 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2008) |
Scorpio Rising were an English rock band from Birkenhead active from 1989 to 1994.
Contents
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2008) |
Scorpio Rising were an English rock band from Birkenhead active from 1989 to 1994.
 | This section's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia.(July 2010) |
Scorpio Rising was formed in Birkenhead in 1989. [1] 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.[ citation needed ] The original lineup featured David "Stig" Renton on bass guitar.[ citation needed ] Scorpio Rising's definitive lineup and sound were created when bass player Steve Soar joined the band in 1992, whose influences included Parliament/Funkadelic.[ citation needed ]
Scorpio Rising signed to Chapter 22 Records (UK) and Sire Records (USA).[ citation needed ]
The Scorpio Rising sound combined breakbeat-driven rhythms, pop melodies, and funk-influenced basslines with psychedelic and experimental guitar distortion techniques.[ citation needed ] Their earliest recordings feature frequent use of wah-wah pedals and breakbeat/baggy drum patterns contemporary during the early nineties.[ citation needed ]
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 breakbeat-flavoured drums, distorted rock guitars and "new lad superstar" ( NME 1991)[ citation needed ] 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 band's contemporaries, with funk-influenced basslines, soft pychedelic guitars on the slower tracks and Stooges-style rock guitars backed with "baggy" rhythms for the first time on the faster tracks.[ citation needed ] 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 by the audiences.
Scorpio Rising toured the UK with Smashing Pumpkins, PWEI, Neds Atomic Dustbin, Eat, Senseless Things 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 utilised ripped speakers, metal pipe acoustics and vintage film studio equipment while recording Breathing Underwater/Zero for Chapter 22 in Ed's Garage (now a defunct vintage recording studio in Camden Town, London) in 1992. This session (co-produced by Teo Miller who also produced Daisy Chainsaw) generated interest from Sire, who the band signed with after Seymour Stein flew from New York to see them headline the Marquee club in London in 1992. The ensuing album, Pig Symphony, was recorded over Christmas 1992 at Rockfield Studios, Monmouth, and was again produced by Teo Miller with the band.
During the 1993 PWEI tour preceding the release of Pig Symphony, bassist Steve Soar left the band and they went into the studio as a four piece. Soar appears on "Breathing Underwater" and "Fountain Of You"; both recorded during the Breathing Underwater sessions at Ed's Garage; he was replaced by Mark Browning from The Bell Tower for the remainder of the tour and some following shows. Bass guitar on Pig Symphony was played by Bank and lead guitarist Sploote Lead. The band experimented heavily with ambient acoustics and darker material. The album includes longer, darker and more psychedelic tracks: "Oceanside" and "Sleeping Sickness" and extremely heavy guitar and vocal eq processing. Pig Symphony was mixed at Amazon/Parr St Studios in Liverpool. The album was well received by college radio in the US and received significant airplay, selling 30,000 units without advertising or tour support (both ostensibly due to internal reorganisation at Sire).
After recruiting bass player Mandi Morgan, Scorpio Rising returned to the studio to record the follow-up for Sire/Elektra, titled Brutal Deluxe. The new album was produced by Steve Osborne of Perfecto, producer of Happy Mondays' Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches and U2. Recorded and mixed in 1993 at Orinoco and Battery Studios in London, Brutal Deluxe took Scorpio Rising in a new direction, and included the unique thrash/trance track "Bugcatcher", which was later remixed by Steve Osborne and included in Paul Oakenfold's Goa trance sets for Radio 1. The album was never released by Sire.
Banks and drummer Colin Owens worked together briefly under the name "Lounge", working with Nik Nicholl (former Black Grape manager) and Don Letts of BAD fame. Owens went on to successfully form, record and tour the UK and Europe with his breakbeat band Surreal Madrid, finally returning to his rock and roll roots with the Southampton-based band Black Kat Boppers together with Roy Phillips, and Dylan Clarke of La Cucina.
