"I suppose we could ask for money," says Mays. "But we'd just have to give it back. I'm not sure how that really works. We just feel like we're independent. If we have to work in order to keep that, that's fine."

Scrawl have always been do-it-yourself-ers. They signed to Rough Trade records in the 1980s and watched the label go belly-up, putting three albums out of print and their future back to square one. The band persevered, putting out Bloodsucker on their own. Eventually Simple Machines and then Elektra picked them up, but what label they were on didn't really matter, and still doesn't.

"I think even if we were all broke and decided not to do this, we'd still make a record in a couple of years. It would be real low-budget. We're tired of being broke. We're ready to see it move on. It's human nature to want to keep progressing," says Mays.

For Nature Film, Scrawl opted for Tim O'Heir, who has produced albums for Superdrag, Sebadoh and Come, and decided to re-record five songs from their now out-of-print repertoire. "We had no idea when [the old songs] would be in print again," explains Mays. After recording several times with Steve Albini, who's noted for his flat, natural productions (Nirvana, Jesus Lizard, Urge Overkill), Scrawl decided it was time to try something new.

"I think a lot of times we get lazy about tightening the songs up," says Mays. "If there's a transition between a verse and chorus, we'll just fumble our way through it. With Steve, it's your song and you do what you want. Tim gave us some ideas."