Pitchshifter are an English
industrial rock
Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Cromagnon, Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten a ...
band from
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
, formed in 1989. The band was started by lead guitarist and programmer Johnny A. Carter, and bassist and vocalist Mark Clayden.
The band’s early material was characterized for its gritty
industrial metal
Industrial metal is the fusion of heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Prominent industrial metal acts include Ministry, Nine In ...
sound with
downtuned guitars and the use of
drum machines, and has been cited as one of the originators of the genre along with
Godflesh
Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham. The group formed in 1982 under the title Fall of Because but did not release any complete music until 1988 when Justin Broadrick (guitar, vocals and programming) and G. C. Gree ...
. With later albums the group's music became increasingly more melodic and strongly influenced by
nu metal
Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...
and
drum and bass
Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...
; particularly evident of their 1998 release ''
www.pitchshifter.com'', which has been compared with groups like
The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboard player and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured dancer and singer Keith Flint and dancer and occasional l ...
.
Although Pitchshifter has found little mainstream success, the band managed to gain a
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
with the release of the ''
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation'' soundtrack. Since its formation, the band has released six studio albums, three EPs and eight music videos. The band has played in various festivals around the world including
Ozzfest
Ozzfest is an annual music festival tour of the United States and sometimes Europe and later Japan, featuring performances by many heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Sharon Osbourne and her husband Ozzy Osbourne, both ...
,
Phoenix Festival
The Phoenix Festival was set up by John Vincent Power of the Mean Fiddler Music Group in 1993 as an alternative to the established Glastonbury and Reading Festivals. It was held at Long Marston Airfield near Stratford-upon-Avon and was one of the ...
and
Damnation Festival
Damnation Festival is a one-day heavy metal music festival currently held annually at Bowlers Exhibition Centre. Manchester. It was held at held at Jilly's Rockworld in Manchester from 2005 to 2006 and then University of Leeds, Leeds, England ...
.
History
Formation and ''Industrial'' (1989–1991)
Pitchshifter was formed in 1989 (initially spelled Pitch Shifter) by guitarist and programmer Johnny Carter and bassist Mark Clayden, later joined by Stu Toolin, and then
Jon "JS" Clayden (Mark Clayden's brother).
During this time, the band played with local bands and soon gained attention of the
Peaceville Records
Peaceville Records is a British independent heavy metal record label. The label was founded by Paul "Hammy" Halmshaw (of the bands Instigators and Civilised Society) in Dewsbury, England in 1987, who was also a one-time drummer of Sore Throat ...
. During this time, JS went to live in France to sell paintings.
They have cited major influences as
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...
,
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in th ...
,
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
,
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...
,
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
,
The Cure
The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...
,
The Doors
The Doors were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential ro ...
,
The Sex Pistols
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
,
The Ramones
The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...
, and
Ministry
Ministry may refer to:
Government
* Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister
* Ministry (government department), a department of a government
Religion
* Christian ...
.
During 1990, the band started recording their début album, ''
Industrial
Industrial may refer to:
Industry
* Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry
* Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems
* Industrial city, a city dominate ...
'', with the main vocalist being Mark Clayden instead of JS, who contributed with backing vocals. The band later went on a small tour with bands like
Napalm Death
Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in 1981 in Meriden, West Midlands. None of the band's original members has been in the group since 1986. But since ''Utopia Banished'' (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch ...
.
''Submit'', ''Desensitized'' and Phoenix Festival (1992–1995)
The band later joined the British label
Earache Records
Earache Records is a British independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson in 1985, based in Nottingham, England, with offices in London and New York. The label helped to pioneer extreme metal by rel ...
where they released their EP ''
Submit''. Later, Stuart Toolin left the band, and the band hired Matt Godfrey to fill his place for some shows. Matt later left the band and they hired drummer D.J. Walters, now being a four-piece band. Later, the band released their second album, ''
Desensitized''.
The band played at the
Phoenix Festival
The Phoenix Festival was set up by John Vincent Power of the Mean Fiddler Music Group in 1993 as an alternative to the established Glastonbury and Reading Festivals. It was held at Long Marston Airfield near Stratford-upon-Avon and was one of the ...
in
Long Marston, England, in 1995. The band's manager, armed with a tractor, arranged for an enormous
crop circle
A crop circle, crop formation, or corn circle is a pattern created by flattening a crop, usually a cereal. The term was first coined in the early 1980s by Colin Andrews. Crop circles have been described as all falling "within the range of the ...
replica of the band's famous "eye" symbol to appear in the adjoining field to the festival site during the night prior to their performance there. The crowd's enthusiasm for the band when they performed was so high that they rushed the stage, making Pitchshifter's performance the first in the history of the festival to be stopped early.