Banks left the music industry in 1996. Apart from a very brief guest vocal with the Perfecto/cult trance artist "Man With No Name", he disappeared from music for 12 years, eventually returning to live gigs in London in 2008, with Lead again on lead guitar and his 22-year-old son Jimmy on drums in the volatile instrumental "Surfcore" power trio Jimmy and The Destroyers. The Destroyers (renowned for destroying the stage and often injuring themselves) used The Camden Underworld as their base and played only 35 shows mainly in London, with cult punk bands The Vibrators, The Dickies, and Agent Orange, briefly appearing at Liverpool Sound City in 2009 with The Damned. They recorded one studio EP, "The Surfcore EP", which was given away for free to their online fanbase. Their final gig was at the now defunct Gaff on Holloway Road, London.
After the Destroyers split in November 2010, Banks moved to Amsterdam to work on an even more stripped down sound. He returned to Manchester, UK in 2012, where he began playing solo using a four string guitar as The Sonic Gypsy in bars in Manchester and Liverpool. Banks and Lead finally reunited under The Sonic Gypsy name in June 2012. The Sonic Gypsy's set occasionally includes parts from Pig Symphony's darkest song "Oceanside" and the unreleased "Apocalypse Ranch" from Scorpio Rising's lost Brutal Deluxe album. Martin Atherton returned to music with the acoustic trio Qatsi in 2012. The band play frequently in Liverpool, showcasing Atherton's unique chord styles and compositions.
In 2015, Banks recorded his debut solo album Born A Rolling Stone at Demon Studios, Manchester, which had a limited release in March 2015 to critical acclaim, and began gigging with a new sonic rock band The Sonic Gypsy Band, featuring Lead on lead guitar, Purcy Flaherty on harmonica, Piers Pennell on bass and Mon Duncalf on drums. He also appears with Shooter Jennings in Manchester. A music video was made and released in 2017 featuring Banks with the track "I Was Born A Rolling Stone". The album features revisited versions of Scorpio Rising's "Honeykill" and "Apocalypse Ranch". The Born A Rolling Stone version of the Sonic Gypsy band performed at the Desertfest in May 2017, as well as at the Solfest, the Sonic Rock Solstice Festival, and the Black Deer Festival. Banks now lives off grid as a continuous cruiser on his narrowboat The Heart Of Gold on the London waterways, and is the host of the controversial "Sonic Gypsy Radio Show". As of 2021, Banks and Lead are recording a 22-track double studio album at Viva Recorders Studio in London.
The Sonic Gypsy Born A Rolling Stone tracklist:
Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City and formed in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo remained together for the entire history of the band, while Steve Shelley (drums) followed a series of short-term drummers in 1985, rounding out the core line-up. Jim O'Rourke was also a member of the band from 1999 to 2005, and Mark Ibold was a member from 2006 to 2011.
Daydream Nation is the fifth studio album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth, released on October 18, 1988. The band recorded the album between July and August 1988 at Greene St. Recording in New York City, and it was released by Enigma Records as a double album.
Paranoid is the second studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released on 18 September 1970 by Vertigo Records in the United Kingdom and on 7 January 1971 by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The album contains several of the band's signature songs, including "Iron Man", "War Pigs" and the title track, which was the band's only Top 20 hit, reaching number 4 on the UK charts.
Georg Albert Ruthenberg, better known by his stage name Pat Smear, is an American musician. He is best known for being the lead guitarist and co-founder of Los Angeles–based punk band The Germs and for being a rhythm guitarist for grunge band Nirvana, and Foo Fighters. After Nirvana disbanded following the suicide of its frontman Kurt Cobain, drummer Dave Grohl went on to become the frontman of Foo Fighters with Smear joining on guitar. Smear left Foo Fighters in 1997 before rejoining as a touring guitarist in 2005 and being promoted back to a full-time member in 2010.
Chad Channing is an American musician who is best known as the former drummer of the rock band Nirvana from 1988 to 1990, during which time they recorded and released their debut album Bleach; he also appears on "Polly" in the follow-up album Nevermind. He currently sings and plays bass in the band Before Cars.
