A British industrial-metal (and later on, electronic-rock) band formed in 1989. Initially playing a minimalistic, sludgy, and very heavy variation of industrial metal reminiscent of Streetcleaner-era Godflesh, Pitch Shifter later added elements from electronica, such as drum 'n bass and jungle-inspired percussion, resulting in positive critical attention and relatively good (though still modest) sales for releases like www.pitchshifter.com. Since their (to date) last album release PSI in 2002, the band has become largely dormant, only playing the occasional festival and releasing an EP.
The current lineup is:
- J.S. Clayden - vocals/programming, lyrics, backing vocals on Industrial.
- Mark Clayen - bass, vocals and lyrics on Industrial.
- Jason Bowld - drums/percussion.
- Dan Rayner - lead guitar (live member).
- Tim Rayner - rhythm guitar (live member).
Releases:
- Industrial (1991)
- Submit mini-album (1992)
- Desensitized (1993)
- Infotainment? (1996)
- www.pitchshifter.com (1998)
- Deviant (2000)
- PSI (2002)
This band contains the following trope examples:
- Band of Relatives: Type 1-Mark and J.S. Clayden are brothers.
- Cluster F-Bomb: "Keep It Clean" and "Everything's Fucked"
- "Landfill" as well:
- Hate!/I hate/you motherfucker!
- "Landfill" as well:
- Genre Mashup: They mix Industrial Metal with Drum and Bass, jungle music, Hardcore Punk and Alternative Metal. Yeah, sounds quite farfetched, but they actually made it work.
- Genre Shift: Take a listen to both Industrial and PSI and you'll see how much the band changed drastically within ten years.
- Industrial Metal
- Lead Bassist: Mark Clayden performed lead vocals in Industrial and a couple of songs on Submit.
- Metal Scream: Mark Clayden utilized a Type 2, while J.S. Clayden used a Type 1.
- My Country Tis of Thee That I Sting: "Un-United Kingdom".
- Sampling: As well as incorporating dialogue samples into some of their songs, Pitch Shifter offered a collection of samples for use on their albums Infotainment? and www.pitchshifter.com.
- Skinheads: The band was full of these during the Desensitized and Infotainment periods of their career, and made a point to let everyone know that they weren't part of the neo-Nazi variety.
- Soprano and Gravel: On Infotainment, J.S. threw in some cleanly sung lines alongside his usual screams. Subsequent albums would see him drop the screaming altogether.
- Three Chords and the Truth
- TV Never Lies: One of Pitch Shifter's main concerns is the relation between media and government/corporate control.
- Word Salad Lyrics: Much of Industrial''s lyrics sheet consists of words or short phrases that complement the harsh music, but don't scan too well.
- You Don't Look Like You: As the band's sound has changed, so has frontman J.S. Clayden's appearance. Compare his look in the page photo to this photo
from the Submit EP.note
