Can It Be True? Sprawl Lives?

Got an email the other day from SCR contributor Creg L., who happened to run into ex-Sprawl/-Middlefinger/etc. frontman Matt Kelly (who lives in Austin these days, I believe, or at least somewhere between H-town and there) at the Meat Puppets show a short while back. He got to talking to Matt and one of the other Sprawl guys (not sure which one), and they told him that they’re making a record and “they’re gonna play as much as possible.”

Let me repeat that second-to-last bit again, with a bit more emphasis: they’re making a record. A Sprawl record, that is, a new album from the band that launched countless H-town ska bands and helped define a whole freakin’ era in Houston music. Hell, they were one of the reasons yours truly ended up here, after seeing an article about this bunch of crazy Rice kids who started this wild ska-funk-whatever band. Oh, and not only are they reportedly doing a new album, but they’ll be playing more shows? Holy shit.

Ever the skeptic, I wondered if maybe Kelly was talking about his current band up in Austin, Lick Lick, but Creg waved me off: “The Sprawl record is Sprawl. Lick Lick is Lick Lick.” Hot damn, I hope this one truly comes to pass…fingers crossed, y’all.