The idea of Rock ‘n’ Roll has been around long before my time. The classics we all know and love formed in the foundations of what was the beginnings of a movement that would continue on far into the future. As a result of its fierce staying power Rock ‘n’ Roll has had somewhat of a revival of late. One particular band flying the flag for the genre are the Texan madmen Scorpion Child. Releasing their brand new album Acid Roulette this year the band unveil the idea of the concept album revolving around prison and a favourite past time of the rockers of old, acid. Speaking to drumer Jon Rice we were able to get behind the story of the brand new album along with the bands appearance at Download Festival.

You can listen to the full unedited interview below or read the transcript underneath that!

 

Today I have with me Jon, a Scorpion Child!

How are you doing man?

Very good! So what’s been going in the life of Scorpion Child up until now, apart from the album?

Aww see! I was going to go straight for the low hanging fruit! We are here at Download Festival, we played a couple of hours ago which was fantastic. I have to do it, we released our record yesterday! Its called Acid Roulette, its through Nuclear Blast and we are very proud of it. Been done for about a year actually on the dot, we’re very happy to actually get it out and have people experience it.

What was it like actually writing the record?

Interesting in part because I live in differrent city than they do. I live in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania they live in Austin, Texas.

A little bit of a logistical difference!

Its about a three and a half hour flight, forty hour drive haha, its a hike! It was super fun though, every time we got together, because we were doing super heavy touring in support of the first record so everytime I would come down to Austin to rehearse we would write. It was still very much a collaborative experience even with the distance. I also spent quite a few months down there just off  of touring in the room rehearsing but it was super fun, I don’t think it was stressful at all to write the record. I know sometimes writing can be a pain in the ass but if you’re with people that are also super creative its never an issue. It was pretty fun!

Was it quite a democratic writing process?

Yes, very much so. We all have a say in what goes on which is a very cool thing and I know a lot of people don’t like having too many cooks in the kitchen as they say but none of us have such a big ego where we can’t understand where each other are coming from. If something works then something works and if they say something doesn’t work then we rethink it and come with a different perspective, so it wasn’t a hard writing process.

What about the name Acid Roulette, where did that come from?

That comes from the general storyline of the lyrics which Aaron came up with about a man wrongly framed for a murder. That part of the title actually comes from a part when he is in prison and they’re handing out dabs of acid but some of them are just pieces of paper. So its a roulette of tripping..

So its actually Acid Roulette!

Its a very literal concept.

So its based all around an overarchin concept, whats the concept?

He is a man who is wrongly accused of murder, his wife and kids are taken away from him at the beginning of the story. He goes to jail for life, see I’m not perfect with this because I didn’t write it but from the general synopsis of what I have gathered its that idea. Its that pain and anguish that comes from something, its very much Shawshank Redemption-esque except that you don’t crawl through a hundred yards of shit.

And there’s no Morgan Freeman!

And there’s no Morgan Freeman!

Every album would be better with Morgan Freeman.

Oh my god, I can’t imagine how much we would have to pay him. It would be so good! “There’s two, grown ass men, taking selfies…” He’s the man.

Now that the record is out, this is the first show of the touring cycle?

We actually just flew over to do this one show! We did a record release show on Wednesday in Austin, Texas didn’t sleep and then flew straight here, hehe! The record came out yesterday so its very fresh but its on Spotify, iTunes and record stores through Nuclear Blast who have an exceptional distribution service.

What are the plans now that it has actually been released?

We have a tour in October with Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats, which should be very cool, its in mainland Europe not UK but there is still some stuff in the pipeline for other shows. Its very early in the process.

Do you prefer to play festival shows or more kind of intimate shows?

Club shows. You can’t get mad about playing festivals, its exposing yourself to so many people but just the intimacy of playing a club show really never leaves you. Its a festival, its amazing,a hundred thousand people all experiencing something that we all enjoy in our core so its really cool!

What about actually recording the record, was that as easy going as writing it?

In parts yeah! We had a very creative producer who actually worked with us on the first record named Frenchie. He’s incredible and extremely talented when getting tones and just being creative in coming with a different perspective which is something that all bands can use a lot. Use that kind of perspective, working with somebody as creative as Frenchie in the studio actually made the songs exponentionally better. It was very much recorded in the live setting, obviously overdubs happened but very little editing. Very organic record and thankfully with the players that we have its a very tight record as well.

Is that something you have always done that you wanted to record live?

For me it really depends on the band. I’ve done a lot of Death Metal records, Doom Metal record and I think it honestly depends on the people that you are working with musically with this sort of band live just makes more sense.

How does that compare seeing that you have been in Death Metal bands and are now in Scorpion Child?

Man I get to try and break everything which is really cool! Rock ‘n’ Roll so I can go balls out all the time! The general idea of recording never changes and the general approach never changes, you have to be prepared its a very serious idea. Every time you do a take its permanent, its like this thing that kind of hangs over your head.

No pressure!

I don’t really see it any differently, the only difference being the method. Mentally its all the same for me but the approach is the only difference really.

Where do you lie with musical influences and stuff like that?

Oh man it runs the gamut for sure! Obviously with this being a Rock ‘n’ Roll band first and foremost it comes from seventies and late sixties early seventies Hard Rock, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep UFO, that’s where we take a lot of our influence. Every single person in this band has people that they look up to both in playing their instrument and just as a fan of music so its completely different for all of us. It all comes back to that same general vibe of a new take on an old style.

Thats kind of your mission statement?

Yeah! Absolutely, its very much a new take, we never meant to copy its meant to just add to what has already been done.

Do you think that there is kind of been a bit of resurgence of this sort of style?

I mean it never went away! There’s been bands doing Hard Rock stuff, it never stopped, I think that now more so because of the fan base its becoming more of a larger influence and we’re very fortunate to be a part of a large group of bands that are exceptionally songwriters and musicians and as I said taking their take on the style, adding to it.

Some bands obviously are just going to copy, we don’t associate with them and if they’re good at what they do then awesome. We try and really add to what has already happened and listen to bands that are genuine. You can hear it when it comes to the music, if its not genuine then there is nothing that comes across.

What about the name Scorpion Child?

It is a lyric from The Cult! Simple as that. Very easy.

To finish up what has been a record that you have been listening to like over the last six months to a year?

Terminal Redux by Vektor.

What a record! “Charging The Void”.

Oh god! Its incredible! Outer Isolation, I heard that because the singer in my old band was like “Man you gotta check this out” I was like man I’m not too into Thrash all that much and you listen to it and its not! Its a completely different take and there’s so much, they’re so talented and the drummer is so different. When I heard that I was like “Fuck, this is really good!”. Its funny because they’re from the same town as my old band. I saw them open for Municipal Waste way back, fuck this record is incredible! Its taking something that a lot of new Thrash bands are doing and just blowing it out of the water. Terminal Redux is fantastic and also I wanna hear the new Virus record but its not on Spotify yet so I haven’t checked it out. Definitely Terminal Redux.

Its a big one.

Its a fuckin’ big one.