Scorn is an English

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

project. The group was formed in the early 1990s as a project of former Napalm Death members

Mick Harris Michael John Harris (born 4 October 1967) is an English musician from Birmingham. He was the drummer for Napalm Death between 1985 and 1991, and is credited for coining the term "grindcore". After Napalm Death, Harris joined Painkiller with Jo ...

and Nic Bullen. Bullen left the group in 1995 and the project continued on until the end of 2011, as an essentially solo project for Harris. Harris restarted the project in 2019.

History

Scorn was formed in 1991 in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England, by drummer Mick Harris and vocalist/bassist Nic Bullen, former members of English grindcore band Napalm Death. Upon Bullen's departure in April 1995, Harris remained the only member of the project. Scorn has often been associated with

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 ...

and

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

, particularly with their

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 ...

-era output between 1991 until 1994. Since the departure of Bullen in 1995, much of the output has been minimalist beats with an emphasis on very deep bass lines, often resembling dub and

trip hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with "downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop ...

in structure.

Justin Broadrick Justin Karl Michael Broadrick (born 15 August 1969) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the band Godflesh, one of the first bands to combine elements of extreme metal and i ...

(also a former Napalm Death member) provided guitar for the first LP, ''

Vae Solis ''Vae Solis'' is the debut album by Scorn, originally released in 1992 on Earache in the UK, and Relativity in the United States. It features the same musician lineup as Side A of Napalm Death's '' Scum''. It has been said that the cover fea ...

''. The EP ''Lick Forever Dog'' was formed of remixes from the album. ''

Evanescence Evanescence is an American rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by singer and musician Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. After recording independent EPs as a duo in the late 90's, and a demo CD, Evanescence released their debut ...

'' featured

James Plotkin James Plotkin is an American guitarist and producer known for his role in bands such as Khanate (band), Khanate and OLD (band), OLD but with an extensive catalogue outside these bands. He has played guitar for Phantomsmasher and Scorn (band), Sco ...

on guitar and was followed by the remix album ''

Ellipsis The ellipsis (, also known informally as dot dot dot) is a series of dots that indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning. The plural is ellipses. The term origin ...

'' which featured reworkings by

Autechre Autechre () is an English electronic music duo consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, both from Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1987, they are among the best known acts signed to UK electronic label Warp Records, through which all of Au ...

, Coil,

Bill Laswell William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, ...

Meat Beat Manifesto Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened as Meat Beat, Manifesto or MBM, is an electronic music group originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens that was formed in 1987 in Swindon, United Kingdom. The band, fronted by Dangers (the only ...

and

Robin Rimbaud Robin Rimbaud is an electronic musician who works under the name Scanner due to his use of cell phone and police scanners in live performance. He is also a member of the band Githead with Wire's Colin Newman and Malka Spigel and Max Franken fro ...

. Harris parted ways with Earache after the '' Logghi Barogghi'' release, both sides having been unhappy with how the project was being handled. Many fans of his drumming were confused by the contrast in musical style between Napalm Death and Scorn, but Harris saw it as a natural progression, telling ''

Decibel The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whose levels differ by one decibel have a po ...

'' in 2012: "For the ideas that I had, I needed to make that move. Some people think that it was a crazy move, just as grind was maybe starting to go places, do something, but I’ve always been an experimenter, still am; I’m someone who just loves sound." Having left Earache Records, the project kept pushing the heavy bass sound, subtly changing with each release. The downtempo sound gained Harris an underground following and he was seen as an early originator of

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...

. In May 1997, Harris decided to end the project in order to finish relations with KK Records, after they refused to fund a collaboration with

and a rapper. After pursuing other projects, Harris returned with two critically acclaimed Scorn albums on Hymen Records, ''

Greetings from Birmingham ''Greetings From Birmingham'' is the seventh album by Scorn, released in September 2000 through Hymen Records. In May 1997, following the release of ''Zander'', Mick Harris decided to end the band to finish relations with KK Records, and from ...

'' and ''

Plan B Plan B typically refers to a contingency plan, a plan devised for an outcome other than in the expected plan. Plan B may also refer to: * Plan B, a brand name of levonorgestrel, an emergency contraception drug Film and television * Plan B En ...

''. Scorn then released a one track live mix called ''

List of Takers ''List of Takers'' is a live album by Scorn, released on April 28, 2004 through Vivo. After the release of 2002's ''Plan B Plan B typically refers to a contingency plan, a plan devised for an outcome other than in the expected plan. Plan B ma ...

'' in 2004 on Vivo Records. Scorn returned in 2007 with '' Stealth'' on

Ad Noiseam Ad Noiseam is an independent record label that has from 2001 onwards published electronic music in the form of (breakcore, drum'n'bass, IDM, dubstep) as well as hip-hop and jazz based in Berlin, Germany. Ad Noiseam was founded in April of 200 ...

with the CD version released on Kurt Gluck's Ohm Resistance label. Scorn then released 12" records on

Combat Records Combat Records was an American independent record label founded in 1983 and based in New York City. The label specifically was for heavy metal and punk rock acts, Notable artist include: Megadeth, Circle Jerks, Nuclear Assault, OZ, Deat ...

and Record Label Records in 2008. Another full-length album entitled ''Refuse; Start Fires'', again was released on Ohm Resistance in 2010. This album also marked the first time since Bullen left the project that Harris has worked full-on with another musician (excluding the track Scorn did with David Knight on the "Rise, Converge" compilation), drummer Yan Treasey. On the heels of this full-length, Harris returned with the "Yozza" EP in 2011, again with Treasey. In November 2011, Harris stated the Scorn project was "put to bed".

