Bringing doomy, trippy atmospherics straight from the darkest depths of Whitechapel – S.C.U.M. are a band that only operate in widescreen. With the release of their latest ‘Again Into Eyes’, this collective – named after a feminist call-to-arms by the writer who shot Andy Warhol – delivered a riposte to nay-saying critics and doubters.
Incorporating influences as diverse as No-Wave legends Suicide and soundtrack music, they merged them together to create one of the most original works released this year. Now, as they tour the world, they’re continuing to release music in snapshot form with the Signals project. ClashMusic caught up with singer Tom Cohen (now betrothed to Peaches Geldof, congrats!) over a crackly phone line to see what’s what in the world of the East London chosen ones.
For those who aren’t familiar – how did S.C.U.M. come about?
It was that thing about forming any kind of band, that natural thing of forming a band with people who ‘look’ like you in your local area. That’s honestly how it started. It’s pretty primal, you know, but I think growing up people can be a bit primal sometimes. That’s how it started. So we were friends for a bit, and then we started the band.
You released the album ‘Again Into Eyes’ earlier this year. You recorded it in the countryside - what was influencing you at the time?
I think it was kind of an ideal setting for us. We’ve always been a London-based band & I think that working within that (country) context could only work in our favour. Musically, you’re really lucky with the first try because you can try to encompass all the music you’ve loved since you were a kid – so the real bands that’ve shaped it and formed it are things like Suicide, a lot of bands like that. And influences moved on to…..whatever.
So how was it to work with Ken Thomas, who’s produced bands like Sigur Ros and Public Image?
I wasn’t massively ever into any of those bands that much, but we knew that Ken having that back catalogue meant that he’d sonically be totally understanding and in tune with what we did. I think working with him in that sense was perfect.
Tell us more about the ‘Signals’ project. Is that still an on-going thing?
We’re doing one in two weeks’ time – in Moscow. Apparently it’s minus 20 there at the moment.
How do those projects begin? Do you just take influence from the city you’re in at the time?
I tend to have an idea of what I’d like to achieve before we record there. But then, a huge part of it is really the climate we experience when we’re in the city and absorbing as much as we can. And we like to work with a lot of sound instruments and accumulate them for the studio. It works really well in our favour sometimes if the technicians don’t understand English... So you pretty much press record. And go.
When you started out, I know you played churches quite a lot. Plus, you’ve supported some pretty intense live acts – from Throbbing Gristles, the Kills, The Horrors. What’s the most intense show you’ve done so far?
The most intense show we’ve ever done – I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad thing – was probably in Shoreditch Church. It was so long ago. We’re kind of like a different band now.
You play partially obscured by smoke, you’ve discussed before in interviews the need to keep distance from a band to fully appreciate them, does that still hold true?
I think that yeah, you need to have a little bit of mystique. But then, I think people like Rihanna have a bit of mystique. I mean, I don’t know what Rihanna talks like. All great figures in music are all a bit like that.
Finally, new material. What is influencing the new songs, and when should we expect them?
We’ve definitely taken a lot from everything we’ve done before; we’ve got a body of work to build on now. Do I want to achieve anything? I want to make it sound a lot more influences of 70’s soundtrack music, people like Gene Clark and Scott Walker. And yeah, I really want to work with this one producer. His name is Jean Claude Vannier. But I don’t know when that’s going to happen.
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S.C.U.M.'s new single 'Faith Unfolds' is out now.
Words by Marianne Gallagher