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This is the second time that I've interviewed MickHarris from Scorn, the
last time which was a couple of years ago was a phone interview from his
house in Nottingham. The impression I got from him then was that he seemed
like a really nice bloke, not at all like the image I had in my head of
Napalm Death's original drummer. By sheer coincidence two years later we
happened to be in London at the same time and so I was presented with the
opportunity to talk to him again, this time about Scorns new album
Evanescence. The new album, which is by far their most accomplished
"redefines ambient dub". Or at least that's what the sticker sayson the
front of the sleeve. I don't know if that is an accurate description ornot
since Ambient dub is one of these wonderfully meaningless phrases createdby
bored journalists. However to put the album in context; if you took someof
the more mellow Meat Beat Manifesto and mixed it with some of the darkerEno
and flipped it over, stood on it and then maybe fried it up with a nice
kipper you might be a bit confused. You could always listen to the trackon
our CD to get the drift.

Anyway we met up in a hotel near Regents Park, sitting in the bar drinking
away most of Earache's profits from 1993. One word of explanation. There
aren't any real questions listed below mainly because I didn't ask very
many. Mick pretty much interviewed himself and as such I have left the piece
very much in rant mode.

FAME AT LAST!

It's taken time, it's bothered me and it hasn't bothered me. Obviously we're
doing it for ourselves, it's nice for people to take an interest and, for
some strange reason, they're taking a lot of interest in this record. I
guess that it's the warmest-feeling record that we've recorded so far,
saying that, it's probably more experimental than anything we've done
before. It's still Scorn, I just looked at both records, decided what I
liked and what I didn't like and just put it together, it really happened
quickly this time, two weeks. It's an in and out process - it's the onlyway
we can work in a studio - get it while it's there because the more timethat
you waste, you're just taking away the mood and the atmosphere, as far as
I'm concerned, just becoming picky. It's still dirty it's still got a raw
edge, which is important for us, there's no way we want a polished product-
I think that it's polished as much as it needs to be polished. Where I say
polished, I mean I've just learned a lot in the studio - I've learned howto
apply and where to apply. We've just used everything in the right way. It
all came together perfectly.

TECHNO(LOGY)

Well, we had to get a programmer in to help us get started with some ofthe
new machinery, but it's generally a good thing, I can't play guitar butI
can plug it into loads of effects and know that I'm going to get a good
sound. Technology does play a big part for us, not with samples, they'renot
used in a big way - they're more there to create mood. We take it further
with effects that we create in the studio. Machinery is becoming more
obtainable, which is good. At the same time, there is a lot of crap coming
out, it seems to have gone full circle - electronics have been around fora
long time. Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Can, Faust, Harmonia - they wereall
a big influence on what Eno did, today's technology is that much more
advanced - people are taking it further.

GUITARS

We finally have a guitarist - Jimmy Plotkin, from Old on Earache, a guythat
I trust. Jimmy was one of the first Americans to write to me when Scum came
out, the first Napalm record, so I visited him and his family in summerof
1988 and we'd been penpals a year prior to that. So we go back a long time,
and he filled that space that I've always been looking for within Scorn.I'd
always been happy with what had been done previously with the guitar work,
but there was always a certain gap. You need to experiment with guitar as
much as with electronics or any instrument. We needed a guitarist that could
work with us and work with what he's hearing, and he filled that space.I
think that, a lot of the time, you can't hear that it is a guitar, not that
it's heavily treated, it is treated - but in the right way. Jimmy knowswhat
to apply and we just let him improvise, he hadn't heard anything, beforehe
came to the country. I just said "Look Jim, here are your recordingdates,
two days for you to do what you want in the studio, to do all your guitar
tracks" I didn't say anything about what the record was, I just saidthere
is a bit more of a groove happening this time, but there's plenty of space
for what you can do and he just turned up, he plugged in and we let the
tapes run. We're certainly happy with what he did. We've finally got a
guitarist that we can work with and he can work with us. He's not goingto
be writing the material with us, but all the guitar parts are Jimmy Plotkin.
The backbone is me and Nick and the guitar is a hundred percent Jimmy. Nick
agreed with it this time round as well, Nick was initially going to be
playing guitar, but I just said "Well look Nick, I like what you doon
guitar, but you've got a feeling for the bass and that's what you need to
stick to and concentrate on. It's okay for you to do some guitar tracksbut
let's get somebody that we can use on stage.

I don't think that Scorn are going to be the sort of band that's gigging
constantly, there's no need for that, but we shall tour. Jimmy's livingin
New York but it's not a problem - he'll come over when we need him, there's
a big possibility of us doing a Peel session. We can do without guitar,it's
not a problem - we can fill that space with some extra samples. That guitar
on Evanesnce fills the space, but I think it's been done in a creative way.
He's definitely a full-time member of the band, he has as much say but just
in the guitar department -that's all he wants to be involved with. That's
what he's always looked for - a band that he can play guitar in and he feels
comfortable in which is what he's done with Scorn.

VOX

We've got the vocals down now, we've always been minimal - using vocalsas
an instrument. I know that the some of the press had problems with the
vocals but really liked the music. I like to use Nick's voice, I like the
way that he sings and there's plenty that I can do with it.

OLD REMIXES

Jimmy really got into the more hard-core dance-oriented side, he approached
Earache and rather than just having the remixes done by giving people the
tapes - let them come up with their own ideas - whether they're taking
samples from the record or providing them, Jimmy didn't provide them with
anything, he just let them go and do their own thing. It doesn't represent
Old in any way but why should it? That's what Jimmy wanted it to be,
something different, but it does represent Old in a way because Old justdo
what they want anyway. It broke some boundaries, introduced some peopleto
Old that would never of heard it. I did two mixes, both of them were doneat
home - it was a different approach. People actually liked it! It did really
well in techno charts. 99.9% of people who were into that would absolutely
hate an Old full-length record - it just wouldn't appeal to them, it'd go
over their heads.

