Scrub (band)

Scrub are a Guatemalan rock band formed in 1998 in,. The band originally performed under the name "La Cárcel" until 2001, when they moved to the United States and changed the band's name. Lead vocalist Nick Altamirano is the band's longest serving member, bassist José Perurena joined shortly after the band's formation.

Formation as La Cárcel (1998-2001)
The band formed in in the  in June 1998 under the name of "La Cárcel". Consisting of frontman and lead vocalist Nicolás "Nick" Altamirano Parejo, lead guitarist Pedro Di Bello (who was killed in a car crash in January 1999 and replaced by Ramiro Tatís Vega), rhythm guitarist Max Ramiro (who left in September 1998, but rejoined in May 2000 after his replacement Luca Urrea moved to ), bassist Jorge Triana (who was replaced by José Perurena after a falling-out with the band), and drummer Miguel Totanés; the band self-released a self-titled EP in 1999. Despite the country's musical industry's focus on Latin pop, the band found success, and eventually caught the attention of an A&R man for, and the label gave them a record deal to begin releasing music in North America. Upon signing to the label, they were told they needed to change their name due to "being more hard rock than rock en español". Altamirano chose the new name "Scrub", an -area slang word for a person who could not get their life together that was internationally popularized by the girl group in their song "No Scrubs". He said:
 * I was listening to a hip-hop station in the rental car in and a song came on with the line "I don't want no scrub" in the chorus. I thought "Hmmm... scrub. Scrub! Rolls off the tongue easily, and it's simple."

Attack! Attack! release (2001-2004)
In November 2001, the band released their debut U.S. album Attack! Attack!, recorded at in  under noted producer. As José was the only member who was fully fluent in English at the time, he wrote much of the album's songs himself. The album spawned three singles: "Casualty", "The River Flows", and "Crashed, Burned, Destroyed". After the release of ''Attack! Attack!'', the band toured the U.S., Canada and Latin America constantly.