Men Without Hats are a Canadian new wave and synth-pop band, originally from Montreal, Quebec. Their music is characterized by the baritone voice of their lead singer Ivan Doroschuk, as well as their elaborate use of synthesizers and electronic processing. They achieved their greatest popularity in the 1980s with "The Safety Dance", a worldwide top ten hit, and "Pop Goes the World". After a hiatus for most of the 1990s and 2000s, Doroschuk reformed the band in 2010, and released Love in the Age of War (2012). The group, based in Vancouver, has continued to perform, including tour dates announced in support of the release of two studio albums, Men Without Hats Again , in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
The La's were an English rock band from Liverpool, originally active from 1983 until 1992. Fronted by singer, songwriter and guitarist Lee Mavers, the group are best known for their hit single "There She Goes". The band was formed by Mike Badger in 1983 and Mavers joined the next year, although for most of the group's history, the frequently changing line-up revolved around the core duo of Lee Mavers and John Power along with numerous other guitarists and drummers including Paul Hemmings, John "Timmo" Timson, Peter "Cammy" Cammell, Iain Templeton, John "Boo" Byrne, Chris Sharrock, and Neil Mavers.
Death in Vegas are an English electronic music group, for which Richard Fearless serves as frontman. The band was formed in 1994 by Fearless and Steve Hellier and signed to Concrete Records under the name of Dead Elvis. Owing to an Irish record label of the same name, Dead Elvis became the title of their first album instead.
Levellers are an English folk rock and anarcho-punk band formed in Brighton, England, in 1988, consisting of Mark Chadwick, Jeremy Cunningham, Charlie Heather (drums), Jon Sevink (violin), Simon Friend, Matt Savage (keyboards) and Dan Donnelly. Taking their name from the Levellers political movement, the band released their first EP in 1989 and LP in 1990, with international success following upon signing to China Records and the release of their second album Levelling the Land. The band were among the most popular indie bands in Britain in the early 1990s, and performed at the Glastonbury Festival, first in 1992, then in 1994, where they performed as the headline act on The Pyramid Stage to a record crowd of 300,000 people. They continue to record and tour.
Dead Head is a Dutch thrash metal band from the city Kampen. The band was formed in 1989 by the four original members Tom van Dijk, Robbie Woning (guitar), Ronnie van der Wey (guitar), and Hans Spijker (drums). Their mission was to become the most intensive and brutal thrash metal band Europe ever had seen. They were influenced by classic thrash metal bands like Dark Angel, Kreator and Sadus.
Anti-Nowhere League are an English punk rock band, formed in 1979 by lead singer Animal, guitarist Magoo, Bones on drums and Chris Elvy on bass.
The Whitey Album is an album by Ciccone Youth, a side project of Sonic Youth members Steve Shelley, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore, featuring contributions from Minutemen/Firehose member Mike Watt and J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr.
The Dogs D'Amour are an English bluesey hard rock band formed in London in 1983. Over the years the band has had various line-ups, the only constant being vocalist Tyla. Their music has been described as a mixture of the Rolling Stones, the Faces and glam punk.
"Have Love, Will Travel" is a 1959 song written and recorded by Richard Berry. While the song may have been recorded before the end of 1959, the correct release date appears to be January, 1960. The title is based on a popular television/radio western serial Have Gun, Will Travel.
Fillmore East, February 1970 is a live album by the rock group the Allman Brothers Band. It was recorded by Owsley Stanley at the Fillmore East in Manhattan on February 11, 13, and 14, 1970. It was released on CD in 1996.
"Touch Me I'm Sick/Halloween" is a split single by American alternative rock bands Sonic Youth and Mudhoney, released in December 1988 by the independent record label Sub Pop.
Psychotic Waltz is an American progressive metal band formed in El Cajon, California in 1988.
Funky Junction were an Irish rock band formed in 1972 specifically to record a single album of songs made famous by British band Deep Purple, which was released as Funky Junction Play a Tribute to Deep Purple in January 1973. Among the band's lineup were all three members of the early 1970s incarnation of Thin Lizzy.
Bad Moon Rising is the second studio album by American rock band Sonic Youth, released on March 29, 1985, by Blast First and Homestead Records. The album is loosely themed around the dark side of America, including references to obsession, insanity, Charles Manson, heavy metal, Satanism, and early European settlers' encounters with Native Americans.
Ed Alleyne-Johnson is a British electric violinist and busker. He has been busking since he was a Fine Art student at Oxford University in the early 1980s. He uses an electric violin he carved with a kitchen knife, a custom pedalboard and portable amplifier.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
