Three members of the comedic punk-metal band Ludichrist formed the funk-metal group Scatterbrain, naming themselves after an instrumental Jeff Beck song. They had to change their name when a large music distributor informed their record label they wouldn’t carry music from a band named Ludichrist for religious reasons. Their music has been described as “fun metal” and “the thinking man’s headbanger band”.

In addition to original songs that ranged from silly to serious topics, Scatterbrain was also known for reinterpreting music from a wide span of genres – from Frank Zappa to LL Cool J to Cheech & Chong. In fact, since one of the band’s guitarists, Paul Nieder, was classically trained, the band also covered Mozart’s Sonatas #3 and #11.

The band was known for its outrageous costumes and antics, going out on stage with “ladies dresses, nun costumes, pajamas, as well as squirting breasts and rubber dicks”.

Their debut album Here Comes Trouble found some success around the world with a #138 peak in the US and a top 20 single in Australia.
Their follow-up Scamboogery was released with less promotion and had less commercial success. When they submitted 18 songs to Elektra for their third album, the label informed them they didn’t like the tracks. Soon after, their two main contact at Elektra Records were let go.

Guitarist Glen Cummings moved on to form Stone Deep. A 7-song EP Mindus Intellectualis was released three years later by the remaining members to little fanfare, and the group disbanded soon afterward. The band’s unreleased music stayed that way until Cummings shared one unreleased song in late 2023.

The band reunited for a one-off show in 2007 with Ludichrist as the opening act. As of 2016, Tommy Christ was a high school english teacher, Mike Boyko owned a golf-related business, Paul Nieder owned auto body repair shops, Glen Cummings had a graphic art business and Guy Brogna owned a chain of music stores.

Scatterbrain planned to reunite in the summer of 2020 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut album, but Covid-19 wrecked those plans:

We were hoping to do some anniversary shows this summer but looks like everything has been changed with today’s current situation.