''The Remix War'' and ''Infotainment?'' (1995–1996)
The band later released the remix album ''
The Remix War
''The Remix War'' is a remix album by Pitchshifter, released in November 1994 by Earache. The EP is composed of remixes of select songs from Pitchshifter's prior release, '' Desensitized''. The bands who worked on the remixes were Therapy?, Gunsh ...
'', which had appearances from other groups like
Biohazard
A biological hazard, or biohazard, is a biological substance that poses a threat to the health of living organisms, primarily humans. This could include a sample of a microorganism, virus or toxin that can adversely affect human health. A bioh ...
,
Therapy?
Therapy? are a Northern Irish rock band from Larne, formed in 1989 by guitarist-vocalist Andy Cairns and drummer-vocalist Fyfe Ewing. Therapy? recorded their first demo with Cairns filling in on bass guitar. To complete the lineup, the band r ...
and
Gunshot
A gunshot is a single discharge of a gun, typically a man-portable firearm, producing a visible flash, a powerful and loud shockwave and often chemical gunshot residue. The term can also refer to a ballistic wound caused by such a discharg ...
.
The band then started working on the third album, ''
Infotainment?'' and later played at the
Dynamo Open Air
Dynamo Open Air is a festival in the Netherlands held (almost) every year between 1986 and 2005. It was reborn in 2008 as Dynamo Outdoor and in 2015 as Dynamo Metal Fest.
History
Originally held to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Dynamo ...
. The band later left Earache and joined
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint.
Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...
.
Spelling change and ''www.pitchshifter.com'' (1997–1999)
![JS Clayden live](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/JS_Clayden_live.JPG)
During this time, the band changed the spelling of their name from 'Pitch Shifter' to 'Pitchshifter', and recruited former
The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboard player and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured dancer and singer Keith Flint and dancer and occasional l ...
live guitarist
Jim Davies, with the band returning to their five-piece form.
The band later released their single "
Genius
Genius is a characteristic of original and exceptional insight in the performance of some art or endeavor that surpasses expectations, sets new standards for future works, establishes better methods of operation, or remains outside the capabiliti ...
", which was later included in ''
Test Drive 5
''Test Drive 5'' is a racing video game developed by Pitbull Syndicate and published by Accolade for PlayStation and Microsoft Windows in 1998.
Development
Accolade spent $3 million on a television advertising campaign for Test Drive 5 and Test D ...
'' and the ''
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation'' soundtrack, which helped the band to gain
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
recognition.
In 1998, the band released their fourth album ''
www.pitchshifter.com'',
which is their best selling album, selling around 60,000 copies in the U.S. The band later played in Ozzfest 1998 and
Livid
LiViD, short for Linux Video and DVD, was a collection of projects that aim to create program tools and software library, software libraries related to DVD for Linux operating system.
The projects included:
* OMS
* GATOS
* mpeg2dec
* ac3dec
In 20 ...
in support of their album. During 1999, they played on
Reading Festival
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...
and again at Dynamo.
A few songs were featured in ''
Twisted Metal 3
''Twisted Metal III'' is a Vehicular combat game, vehicular combat video game video game developer, developed and Video game publisher, published by 989 Studios for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation. The game was released in North America on ...
''.
''Deviant'' (2000–2001)
In 2000, founder Johnny Carter and drummer D.J. Walters left the band, and the band hired guitarist Matt Grundy and drummer Jason Bowld. The band later released their fifth album ''
Deviant'', which had appearances from drummer
John Stanier and
Jello Biafra
Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958), known professionally as Jello Biafra, is an American singer, spoken word artist and politician. He is the former lead singer and songwriter for the San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys.
Initially ac ...
. The band played in that year's Ozzfest. The cover used a picture of one of
Gee Vaucher
Gee Vaucher (born 1945 in Dagenham, Essex, England) is a visual artist.
Biography
Vaucher met her long-lasting creative partner Penny Rimbaud in the early 1960s when both were attending the South-East Essex Technical College and School of Ar ...
's Paintings, who did artwork for
Crass
Crass were an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977, who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a way of life, and a resistance movement. Crass popularised the anarcho-punk movement of the punk s ...
and
Carcass
Carcass or Carcase (both pronounced ) may refer to:
*Dressed carcass, the body of a livestock animal ready for butchery, after removal of skin, visceral organs, head, feet etc.
*Carrion, the decaying dead body of an animal or human being
*The str ...
. The painting shows a cross between the Pope John Paul II and Queen Elizabeth II. Due to outrage over the use of a caricature of the Pope, the album was banned in Poland. The band apologized for the artwork and changed it.