Relaunch

On 17 January 2019, the Ohm Resistance label announced that Scorn was back and would release an EP in early 2019, with an album to follow. The EP of four new tracks, was called ''Feather''. The full-length album, '' Cafe Mor,'' was released in November and featured a collaboration with Jason Williamson of

Sleaford Mods Sleaford Mods are an English post-punk music duo, formed in 2007 in Nottingham. The band features vocalist Jason Williamson and, since 2012, musician Andrew Fearn. They are known for their abrasive, minimalist musical style and embittered explo ...

. Daniele Antezza of Dadub mastered the album. Harris intended to tour in 2020 with a new

Akai MPC The Akai MPC (originally MIDI Production Center, now Music Production Center) is a series of music workstations produced by Akai from 1988 onwards. MPCs combine sampling and sequencing functions, allowing users to record portions of sound, modif ...

liveset but was forced to cancel due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. He then released a studio album, '' The Only Place'' in 2021, with one track featruing a collaboration with

Kool Keith Keith Matthew Thornton (born October 7, 1963), better known by his stage name Kool Keith, is an American rapper and record producer from The Bronx, New York City, known for his surreal, abstract and often profane or incomprehensible lyrics. Kool ...

Members

Current members *

- electronics (1991–1997, 2000–2011, 2019–present), drums (1991–1993) Former members * Nic Bullen - vocals, bass, electronics (1991–1995) Former session/touring musicians *

- guitar (1991–1992) * Pat McCahan - guitar (1992) *

- guitar, guitar synthesizer (1994)

Timeline

Discography

Albums

*1992 - ''

'' (

Earache Ear pain, also known as earache or otalgia, is pain in the ear. Primary ear pain is pain that originates from the ear. Secondary ear pain is a type of referred pain, meaning that the source of the pain differs from the location where the pain i ...

) *1993 - ''

Colossus Colossus, Colossos, or the plural Colossi or Colossuses, may refer to: Statues * Any exceptionally large statue ** List of tallest statues ** :Colossal statues * ''Colossus of Barletta'', a bronze statue of an unidentified Roman emperor * ''Col ...

'' (Earache) *1994 - ''

'' (Earache) *1995 - '' Gyral'' (Earache) *1996 - '' Logghi Barogghi'' (Earache) *1997 - ''

Zander The zander (''Sander lucioperca''), sander or pikeperch, is a species of ray-finned fish from the family Percidae, which includes the perches, ruffes and darters. It is found in freshwater and brackish habitats in western Eurasia. It is a popul ...

'' (

Invisible Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be ''invisible'' (literally, "not visible"). The phenomenon is studied by physics and perceptual psychology. Since objects can be seen by light in ...

) *2000 - ''

'' (Hymen Records) *2002 - ''

'' (Hymen Records) *2004 - ''

'' (Vivo) *2007 - '' Stealth'' (

, Ohm Resistance) *2010 - '' Refuse; Start Fires'' (Ohm Resistance) *2019 - '' Cafe Mor'' (Ohm Resistance) *2021 - '' The Only Place'' (Ohm Resistance)

Live albums

*1997 - ''

Whine ''Whine'' is a live album by Scorn, released on October 21, 1997, through Invisible Records. Track listing Personnel * Eraldo Bernocchi – guitar (2-8) *Anthony Burnham – photography *Chris Greene – mastering *Mick ...

'' (Invisible)

Remix albums

*1995 - ''

'' (Earache)

Compilation albums

*1999 - '' Anamnesis: 1994-97'' (Invisible)

Singles & EPs

*1992 - ''Lick Forever Dog'' (Earache) *1992 - ''Deliverance'' (Earache) *1993 - ''White Irises Blind'' (Earache) *1993 - ''Lament'' (Dying Earth Records) *1994 - ''Silver Rain Fell'' (Earache) *1995 - ''Falling / The End (Remixes)'' (Scorn Recordings) *1995 - ''Stairway'' (Scorn Recordings) *1996 - ''Leave It Out'' (Possible) *2000 - ''Imaginaria Award'' (Hymen Records) *2002 - ''Governor'' (Hymen Records) *2007 - ''Whistle for It'' (ÜNE (r)ecords) *2008 - ''Super Mantis'' (Combat Recordings) *2008 - ''Super Mantis Remixes'' (Combat Recordings) *2009 - ''In The Margins'' (Record Label Records) *2009 - ''Gravel Bed'' (Combat Recordings) *2010 - ''Super Mantis / Gravel Bed (Remixes)'' (Combat Recordings) *2011 - '' Yozza'' (Ohm Resistance) *2019 - ''

Feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier ...

'' (Ohm Resistance) *2021 - ''Distortion'' (

+ Scorn + Submerged, Ohm Resistance) *2021 - ''Dutch Radio Live Studio Session'' (recorded September 5, 1994)

References

External links

Scorn discography at

Discogs.com Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the l ...

Scorn Video Report on OC-TV.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scorn English electronic music duos British industrial music groups Musical groups from Birmingham, West Midlands One-man bands Earache Records artists Musical groups established in 1991 British industrial metal musical groups