In 1981, Scott "Cheese" Borger joined the Pink Holes, a local punk band that was active until 1990, when their guitarist, Bob Richey, relocated to Los Angeles. While Borger took a brief break from music in the wake of the band's dissolution, he's been a steady advocate of the local punk scene, past and present, ever since he helped Mark Vocca with the Clepunk.com website that Vocca launched and put out a compilation of previously unreleased Cleveland punk songs in the early 2000s.
While the Pink Holes no longer get together for reunion shows, Borger has continued to write new songs with the Cleveland Steamers. The band's latest effort, 10 More Steaming Piles of Hit, a carefully crafted collection of tunes that Borger has divided into "love" and "hate" tracks, just came out. It features Borger on bass, Chris King on vocals, Meredith Rutledge-Borger on vocals, Nick Summa on guitars, and James R McWilliam on drums, harp and vocals.
In a recent email exchange, Borger spoke about the new album.
Talk about how the Cleveland Steamers first came together?
Back in 2011, Larry Lewis (aka Lair Matic) was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given about 6 months to live. Larry was a familiar face in the music scene here in Cleveland having started playing in bands when he was 15. I remember the first time I met him was at a Pagans gig at the Pirates Cove in 1979, and we became fast friends. After learning of his dismal cancer news, Larry wanted to record some last songs and recruited a band from among his friends which included Steve-O (Death of Samantha) on drums, Nick Summa (Floydband) on guitar and myself on bass. Larry died shortly after we recorded four songs of which we released two on a seven-inch under the name Lair Matic Assembly. There is a wonderful short film about those days on YouTube. It's called The Story of the Lair Matic Assembly ( punk musician, AK-47s, Broncs, Cleveland Confidential). After the project with Larry, I mentioned to the other guys involved I had some songs and wanted to record an album, so we stuck together and recorded the first Cleveland Steamers album shortly after.
You’ve played in bands prior to this. What did you want to do differently with the Steamers?
The main two bands were the Pink Holes and The 2 Bobs. Those were extremely hard drinking bands, and we played drunk rock. Both bands were tons of fun to be in for the most part. I might have written two or three songs in those days. The Cleveland Steamers was my first attempt at writing all the material and trying to learn how to actually play bass.
Chris King is a spectacular singer. Talk about what he brings to the band.
The current release is our fourth album. I was doing vocals on the prior ones along with my wife Meredith. She is a great singer but prefers more of a back-up role. I, on the other hand, am not much of a vocalist and wanted to take the songs to a higher level. The original idea was to try Chris on a couple, but as soon as we started, it clicked, and we knew we had our guy. In the late '70s when I started going to gigs, I saw the Wild Giraffes a ton of times and Chris always blew me away. It's amazing to me to be working with him. Perfect voice and phrasing for power pop.
The other musicians in the band are no slouches. Can you talk about each of them?
Well, as I stated earlier, Meredith has a great voice and loves doing background vocals. Nick Summa handles the guitar parts. Nick has been around; probably most notable are his years in Floydband. He owns a couple of clubs and has many jam nights, so he works his craft constantly. I am always amazed at how he can play any style. James R McWilliam is the drummer but brings much more than just his awesome skill set there. He constantly surprises us. On this album, he played some harmonica, and it was all one take stuff. He also has a great voice.
When did the songs for 10 More first start to come together?
I usually write music first then words. Some of these tunes I had for years but never had lyric inspiration for them. I'd say around 2019 I started really getting most of them together and we started on the album, but COVID threw its curve-ball, and we lost a year or so.
What made you want to divide them into “love” and “hate”?
I feel like our songs always end up on either side. I write some sweet stuff or my inner darkness grabs control and the hate takes over. I was looking at the songs on this one and it was almost a 50/50 split. "Count on Me" should really be on the love side, but I wanted to balance out the time on each side. I had this idea in my head for a while about an album cover using a couple of friend's hands on the jacket, one on each side. Phoebe Foltz has LOVE tattooed on both of her sets of knuckles while John Morton has HATE on both of his. I ended using that idea as the inner sleeve.
Where did you go to record and what was that experience like?
We worked with Ryan Foltz on the last two albums, but he was unavailable this time. I asked around and Charles from My Mind's Eye recommended Matt Lindsay. It turned out to be a wonderful experience. I instantly felt at home with Matt as did the other guys. We were all very comfortable and we spent a lot time laughing with each other. Matt is very skilled, offered ideas and was just perfect for us.
“Love” songs like “Marie” have great pop hooks. Where do your pop sensibilities come from?
Just from listening to music my whole life. I'm one of those that say the Monkees were my Beatles. The Ramones were huge to me. This is a hard question to answer, but one thing comes to mind. After our second album, Nick said to me about songwriting, "Just don't have any boring parts." It's a very simple concept, but hearing it really helped me think about trimming the fat in future songs.
A song such as “Murder” is a particularly sinister-sounding song. Did something specific inspire it?
That inner darkness I mentioned earlier. Sometimes there is a rage inside me that is a bit scary. Writing about it usually helps diminish it.
Thanks to some killer harmonica, “Bad Feelin’” is very bluesy. Talk about that song.
I think it's the best song we have ever done. As you mention, James totally kills it on harmonica. Meredith is just riffing, and it's fantastic. Then, the stuff Nick is doing grabs your ear. Chris's phrasing is perfect. I hear these things in my head, and the way the people I am working with help bring it out thrills me.
“Count on Me” has a Dead Boys/Rocket from the Tombs vibe to it. Do you think of those bands as influences?
Both of those bands are legends and deservedly so. I believe there is a "Cleveland sound," and it, of course, goes back to them and the Eels and the Raspberries for me.
As a veteran of Cleveland’s punk scene, can you provide some perspective on why the city has churned out so many great punk bands over the years?
It's been well-documented. The seeds are planted in the state of the city in the mid-'70s. And Ghoulardi always has to be mentioned.
The album just arrived on vinyl. Which local record stores have it in stock?
My Minds Eye, Blue Arrow Records, Late Nite Records and the Record Den.
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