New Scorpion Band

The New Scorpion Band was formed in 1993. The name is taken from the original Scorpion Band, a quartet who performed with clarinet, trombone, cornopean and bass drum in the Dorchester area during the years around 1830. The New Scorpion Band was created by the distinguished Dorset folk singer Tim Laycock, who has devoted a lifetime to the music and traditions of the South West of England. The members of the band bring together a wide experience of many different styles of music – the English, Scots and Irish traditions, early, baroque and classical music, opera, jazz, brass bands and theatre, television and film music.

In 2001, the band’s violinist Colin Thompson decided to leave, no longer wanting the constant travelling of the gigging musician\’s life. He was replaced by Sharon Lindo, who has brought to the band a surprising range of instrumental skills (she also plays guitar, mandolin and trombone) and has greatly extended its harmony vocals with her strong soprano voice.

The band has played at a long list of music, arts, historical and folk festivals, Arts Centres and other concert venues in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. They have made three British Council-sponsored tours of Colombia, playing at venues from the main concert hall in Bogota to audiences of young people in disadvantaged parts of the city, and villagers living in the heart of the civil war.

The group appeared as the village band in Alan Ayckbourn’s “House and Garden” at the National Theatre, London, and featured in ITV’s film of Thomas Hardy’s “The Mayor of Casterbridge”.

The New Scorpion Band is one of the most entertaining and original groups in British traditional music. Their virtuosic playing, rich vocal harmonies, sophisticated musical arrangements and spectacular collection of traditional and historical instruments combine to create the distinctive sound that has won the New Scorpion Band a wide following, both in Britain and internationally.