Bristol-based-heavy-metal-meets-techno-bangers outfit SCALPING, have announced their debut album Void. To celebrate the occasion the group have also shared with us the first single from the project “Flashforward”. The group have also released an accompanying music video showing off the signature visceral imagery that the group have started to become known for, watch that below. Set for release April 29th, you can check out some pre-order options including a limited-edition white vinyl pressing and poster combo here.
In a conversation with NME, the band’s ‘electronics’ player Alex Hill had this to say, “We wrote this whole album without playing a single note of it together, we produced all of the songs using the computer – as a blend of recordings and samples of our live drums, guitars and drum machines into production software – and then translated it all back into a live performance.” He then added, “Although there are structured songs on the record, there’s no explicit focus on exactly recreating those songs live either. Everything is adapted to work into a set that flows well. A lot of album parts are rewritten during rehearsals for the good of the live set as a whole.”
Fresh onto the scene last year, Isaac Jones on drums, James Rushforth on bass guitar, Nick Berthoud on guitar, and Hill on electronics have gotten off to a particularly noisy start after spending their time in 2021 playing with IDM legend Squarepusher, and performing at a date of Pitchfork Festival London. For this year, the group seem to want to keep up that same momentum, embarking on a 7-day UK tour beginning in Leeds next week. Then in May, the band will see themselves take on the infamous London club stage of Fabric. See full details on the tour here.
Tour kicks off next week, get your tickets now: https://t.co/BkTo2z1P2o
Looking forward to playing some places we’ve never been before and thrilled to have the incredible @mandyindiana join us for a few of the shows pic.twitter.com/jcwF9HdLsW
— SCALPING (@scalpingmusic) February 7, 2022
For those less familiar with SCALPING’s recent work, they labelled themselves as a descendant of EBM. Combine this with the formation of what feels like a more traditional guitar band, and you’ve got the uncompromising idiosyncratic sound of an industrial-punk-techno group. Their niche goes beyond subtleties and just crashes into you like a particularly abrasive train. When Loud and Quiet asked why how this combination came to be, it was described as “a marriage of the things we enjoy most about both worlds,” so instead of getting rid of your guitars and buying turntables, it would be “more interesting to adapt what we already know”.
SCALPING’s UK tour dates:
16/2/22 – Belgrave Music Hall – Leeds
17/2 – The White Hotel – Salford
18/2 – The Ferret – Preston
19/2 – Future Yard – Birkenhead
23/2 – The Trades Club – Hebden Bridge
24/2 – The Black Prince – Northampton
26/2 – Clwb Ifor Bach – Cardiff
Photo credit: James Harding
