Scorpio Rising (band)
Encyclopedia
History
Scorpio Rising were formed in Birkenhead in 1989. The group's first live performances took place in small clubs in Liverpool, with several shows at Liverpool Planet X and Cosmos Clubs in late 1989. Scorpio Rising's definitive line up and sound was created when the band were joined by ParliamentParliament (band)
Parliament was a funk band most prominent during the 1970s. It and its sister act Funkadelic, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...
/Funkadelic
Funkadelic
Funkadelic was an American band most prominent during the 1970s. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...
influenced bass player Steve Soar in 1990.
Scorpio Rising signed to Chapter 22 Records (UK) and Sire
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
/ Elektra (USA).
The unique Scorpio Rising sound was driven from a diverse set of influences, combining breakbeat driven rythmns, strong pop melodies and funk influenced basslines sandblasted with pychedelic and experimental guitar distortion techniques. Earliest recordings feature heavy use of wah-wah pedal
Wah-wah pedal
A wah-wah pedal is a type of guitar effects pedal that alters the tone of the signal to create a distinctive effect, mimicking the human voice...
s and breakbeat
Breakbeat
In 1992, a new style called "jungalistic hardcore" emerged, and for many ravers it was too funky to dance to. Josh Lawford of Ravescene prophesied that the breakbeat was "the death-knell of rave" because the ever changing drumbeat patterns of breakbeat music didn't allow for the same zoned out,...
/baggy drum patterns contemporary with the early nineties.
Scorpio Rising came to the attention of the UK music press in 1991 with the release of "Watermelon" their first major backed single on Chapter 22 records. For a brief period their combination of infectious breakbeat flavoured drums, swirling distorted rock guitars and "new lad superstar" (NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
1991) frontman Mickey Banks was hailed as a new direction for UK indie/rock music. At this time the band recorded the six track mini album If.... It featured a new rock sound different from the bands contemporaries, with funk influenced bass lines, soft pychedelic guitars on the slower tracks and stooges
The Stooges
The Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
style rock guitars backed with "baggy" rythmns for the first time on the faster tracks. The album was well received by the UK music press, leading to sold out headlining dates across the UK and rave reviews of the live shows, which started to feature stage diving
Stage diving
Stage diving is the act of leaping from a concert stage onto the crowd below. It is often the precursor to crowd surfing.Initially seen as confrontational and extreme, stage diving has become common at hardcore punk and thrash metal performances. Many musicians have made stage diving a part of...
by the audiences.
Scorpio Rising toured the UK with Smashing Pumpkins, PWEI, Neds Atomic Dustbin, Eat
Eat (band)
Eat were a British alternative rock band who were active in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They released two albums on The Cure's label Fiction...
, Senseless Things
Senseless Things
Senseless Things were a British indie punk band, who were active on the UK festival circuit in the late 1980s and early 1990s.-Career:Senseless Things formed around the musical partnership of songwriter Mark Keds and Morgan Nicholls , who as eleven year old schoolboys in Twickenham, Middlesex put...
and other contemporary bands of the early 1990s, culminating with appearances at Finsbury Park and Reading Festival in 1992.
Scorpio Rising then recorded their one and only full-length album, Pig Symphony.
Scorpio Rising took the sound of the electric guitar into new territory with the prodigious use of ripped speakers, metal pipe acoustics and vintage film studio recording equipment when recording Breathing Underwater/Zero for Chapter 22 in Eds Garage, (now defunct vintage recording studio in Camden Town
Camden Town
-Economy:In recent years, entertainment-related businesses and a Holiday Inn have moved into the area. A number of retail and food chain outlets have replaced independent shops driven out by high rents and redevelopment. Restaurants have thrived, with the variety of culinary traditions found in...
