Nuclear Blast’s new singning Scorpion Child has released one of the albums of the year. it was so good we had to find out more…
Mark: Thanks for taking the time to talk to The Rockpit
Scorpion Child: Of course!
Mark: The Debut album is amazing, such a huge sound with some nods to influences but at the same time sounding very distinctive rather than derivative, how long have the songs been around?
Scorpion Child: A few years now for the majority of them.
Mark: The name suits the band very well in that it sounds both rather ‘hippiesque’ and also very hard rock, who came up with it? You’re not all Scorpios are you?
Scorpion Child: No only one of us is. I (Aryn) came up with the name. It’s from a song by The Cult (Mark’s note: Lil’ Devil if I’m not mistaken, and I’m not even going to Google that!)
Mark: Tell us a little bit about how the band got together?
Scorpion Child: We all met one night down at mutual friends gathering in Austin. It was one of my first weeks in Austin. Shaun was a week away from moving to Oakland, California and he came back a year later to join the band after hearing our demo ideas. It was a classic story!
Mark: What did you guys grow up listening to?
Scorpion Child: Punk, Metal, Rap, Hardcore in junior high and high school. Michael Jackson and James Brown as a little kid
Mark: There’s a young Robert Plant essence to Aryn’s voice but I also hear a little Shannon Hoon in there too, there are also passages that are also very reminiscent of Zeppelin, but not the extent that it feels like a facsimile, was there a conscious effort to hold back on occasion?
Scorpion Child: It’s an easy association I suppose. the Plant thing. I’ve heard Shannon Hoon and he is a fantastic singer alike! I enjoy both Zepplin and a blind Melon but I wouldn’t cite either of them as primary influences. I don’t hold back because other singers with a similar voice and vibe exist. I will be using other voices that I possess as well in the future and if people want to compare me to Nick Cave or Tom Waits then so be it. I’d be honored!
Mark: There are some great riffs and monster hooks on the album, tell us a little about how you guys write?
Scorpion Child: We write from the soul. We love 70’s glam and pop as well as dark doom metal so the songs have huge epic hooks. We collaborate in any combination and chase our ideas to completion. It’s an ever changing and very exciting process!
Mark: Names like Rival Sons, Black Country Communion and The Sword are being bandied about when people mention you; three quite diverse but very roots-oriented bands in that they capture what made music special back in the day, are there any contemporaries out there you particularly enjoy?
Scorpion Child: Nuclear Blast has a few of our favorites like Graveyard, Witchcraft and Orchid. We love Tool, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Queens, Mastodon, TMV all kinds mutually as far as similar contemporary.
Mark: Tell us a little about the album cover and the whole ‘Desert into Winter through the mirror’ concept?
Scorpion Child: It is the cycle of a life span. The hidden title is “I saw the end as it passed right through me” it’s fitting with the lyrical flow and melodic pathway of the album. We love surrealism and the reverse landscapes are actually an oil painting.
Mark: ’Liquor has to be one of our favourite tracks and it’s a great video too; tell us a little about it and how the song evolved?
Scorpion Child: That’s our Jackson 5 number ha ha!
Mark: ‘Antioch’ is such a powerful song, it has such a great dynamic, man and when that guitar kicks in! I’ve not heard anything that inspiring in years! Tell us about where that came from?
Scorpion Child: We were loving on Big Star, Badfinger and Slade a lot around that time. That song I feel was a crafted ballad.
Mark: The single ‘Polygon of Eyes’ is an interesting choice it has more of a classic rock, almost early ‘Rainbow’ feel about it. A lot of bands are rediscovering a love of that timeless ‘classic rock’ sound but you guys are one of the few bands that seems to really understand it rather than just want to emulate it. What sort of music makes up your regular listening?
Scorpion Child: We do feel music now like those bands did back then so it makes sense their will be similarity. We cherish all of those heavy bands but as far as our regular listening it is immensely varied!
Mark: ‘Red Blood (The River Flows)’is a monster track coming in at just under 14 minutes, it paints a whole other story about the band, do we expect this sort of epic jam live?
Scorpion Child: I would say absolutely. We might even take it in a different direction.
Mark: I love the diversity of the record, at times it’s all bombast, then there’s a jam and then you get all mellow it must make for a great live show? Where can we catch up with you?
Scorpion Child: Europe! November with Orchid
Mark: Do you have any particular favourites on there? (Especially to play live).
Scorpion Child: We love performing Salvation Slave!
Mark: Austin seems to be a very happening town musically is it a very inspiring town to base yourselves in?
Scorpion Child: It has been in the past. We aren’t there very often anymore so we will see what the future holds as far as its inspiration.
Mark: Out on the road, for a triple bill and you can pick the other two bands – who would they be and why?
Scorpion Child: If not amongst the deceased, Soundgarden because they are Soundgarden and The Sword because they rule and can’t wait to share the stage with us!
Mark: Is Hard Rock on the way back? Surely it’s the only possible saviour of the dire straits we find the music industry in these days?
Scorpion Child: If course it is!
Mark: If you could have been a fly on the wall for the recording of any album at any point in time just to see how the magic happened what would it have been for you and why?
Scorpion Child: Guns ‘N Roses Appetite for destruction just because of the personalities and tremendous egos that made that record explode into the world.
Mark: What is the meaning of life?
Scorpion Child: Survival!