The Bite Magazine - Autmn/Winter 2020 - Issue 28

T he four-piece Bristol band Scalping consisting of Jamie Thomas on guitar; James Rushforth on bass; Isaac Jones on drums; and Alex Hill on electronics; with additional support from Jason Baker on visuals have recently returned with much-anticipated new material in the form of the propulsive, muscular ‘Deadlock’ after signing with Hound- stooth.The new single marks their first release for the label and one that will be followed by additional original material to land in 2021. On the band’s signing to Houndstooth, label managers Rob Butterworth and Rob Booth said, “Scalping are the most exciting new band on the planet, we couldn’t be happier that they’ve signed to Houndstooth.” Talking about their musical return, and the release of their new track, the band revealed, “Deadlock has been in our live set for over a year now, and it’s always a highlight; it’s fierce, relentless, and gets a great reaction whenever we play it. “The first versions of this song were based around a one bar synth loop that ran for the duration; it gave us a lot of space to improvise and play with the dynamics and structure live; to push and pull off each other and the crowd. The energy coming back off the audience always has a huge impact on how we perform, but it was particularly noticeable with this song. It would feel very different every night as we’d each be trying out different things. After coming off tour, the band managed to finalise and record a definitive version of the song at the start of the year, before lockdown, split between their homes in Bristol and Rockfield Studios in Wales. A futuristic video accom- panies the track from Jason Baker who is a long-term collaborator of their live visuals and an active ‘fifth member’ of the band. The four-piece perform live in front of a giant screen, projecting imagery onto the wall behind them that veers from the visceral to the provocative. Speaking about the influence behind the latest video, the director said,“The video came from brainstorming sessions with the band. Ideas slowly morphed into this idea of a church service for some weird future tech religion where nirvana is replaced with oblivion and forced onto people through VR screens. Religion done right, basically.” Watch- ing this futuristic sci-fi phenomenal, you will be intriguingly mesmerised by the fast-moving graphics that take you on a journey. https://scalping.bandcamp.com Scalping DEADLOCK Image courtesy of Amia Watling via Prescription PR bitenewmusic