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New 7" and CD single 'Horrible Face' is released on Wrath Records on 20th June but you can pre-order it now through oxfordmusic.net: order here.
The album 'Cabin Fever' follows in July: order here.
WHO THE DEVIL ARE THEY?
The Scaramanga Six are a flaming ball of fury. A tight-knit organisation, every one of these desperate individuals is hell-bent on assaulting the ears of the unsuspecting with intensive rock and roll music. The group currently consist of:
Julia Arnez – Guitar, Vocals
Chris Catalyst – Organ, 2nd Drums, Vocals
Paul Morricone – Guitar, Sax, Vocals
Steven Morricone – Bass, Organ, Vocals
Anthony Sargeant – Drums, Vocals
WHAT THE BLAZES DO THEY THINK THEY’RE PLAYING AT?
We’re not going to draw any lazy comparisons here – The Scaramanga Six do not rock by association. The only thing worn on the sleeves of this band are gaudy cufflinks. Whatever it is The Six turn their hand to, it's got to be flamboyant and colourful, self-assured and passionate, brutal and arrogant. Their love of dynamics and dramatic tension stirs them to create brilliant moments of songwriting in the classic British tradition, yet underpinned by a relentless barrage of sonic terror. The sound generally consists of raucously riff-licious guitar, lung-busting vocal acrobatics, bowel-growling bass, succulent slabs of Hammond, frantic drumskin torture – all mashed up together and captured within perfectly dark and discordant pop songs. The lyrical content is intelligent, contentious, intriguing and seething. The hooks in their songs will stick into you so far, that you will have no choice but to be reeled in, gutted and battered like a haddock. Resistance will only make the hooks go deeper. You must let it happen. One taste of this chaotic and intimidating group, whether it be live or on record, and you’ll see why ‘the band who torture from Yorkshire’ are so blindly committed to their cause.
WHERE DID THESE SCOUNDRELS COME FROM?
The Scaramanga Six is the brainchild of headstrong siblings Paul and Steven Morricone. Not in any way like your conventional mindless rock-star filth, The Morricone brothers appear more like a pair of polite and softly-spoken, yet viciously intense and sadistic nightclub bouncers. Raised in the Westcountry seaside resort of Weston-Super-Mare on an education of Stranglers records (by older brothers) and Tony Bennett records (by their Mum), the young Morricone twins discovered there was much fun to be had in crooning and shouting in equal measures.
The latter part of the Nineties saw them hooking up with nonchalant, yet studious organist Dr John Gulliver, and rabid guitar-smashing dwarf Bill Bailey. Then THE SCARAMANGA SIX had become a brutal and startling reality amongst an endless torrent of boring mediocrity. The scene was set – a new backdrop of the drizzly Yorkshire town of Huddersfield, a penchant for deafening noise and easy listening composers, this set of misfits started to work out how to ROCK. They played frantic gigs around the north of England to harden themselves to a strict regime of total rock action, where they would go onstage in dark suits and stare the audience out in silence for the length of a cigarette before starting the set.
After numerous substitutions, several now-legendary early recorded releases and a trail of carnage and broken equipment left at various venues up and down the country, The Scaramanga Six matured into a truly evil band augmented by the womanly persuasions of Miss Julia Arnez on second drums, guitar and vocals. The Six signalled malicious intent with 1999's 'THE LIAR, THE BITCH AND HER WARDROBE' LP on Trinity Records (the forerunner to Wrath). This hour-long, low-budget thriller contained earlier singles ‘VAMP’ and ‘HORRIBLE FACE’.
2000 sees maniacal fiend, James Agnew takes up the drums and The Six leave the melodramatics behind in favour of a more balls-to-the-wall rock sound. Jenny Jet Harris is drafted in to complete the female guitar duelling and the next two years see the release of two EP’s: 'ARE YOU ONE OF THE FAMILY?', 'THE CONTINUING SAGA OF THE SCARAMANGA SIX' and 7-inch single ‘YOU DO, YOU DIE!’ All releases are much lauded by numerous printed and digital press, spats of radio glory beckon and an even more prolific future is heralded. The Six become increasingly untouchable in their home manor of Leeds, particularly with the founding of the miraculous new label, Wrath Records.
2003 was a good year for The Six as they declared an all-out war against the bore with the truly confusing album, ‘STRIKE! UP THE BAND’ which garnered a shitload of crawly-bumlick press coverage from the likes of Kerrang!, Rock Sound, Drowned In Sound etc. The band toured sporadically with new drumster Stuffy Gilchrist who eventually left to join the legendary Graham Coxon’s live band. However, not before he linked the Six up with one of their musical idols, Mr Tim Smith of the Cardiacs. The Six found great kinship with Mr Smith’s skewed and schizoid take on music and the results form the rest of their current output: ‘THE POISON PEN’ 7” single, the new ‘WE RODE THE STORM’ single and forthcoming behemoth of an album ‘CABIN FEVER’.
Armed with this arsenal of ear-splitting and frankly bizarre pop music, new drum-twatter Anthony Sargeant is poached from a Queen tribute-band and the Six stubbornly carry on as a 4-piece with Steven Morricone playing organ with his arse at live shows. The line-up is completed in the autumn of 2004 with the addition of mohawked bezerker Chris Catalyst to pick up and make a racket with whatever is closest to hand. Tooled-up to the teeth, The Scaramanga Six are ready to ATTACK.
A full list of excellent Wrath Records releases.
www.wrathrecords.co.uk
www.thescaramangasix.co.uk
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