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BIOGRAPHY
Pete
- Vocals/Guitars
Gorkas - Bass
Martin - Drums
Scalplock originally formed in 1993 with a line-up comprised of Pete (ex-
Unseen terror, Azag-Thoth, Harmony as One, Insight and Nightside of Eden)
on guitar, Martin (ex- Long cold Stare, Harmony as One, Nightside of Eden)
on drums, Spencer on vocals and Adam on bass.
The band played a few shows before Adam left to go to America (where he
went on to play with both Shelter and H2O) and Spencer departed to form
Ignoramus.
After a hiatus the band reformed in '96 with Pete on vocals and guitar,
Martin on drums and Jim on bass. During this period they released two
demos 'To Hate is to Cure' and 'Assert Direct Force' before recording
their first MCD entitled 'Broken History'. Collaborating with Nihil from
the label Cacophonous, they formed Insurrection Records and released the
MCD in '97 and their first full length CD, 'To Hate is to Cure', in '98.
The same year they toured mid-east America to promote the album, playing
everywhere from Illinois to Pennsylvania to Iowa alongside bands like
Drop Dead, Short Hate Temper, Botch and Ire.
1999 was probably one of the band's
busiest years for releases; the bands first 7" entitled 'Inculcate
The Fear' and three more split seven inches with Arms Reach (Australia),
Shank (Scotland), and Short Hate Temper (USA). The S.H.T. split release
coincided with a very successful tour of Europe while the same year also
marked the departure of Jim; he was replaced by new bass player, Big Al,
who became a significant contributor in developing the bandıs sound.
In 2000 the second full-length album was released on Sound Pollution Records
entitled 'On Whose Terms?'. This saw the band extend their hold over extreme
music and accordingly received many accolades from underground zines such
as Maximum Rock n' Roll and Heart Attack. Later the same year the band
also released three tracks on a compilation entitled 'Tomorrow Will Be
Worse Vol.2'. This was followed by a heavy schedule of shows with the
likes of Napalm Death and Impaled Nazerene, and small underground gigs
at pubs in and around the UK and Europe.
The departure of bassist Al could have been disastrous, but the arrival
of new bassist Gorkas was instead a significant turning point for Scalplock.
The band had always had an interest in hardcore and crust/dis-core music,
but with the addition of Gorkas and his passion for extreme black and
death-metal, the songwriting of the band soon reflected this. It took
on their already impassioned raw punk elements and honed them with a metal
edge.
This new line-up began work on their third album in early 2002. Upon completion
the band realised they had material that could cross over from their mainly
punk audience into the realms of devotees of metalcore and black/death
music. They decided it would be worth contacting a more established extreme
music label based in their own country and so renewed old ties by approaching
Cacophonous to do it. Realising what a shift in progression their new
direction was, the label was more than happy to sign the band to release
both the recorded album and future works.
Entitled 'Spread The Germs...Over The Human Worms', the album is a cavalcade
of blast-beats and ferocious guitars that puts the listener of even the
most extreme music to the test. The title of the album refers to the recurring
tactic of governments (specifically the USA and Israel) in dehumanising
people in order to justify their brutalisation, as can be seen by recent
military actions in Afghanistan and Occupied Palestine. This is just one
facet of the band's ethos - believing that all structural re-adjustment
programmes should be disbanded along with neo-colonial strategies for
subjugation.
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