Scars

Scars is the second studio album by American rock band Soil, released on September 11, 2001, via J Records. It was the band's major label debut, and J Records' first rock album. The album's lead single, "Halo", peaked at number 22 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart and number 74 in the United Kingdom, becoming the band's breakthrough single. Although the album only managed to peak at number 193 on the US Billboard 200 chart and number 150 on the UK Albums Chart, Scars proved to be Soil's greatest commercial success, having sold 222,000 copies in the United States by July 2004. The album was also certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in 2011, representing the sale of 60,000 copies in the UK. Background and recording After the release of Soil's first album, Throttle Junkies, MIA Records closed. The band started writing new material and, with the help of Johnny K, fleshed out several tracks. A three-song demo of "My Own", "Need to Feel" and "Halo" was recorded in three days of August 2000 and was plugged on the Demo Diaries website. "Halo", with its aggressive hook, gained the attention of the radio programmer Pat Lynch of Orlando, Florida, and he gave the song considerable exposure on his active rock station WJRR. Within months, it became the station's most requested song and caught the attention of various major labels. In March 2001, after visiting four potential candidates (RCA, J, Elektra, Warner Bros), Soil became the first rock band signed to J Records who soon offered Orlando fans a free Soil sampler. At this point, Soil had already recorded more than enough material for an album and were eager to begin work on what became Scars. The music industry legend, Clive Davis, responsible for signing such acts as Pink Floyd and Bruce Springsteen, signed the band, and stated that "you're gonna be my only rock band for now. You're going to be a priority, and I want to break this band." Bass guitarist Tim King noted how quickly J Records moved to maintain the momentum provided by WJRR: "Everything just fell into place so fast. What normally takes three months, we did in about three weeks. I have to say, J Records stepped up to the plate and did it like they had three months. It's amazing how professional and how hard working they are and what they did to get everything moving."