The band originally formed in 1989 as part of the British industrial-metal scene (at the time called Pitch Shifter). At the time, the lineup consisted of M.D. (Mark) Clayden on bass and vocals, J.A. (Johnny) Carter on guitars and programming, and S.E. Toolin on drums. With roots also extending into the grindcore scene watched over by Napalm Death, they signed a deal with Peaceville, and recorded their debut album, Industrial, released in 1991. At the time, Mark's brother J.S. (Jon) was drafted in to do backing vocals on the album.
Early gigs were a problem, since no-one knew what to do with them, so they were often lumped together with death metal bands, but doing this freaked out numerous roadies as soon as they saw they had a drum machine. In the live arena, the gigs were intense, with Jon exorcising all his anger at the world around him nightly, smashing up himself and the stage. The fact he had a skinhead at the time didn't help matters...
Then came the Death EP, released on Sycophant, with only 1000 copies pressed. Then the shifting of band members started, with Matt Godfrey coming in as second guitarist for their follow-up EP, Submit (featuring both tracks from the Death EP), in 1992, which also featured Jon providing vocls for the first time, again on another label, this time cult label Earache. Then it was time for a label switch in 1993, as well as a new drummer, 'D' Walters, in 1993, which led to their Desensitized LP to emerge, complete with a new outlook. Instead of raging at whatever the world throws at them, they actually started to question what they could do to change things.
By now PSI had plenty of underground support drummed up, and a reputation for fierce live shows, complete with Jon showing off his stagediving ability to the masses. They had also released their first fan-favorite track, Triad, a staple of their live shows ever since, also winding up on the soundtrack to Brainscan. It also perfectly links with the new outlook, since it's an anti-racism anthem, which wouldn't have happened in the early days.
So from there, it was onto consolidating their position at the top of the British underground scene. Then in 1995 a few strange occurances surrounding the bad occurred. Firstly was The Remix Wars mini LP, featuring artist such as Biohazard and Therapy? alongside artists more recognised for providing remixes, as well as their own, which showed just how highly regarded they were in the musical fraternity. The other is tied in to their performance at the Phoenix festival that summer, as a crop circle shaped like the PSI logo appeared in a field. So either their fans had a lot of time on their hands, or aliens were obviously fans.
From here, it was time to combine their hard edge with the notion of dance music, which at the time seemed like a shocking idea to all and sundry. Never the less, 1996 saw their Infotainment? LP do just that, combining crusing riffs with samples to devastating effect, as well as including drum 'n' bass track Hanger 84, using the (fake) Roswell Autopsy documentary as a base. The political aspects were as strong as ever, making them more than a match for Rage Against The Machine, although the difference being that PSI don't go for sloganeering, they go for the jugular. They also featured 2 tracks full of samples that any fan could use, as long as they credited the band afterwards.
Then Earache dropped them, which didn't phase the band at all. They just shrugged it off, got a new label, and back to the studio they went. With Geffen now backing them, they went to the next phase of the dance-rock crossover, which still got a muted response.
The end product, www.pitchshifter.com (the name now just one word) was truly a masterpiece. Although there were those claiming they were sell-outs for sounding more commercial, they didn't care. Their message was just as strong as ever, just the style was now a cross of breakbeats, razor sharp guitars, and pounding bass that just cut swathes through everything else. They also provided another couple of dance floor fillers, the apocolyptic Genius (which also wound up on the soundtrack to Mortal Kombat: Annihilation), and Please Sir, as well as another selection of free samples. They also started hacking onto video game soundtracks. Twisted Metal III featured Innit, Microwaved,and W.Y.S.I.W.Y.G., whereas Test Drive 5 featured the last two, as well as Genius, including the video in the title sequence. At this time, on also started dismissing their previous works (ell, so would anyone else that heard Industrial), saying this was the best they'd ever been.
But once again, it was label changing time. With former Prodigy guitarist Jim Davis (the man behind Firestarter) joining the fold in '98, they had to join MCA since the album didn't sell, since it went over a lot of people's heads, because the sound seemed alien to them, since dance and rock were supposed to be kept seperate at all times in the minds of everyone.
So they unleashed the Un-United Kingdom EP in '99, with them going back to their punk roots (complete with a cover of Big Black's Kerosene), and reviving the spirit of the Sex Pistols in the process. However, it didn't go down too well with some people, Jon getting assaulted onstage by a rowdy punter thinking being overly proud of England. He obviously didn't get the point. Who would in Eastbourne?
Back to the studio they went, but the lineup had to change again. Johnny Carter left the fold because he had too much on his mind (girlfriend and mortgage, in other words), whereas 'D' didn't like the direction they were taking, preferring the older, more heavy-minded material. So they brought in Matt Grundy to be the guitar understudy (Jim Davis getting the main slot) and Jason Bowld on drums. Well, 'D' only did live drumming, so that wasn't a big loss.
And they produced another blinding album, Deviant, for 2000. They had gone back on their previous effort, with a more organic approach to their music, rather than build it on top of a backbeat. They also recorded outside England for the first time, which was handy since Dead Kenedys frontman Jello Biafra decided to guest on the track As Seen on TV. But the style has remained the same, uncompromising in it's quest to get the message across, and with the line between dance and rock perfectly balanced, now seen as more worthy, since Bu$h did a remix album. Now, it seems, they might at long last get some recognition from the public. Well, they support Jello's campaign to be US President as well...
However, their record company didn't see it this way, despite Condesention picking up airplay in the US, and dropped them in early 2001. However, they did manage to get signed to Sanctuary records, although Matt Grundy left along the way, and their next album, P.S.I., will be released in Spring 2002.