''PSI'' and hiatus (2002–2003)
Live rhythm guitarist Matt Grundy announced his departure from the band in January 2002. The following month, Pitchshifter played their first show of the year at
Ministry of Sound
Ministry of Sound or Ministry of Sound Group is a multimedia entertainment business based in London with a nightclub, shared workspace and private members' club, worldwide events operation, music publishing business and fitness studio.
James ...
(London). This show marked the debut for guitarist Dan Rayner whom, along with his brother Tim, had previously worked with the band in 2001 as an additional programmer for the album ''
PSI
Psi, PSI or Ψ may refer to:
Alphabetic letters
* Psi (Greek) (Ψ, ψ), the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet
* Psi (Cyrillic) (Ѱ, ѱ), letter of the early Cyrillic alphabet, adopted from Greek
Arts and entertainment
* "Psi" as an abbreviatio ...
''. This time serving as the group's touring rhythm guitar player (switching to live lead guitar in 2003). PSI - the sixth studio album was released on May 7th 2002. The band then went to a few more shows until their last show in 2003 when the band went on an "indefinite hiatus".
Side projects (2003–2006)
![Dan Rayner live](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Dan_Rayner_live.JPG)
During this time, Jim Davies returned to
The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboard player and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured dancer and singer Keith Flint and dancer and occasional l ...
, while Dan went to work on Drawbacks, with his brother Tim Rayner, who later joined Pitchshifter as well. Jon formed the alternative rock group Doheny with former
The Cult
The Cult are an English rock band formed in 1983 in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead singer Ian Astbury's ...
guitarist
Billy Morrison
Billy Morrison is a British guitarist and singer who plays guitar with Billy Idol and performs with the Los Angeles-based cover band Royal Machines. Morrison previously played with Camp Freddy and fronted the hard rock act Circus Diablo. He ...
. Mark later left The Blueprint and with Jason, they formed
This Is Menace
This Is Menace was a British metalcore supergroup formed in 2004.
History
The band was formed by bassist Mark Clayden and drummer Jason Bowld during the hiatus of their previous band, Pitchshifter. The group released their limited EP, ''Col ...
, a supergroup featuring members from various other bands including
Carcass
Carcass or Carcase (both pronounced ) may refer to:
*Dressed carcass, the body of a livestock animal ready for butchery, after removal of skin, visceral organs, head, feet etc.
*Carrion, the decaying dead body of an animal or human being
*The str ...
,
Napalm Death
Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in 1981 in Meriden, West Midlands. None of the band's original members has been in the group since 1986. But since ''Utopia Banished'' (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch ...
,
Sikth,
Send More Paramedics
Send More Paramedics is an English zombie film-influenced crossover thrash band from Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. They are named after a line in the film ''Return of the Living Dead''.
Biography
The name is a reference to a line in the 198 ...
,
Funeral for a Friend
Funeral for a Friend are a Welsh post-hardcore band from Bridgend, formed in 2001 and currently consists of Matthew Davies-Kreye (lead vocals), Kris Coombs-Roberts (guitar, backing vocals), Gavin Burrough (guitar, backing vocals), Darran Smith ...
and
earthtone9
Earthtone9 (stylized earthtone9) is an English metal band from Nottingham, England.
History
Signing to Copro Records in 1998, the band's first major release was the album ''lo-def(inition) discord'', which comprised songs from their three d ...
.
Doheny later broke up and JS went to form his own label, ''PSI Records'', and in 2003 released the compilation album ''
Bootlegged, Distorted, Remixed and Uploaded
''Bootlegged, Distorted, Remixed & Uploaded'' is a compilation album by England, English Heavy metal music, metal band Pitchshifter. It was released in 2003, on their own label, PSI Records.
It comprises two discs. The first disc is a live alb ...
'' and the DVD ''
P.S.I.entology
''P.S.I.entology'' was the only DVD release from the English (people), British band Pitchshifter (band), Pitchshifter. The DVD was the second release from PSI Records which is run by members Mark Clayden and J.S. Clayden. The DVD was released os ...
''. In 2005,
This Is Menace
This Is Menace was a British metalcore supergroup formed in 2004.
History
The band was formed by bassist Mark Clayden and drummer Jason Bowld during the hiatus of their previous band, Pitchshifter. The group released their limited EP, ''Col ...
released their début album ''
No End in Sight
''No End in Sight'' is a 2007 American documentary film about the American occupation of Iraq. The directorial debut of Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Charles Ferguson, it premiered on January 22, 2007, at the Sundance Film Festival ...
'' through PSI Records.
During this time as well, Jon worked as a teacher at the
Los Angeles Recording School
The Los Angeles Recording School is a Private school, private, For-profit school, for-profit college and is a division of the larger Los Angeles Film School. It is located in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, California. The school offers Associa ...
teaching Music Business Communications and was a featured guest for a U.S.
Pigface
Pigface is an American industrial rock supergroup formed in 1990 by Martin Atkins and William Rieflin.
