duties with then girlfriend Jessicka from Jack Off Jill in a blonde wig. According to several interviews, other band members were from several South Florida bands including, the Itch and Sister Venus.

Origins[edit]

Mrs. Scabtree formed sometime in early 1993. According to an interview in the December 1996 issue of Guitar World, there were only two Mrs. Scabtree shows. The first show was on March 27, 1993, in Davie, Florida at a club called the Plus 5 Lounge. The second show was on April 5, 1993, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at a club called Rosebud's. The formation of Mrs. Scabtree is explained by the fact that after Manson had signed to Interscope Records, the record label didn't want him to play any local shows. Instead he and Jessicka came up with the side project Mrs. Scabtree, which was basically, "just a bunch of friends having fun on stage."

Manson is quoted saying, "Right before Twiggy joined Marilyn Manson, we had two different side projects together. One was Satan on Fire, a fake Christian death metal band. Then we also formed another side project together called Mrs. Scabtree, where I played drums and Twiggy was the lead vocalist, dressed up like a black woman."

Not much is known about the complete lineup, except that Ramirez and Jessicka shared vocal duties, Manson performed on the drums, Pogo on keyboard, Daisy Berkowitz assumingly on guitar. Mark Dubin from Sister Venus, and Patrick Joyce from the Itch were also involved. Jessicka later confirmed the information in a 1997 interview, "It was an idea that came about when a bunch of us had warehouses close together. We wrote 10 songs. Mrs. Scabtree consisted of me, Twiggy, Manson, Pogo, and several other local musicians who shall remain nameless. It involved many people crossdressing, painting their faces black, and insulting members of the audience. There were only two shows, I have both on video tape. It was definitely performance art. Actually, not even performance, just art."

Further information about the band was revealed in a column of the Miami New Times, published on March 16, 1993. It mentions an additional member, Mary Karlzen, as violinist. It also revealed that the band was planning a demo tape release (a plan that obviously did not come to fruition). The column, in its entirety, read:

"Mr. Manson's up to tricks, and, like, what else is new? Marilyn's latest adventure is called Mrs. Scabtree, and it'll be unveiled Saturday at Plus 5 in Davie. The Mrs. features two members of MM, the guitarist from the Itch, Mary Karlzen on violin(!), vocals by a member of Amboog-a-Lard and members of Jack Off Jill, lead bass by Pat Joyce, and rhythm bass by Killer. Plus other guests. Plus the line-up can change at any minute. Scabtree's even planning to release a tape. Mr. Manson has also been busy producing a track for the Itch and a release by Jack Off Jill at Studio 13 in Deerfield Beach. The guy's just trying to keep busy during MM's label negotiations. Sounds like he is."

—Greg Baker, Miami New Times

Band members[edit]

Discography[edit]

Although the band was initially planning a demo tape release, only three Mrs. Scabtree songs are known; despite Jessicka claiming there being up to 10. The remaining seven have yet to surface.

  • "Herpes" – A song which was played on local South Florida radio and was about at least one local girl who had herpes. This angered one of the girl's boyfriends, who was the bass player from ex-Manson bassist Olivia Newton Bundy's band L.U.N.G.S.. For their second show, Mrs. Scabtree changed the name of the song from "Herpes" to "Missi" named after Manson's then girlfriend Melissa Romero. The studio version of this song (or any other Mrs. Scabtree song) has yet to surface, but an incomplete live version was released on From Obscurity 2 Purgatory.
  • "Your Mother Fucks a Sausage" – At the 1993 Slammie Awards, Manson was presenting an award. After reading the nominees he added, "...and Mrs. Scabtree for "Your Mother Fucks A Sausage". That one was a late entry." The winner was "Saigon Kick" for The Lizard, and since the band wasn't there to accept the award, he called Jeordie up onstage and they threw the award onto the floor and broke it, hitting a girl in the crowd in the process.
  • "Missi" – For Mrs. Scabtree's second and final live performance, the song "Herpes" was reworked and retitled as "Missi", after Manson's then-current girlfriend Missi Romero.
  • "It's Me Again" –
  • "Bang Your Head" –

Gallery[edit]

References[edit]

  1. "Check out this gem" at Stephen Bier Facebook page