Scott Lucas Returns To The Mic After Violent Attack In Russia

By Katie Karpowicz in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 27, 2013 3:15PM

Our local music scene suffered a scare early this spring when we found out that proud Chicagoan Scott Lucas—frontman of Local H and Scott Lucas and the Married Men—had been the victim of a violent mugging while Local H was touring in Russia. The attack left the singer’s vocal chords damaged and forced the band to cancel several shows.

We're happy to learn that now, three months later, Lucas is back in good health and he's back to doing what he does best: making music.

This week Lucas released his first set of recordings since the incident with his alt-country band Scott Lucas and the Married Men—a side project he started around 2009. Now three releases in, it's clear Lucas' Married Men are more than just a hobby. Despite the fact that only one new song ("Never Better") pops up on this new release, titled The Cruel Summer EP, we're still thrilled with the direction Lucas' songwriting continues to take.

The other songs on the five-song EP include stripped down versions of tracks off the Married Men's previous release Blood Half Moon and covers -- namely the band's version of Bananarama's "Cruel Summer" performed for the AV Club last summer.

When Chicagoist checked in with Lucas via email about how his healing vocal chords held up during the recording of the Cruel Summer EP he explained that his voice, "was super weak when I did the vocals. I usually lay down the vocal when the band lays down their tracks—but this time I couldn't. My range was a maybe a minor third. We waited as long as we could, but we didn't want to miss the release date, so I finally just had to do it. It was really fucking hard."

Despite the fact that Lucas claims his version of the Kenny Rogers classic "Coward of the Country" is "wobblier than a table in an East L.A. taco joint," we still think the record is worth a listen and hope that Lucas' recovery on the mic continues.

In light of their new release, Scott Lucas and the Married Men play a show at the Hideout tonight at 9 p.m. Tickets can still be bought in advance for $10.