History
Pigface was formed from Ministry's ''The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste'' tour, which produced the ''In Case You Didn't Feel Lik ...
tour where he performed vocals for songs including Pigface's "Insect/Suspect" and Pitchshifter's classic "Genius."
Return and ''None for All and All for One'' (2006–2008)
During late 2006, there were rumours that band was going to return, which were later confirmed and the band announced the "Back From the Dead" tour, supported by various bands including
Funeral for a Friend
Funeral for a Friend are a Welsh post-hardcore band from Bridgend, formed in 2001 and currently consists of Matthew Davies-Kreye (lead vocals), Kris Coombs-Roberts (guitar, backing vocals), Gavin Burrough (guitar, backing vocals), Darran Smith ...
. Davies did not return to the band to pursue a solo career, and was replaced by Tim Rayner. The band released the ''
None for All and All for One
''None for All and All for One'' is a limited edition EP of new material written in secret by the British alternative band Pitchshifter. The EP was given away free with every ticket purchased for every show on the 'Back From the Dead' tour in Marc ...
'' EP, with some copies given away for free in certain shows. There were some rumours that the band was working on a new album, but the band has denied.
In 2008, the band along with
Carcass
Carcass or Carcase (both pronounced ) may refer to:
*Dressed carcass, the body of a livestock animal ready for butchery, after removal of skin, visceral organs, head, feet etc.
*Carrion, the decaying dead body of an animal or human being
*The str ...
and
Cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
, headlined the
Damnation Festival
Damnation Festival is a one-day heavy metal music festival currently held annually at Bowlers Exhibition Centre. Manchester. It was held at held at Jilly's Rockworld in Manchester from 2005 to 2006 and then University of Leeds, Leeds, England ...
.
Hiatus (2009–2018)
![Jason Bowld live](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Jason_Bowld_live.JPG)
In 2009, the band announced in their official website that they were working on a new album. Frontman JS Clayden stated that "It's been refreshing to get back in the demo studio. We are taking this record in a few places we haven't been before in terms of guitar work. Brian Harrah
Professional_Murder_Music">/nowiki>Professional_Murder_Music_and_Tura_Satana_(band).html" "title="Professional_Murder_Music.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Professional Murder Music">/nowiki>Professional Murder Music and Tura Satana (band)">Tura Satana
Tura Satana (July 10, 1938Some sources give her birth year as 1935, i.e. Dave Itzkoff"Tura Satana, Cult Actress, Is Dead" ''New York Times'', February 5, 2011; accessed January 8, 2014. – February 4, 2011) was a Japanese American actress, v ...
is writing with me on guitar at The Manor Studios, and Jason is jamming at his place. So far we are having a blast and kicking ass. There are a few new moves in terms of song timing and vocals that have us all jazzed. I guess you'll just have to wait and see what we came up with."
and underwent treatment.
. The band headlined the Wakefield Rock Festival on 15 May 2010.
The band's statement, made on their website in 2011, is "We're excited to be back in the studio. Looking at a 2012 release right now; but we're not under any pressure to finish on someone else's deadline - so we'll do it right and finish on our own schedule." However, no further updates were published, and in July 2015, the official website's domain had been purchased and replaced with a Japanese website unrelated to the band; years later, JS Clayden admitted that "we carried the website for such a long time that it felt like a burden being lifted to let it go".
In June 2016, the band tweeted "Looking at some live shows in Feb 2018 in the UK". This was followed by an announcement in April 2018 that the band would reunite for a short tour the following November to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the ''
would be replacing Jason Bowld on drums, as Bowld couldn't break away his commitments with
. When asked about a longer term reunion, J.S. Clayden emphasized that the current band members live in different cities and countries. Select demo material from the band's would-be seventh album, ''Sprint Finish'', was released on the band's
. Jason Bowld and Mark Clayden guested on former guitarist Jim Davies' album ''
''.
In July 2020, the band released a re-recorded version of "Everything's Fucked" for the EFKD 2020 EP. Later that year, the band successfully crowdfunded though
a retrospective diary book entitled ''Chasing The Broken White Line'', chronicling the band's 1998 world tour; a sequel book, ''Tokyo or Bust'', was announced in 2022.
(1989–1991)
* Mark D. Clayden –
(2018–present)
;Former members
* Jonathan Alan "Johnny" Carter – lead guitar, programming, editing (1989–2000)
* Stuart E. Toolin – rhythm guitar (1989–1992)
*
– lead guitar, backing vocals (1998–2002)
* Dave "D.J." Walters – drums (1993–2000)
*
– drums (2000–2018)
;Former live members
* Matt Grundy – rhythm guitar (2000-2002)
* Matt Godfrey – rhythm guitar (1992)