STUDIO

I've got a project studio which is for me, doing my own stuff, my Lull
project. It's very experimental , I don't like to call it ambient, it fits
into that term but it's a lot moodier, a lot darker, the pieces are a lot
longer. It's playing with sounds and tones, rather than beats. The project
studio's at my home and we use it for the backbone of Scorn's material,then
take it into a studio and further it there. I'd like to do it all at home
but we do need a 24 track, we still like to use analogue, we still liketo
use tape because of the warm sound it still has to offer. Even though weare
using machines and midi, it's still a half and half -we're working with
machines, we're working with live instruments.

THE LESS BEATEN PATH

No one's going to change us into anything, we're going to keep doing what
we're comfortable with. Continuing to experiment with sound and music -
we're influenced by so much stuff, we've only just started. Scorn can, I
hope, be around for a long time. I've got no intentions of quitting it,like
I've had to before with the last band. I have full involvement and Nickhas
full involvement, it's two people. We don't hang out together so we don't
see each much of other but when we do, there's a lot of positive stuff there
and it works, that's the beauty of it. With Jimmy, as well, when he needsto
be involved, he'll be there - so that's not a problem. We're not reallytied
down to anything, but we're ready to do what ever has to be done. We could
do ambient-dub rooms, working around improvising, at the same time, we could
do tours. We can go any way - whatever we feel happy with. If we think that
we can fit in with it, we will do it.

NEW REMIXES

Weatherall and Jack Dangers are starting on some remixes and we're
approaching other people, just giving them the material to work around,it's
going to be what they want to do -their interpretation. I kind of wish it
was me doing it because I think they're going to have fun doing it. I'mjust
waiting to hear what they do and I trust them. Meat Beat is an influencefor
Scorn, the breakbeats, the hip hop beats are in the same vein, but slightly
different, darker, moodier. We'd like a remix by Mark Clifford from Seefeel
and the two guys from Autechre. We may release a compilation, limited
edition - some people might just by to hear Jack Dangers but we'd like to
give them more than that, with remixes we've done ourselves. Jack Dangers
has asked us to do some remixes for him and that's fantastic,he really likes
what Scorn are doing - using sound in our own way. He's gonna sort thatout
as soon as he's finished with the Scorn mix. We don't want to do mixes for
their own sake, but if the we feel we can do something with it, then okay.

PRESS

I don't think that we've actually had a bad review. People have noticeda
difference - it is more acceptable, I can't deny that. But we didn't setout
to do that, it just happened so quickly and we're glad that it's turnedout
that way. We knew that we wanted more of a groove and we were working with
machines that could produce that. It got a very positive reaction from
people who hadn't heard Scorn before and people who were interested in the
difference and that's good, it's good to talk to them - to see what they
think.

PAINKILLER

Painkiller is still going, I enjoy working with Bill and Jon. We're working
on a new record at the beginning of June, which should be fun, like any
other Painkiller record. I like the project, it's serious, it's 100%
improvised - I can get behind the drums and it's freedom. I think that it
really works. Jon and Bill are a lot busier than I am, but we all just find
time for it. We get on well, Painkiller is continuing and there will bea
new record.

EVANESCENCE?

I had to ask Nick myself . . . Evanescence is . . . the end. I remember
talking to my girlfriend saying: Nick's onto a plan here, y'know, maybethis
is the last recording he's gonna do! The original title for this recordwas
Anadonia, which means the inability to be happy. A real Nick Bull title,not
that he's a miserable person, well he is and he isn't, he's no more
miserable or happy than you or I. He's a classic character, he's a moody
person, definitely very melancholic. Another band from Birmingham already
had the title Anadonia, Earache told us and I told Nick that I really liked
names like Colossus, he came up with a list and at the top of the list was
Evanescence. Straight away, it caught me, I asked - what does it mean? I
think that it sums Nick up, in some way.

LIVE SHOWS

We've got two festivals coming up, one in Norway and one in Austria -a jazz
festival with an electronic side to it. We've played Austria before, welike
Vienna - it's very open-minded, like most of Europe. This'll be the first
time the three of us have played live together. Just Nick and Jimmy on
stage, me controlling the sound. Nick wants to show some Super8 loops,
Earache are providing some projectors, Nick wants to get a carousel as well
and let that run slides. It should add an extra bonus, Nick's into that
side. Some of the stuff is going to be rollercoaster rides, I think it's
gonna be really good - people in the audience watching this really fastride
and Scorn sounding really down, slowly pumping it out! We're staring workon
a video, with the same guy that worked on White Iris Blind, we had no
involvement, we just gave him a rough idea, but we were very pleased with
what he came up with. We 're going to be in the next video, in a pretty
fucked way, but it'll be the first time. We want to experiment, we'll
probably do two videos off this record, it's just a matter of picking the
tracks. We're interested in Multi-Media, Nick's very into Super8, 16mm,
scratching and colorising film, but we'll have to wait for the money todo
it properly.

THE NEW FACE OF EARACHE

Oh, It's good news. I think all that Thrash/Grind has gone as far as itcan,
I don't think it can break any new ground. It's good that Earache are
signing bands that are approaching from different angles. This is the wayit
needs to go. Napalm had gone as far as I thought was possible, what I'm
doing now is a natural progression.

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