, London) in 1992. This session (co-produced by Teo Miller who also produced Daisy Chainsaw
Daisy Chainsaw
Daisy Chainsaw was an English alternative rock band, active between 1989 and 1995. It originally featured KatieJane Garside as lead vocalist and lyricist on the band's early EPs and debut album, Eleventeen , before her departure in 1993...
led to "Pig Symphony" for Sire
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
/Elektra
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
when the band were signed to the label by the legendary Seymour Stein
Seymour Stein
Seymour Stein is an entrepreneur in the music industry who has been a part of the business since getting his first job as a clerk for Billboard magazine in 1958. Stein is a vice president of Warner Bros...
, who flew from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to see the band headline the Marquee club in London in 1992.
Pig Symphony was recorded over Christmas 1992 at Rockfield Studios
Rockfield Studios
Rockfield Studios, near Monmouth in Wales and just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire are where many of British rock music’s most successful recordings have been made.-History:...
, Monmouth, and was produced by Teo Miller and Scorpio Rising.
During the 1993 PWEI tour preceding Pig Symphony the band lost bassist Steve Soar, and went into the studio as a four piece. Steve Soar appears on "Breathing Underwater" and "Fountain Of You" both recorded during the Breathing Underwater sessions at Ed's Garage.
Having recruited bass player Mandi Morgan, Scorpio Rising returned to the studio to record the follow-up for Sire, titled Brutal Deluxe, the new album was produced by Steve Osborne
Steve Osborne
Steve Osborne is a multi-platinum selling British record producer. He has worked with a wide variety of musicians, such as New Order, Doves, U2 and KT Tunstall. During the 1990s, Osborne was half of the Perfecto Records team, a production and remix collaboration with Paul Oakenfold; the artists...
of Perfecto
Perfecto Records
Perfecto Records is a United Kingdom based Trance record label founded by Paul Oakenfold in 1989.-History:Perfecto was founded by electronic music record producer and DJ Paul Oakenfold in 1989...
, producer of Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays are an English alternative rock band from Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1980, the band's original line-up was Shaun Ryder on lead vocals, his brother Paul Ryder on bass, lead guitarist Mark Day, keyboardist Paul Davis, and drummer Gary Whelan...
Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches
Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches
Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches was the third album by British band Happy Mondays. It was released in 1990 and was produced by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne at Eden Studios in London....
and U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
. Recorded and mixed in 1993 at Orinoco and Battery Studio's in London, Brutal Deluxe took Scorpio Rising in a new direction, and included the totally unique thrash / trance track "Bugcatcher" which was later remixed by Steve Osborne and included in Paul Oakenfold
Paul Oakenfold
Paul Mark Oakenfold is a British record producer and a trance DJ.-Early Career: 1979–84:Paul Oakenfold's career was set to be a chef, after having hopes of becoming part of a band. He describes his early life as a "bedroom deejay" in a podcasted interview with Vancouver's 24 Hours, stating he grew...
's legendary Goa trance sets for Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
.
The album was never released by Sire.
Members
- Mickey Banks - Singer
- Sploote Lead - Lead Guitar
- Martin Atherton - Guitar
- Steve Soar/Mandi Morgan - Bass
- Colin Owens - Drums
Albums
- IF.. (1992), Chapter 22
- Zodiac Killers (1992), Sire - USA compilation
- Pig Symphony, SireSire RecordsSire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
- Brutal Deluxe (unreleased)
Singles, EPs
- Stranges Times EP (1991), Chapter 22 - "The Strangest Things Turn You On" / "Burn Out" / "Bliss"
- The Watermelon EP (1991), Chapter 22 - "Watermelon" / "Beautiful People" / "Malicious"
- "Saturnalia" / "Disturbance" / "Peace Frog" (1992), Chapter 22
- "Silver Surfing" / "Fountain of You" / "Zero" (1993), Chapter 22
- "Evelyn" / "Its Obvious" / "Find Your Own Way" / "Brutal Deluxe" (1993), Sire
- 12" white label single: to radio only: Bugcatcher/Dubcatcher