{"title":"Holy Scum","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"strange-desires","title":"Strange Desires","description":"\u003cp\u003e“Holy Scum”. Say it out loud. It’s a name that can’t help but be spat out viciously; a snarling exclamative that fits the bludgeoning sludge and feedback drenched improv rock that its progenitors unleash on their debut for Rocket Recordings, \u003ci\u003eStrange Desires\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eInitially a Manchester-based collaboration between guitarist Peter J Taylor (formerly of Action Beat) Gnod co-founder Chris Haslam on bass and his bandmate Jon Perry on drums, the thick gauze of Holy Scum’s jams have been pulled apart in production by one of half of legendary hip-hop duo Dälek, Mike Mare (aka Mike Manteca). He also provides the growling, guttural vocals.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“When Mike got involved it became another thing entirely to what we had originally perceived” notes Haslam “He added a whole new dimension to what we had been working on.”“He kept asking if it was okay to fuck what we sent him up and we kept asking him to fuck it up even more” adds Taylor. “I kept referencing My Bloody Valentine in terms of creating a wall of noise, but we wanted it to be heavy as fuck.” The resulting dystopian tumult of sound thus also finds itself somewhere above and beyond the sonic scorched earth inhabited by early Swans, Godflesh and Shit And Shine.“All of the lyrics revolve around the collapse of society, feeling numb watching it happen, what it’s like on the other side communicating with the dead and looking to other worlds for relief” reckons Mare” Indeed, \u003ci\u003eStrange Desires \u003c\/i\u003eis a record for the moment, and beyond. A howl amidst a world fallen off its axis. Holy Scum are unflinching in their confrontation, meeting fire with fire on this most stunning debut.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rocket Recordings","offers":[{"title":"Pink | LP","offer_id":50503199654219,"sku":"1152117","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/110074b6-d3e7-48a8-ba3f-505f99aafbac_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727793745"},{"product_id":"all-we-have-is-never","title":"All We Have Is Never","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Isle Of Lewis is the largest such of the Outer Hebrides archipelago, and a place where myth and folklore are abundant, The Callanish Stones, a cruciform circle reckoned by tradition to be the forms of petrified giants who would not convert to Christianity, once prompted notable chronicler of the ancient Julian Cope to pronounce himself “Lashed by wind and rain but surrounded by vibe”. This was where Holy Scum decided to take a pilgrimage for the recording of their second album proper for Rocket Recordings, \u003cem\u003eAll We Have Is Never.\u003c\/em\u003e Frustrated by the physical and logistical challenges keeping the band members from collaborating, they decided the best way forward was at the residential Black Bay Studios on Great Bernera, a two hour plus ferry ride from anywhere. “The isolation of Black Bay was our salvation, a much-needed cleanse after a year of relentless misfortune” reckons the band’s Peter Taylor. Taylor describes the Holy Scum approach jokingly as ‘No riffs’ yet this belies an ability to carve abstraction and minimalism into monolithic and ominous shapes. Whilst the band are as handy as ever with excoriating and ear-splitting experimentation - as on the feverish guitar scree that underpins the taut‘Thieves’ - they also excel in a grittily vital charge as analogous to the ballsy kinetics of Fugazi and The Ex (the primal ‘I Am The Land’) as the overcast catharsis of Killing Joke and Voivod (the infectious ‘Witches’). “The title is a nod to the fact that everything ends - good, bad, ugly, beautiful “ reflects vocalist Mike Mare (Dälek) of their most focused work to date. “That is not a bad thing - it is a rebirth every time. We can spend a lifetime 24\/7 together having shared experiences but living separate realities”. “I don’t think it is nihilistic,” he adds. “The despair turns into hope for sure”.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rocket Recordings","offers":[{"title":"LP - Violet","offer_id":51680866435403,"sku":"R6764-1666","price":23.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/920d139e-f666-deea-d421-7344a45fecf8.jpg?v=1745320778"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/holy-scum.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}