Red Bull Records Sign New Project from Aric Improta and Stephen Harrison - House Of Protection Share Debut Single 'It's Supposed To Hurt'
House of Protection | Photo credit: Wrenne Evans
Aric Improta (Night Verses) and Stephen Harrison (The Chariot) today announced the launch of their new project, House of Protection. Joining the Red Bull Records roster after their recent departure from Fever 333, the duo take their extensive background as boundary-pushing live musicians to the next level, combining the sonic forces of punk, electronic music and hardcore. Built on a shared vision to forge a safe space for self-expression and limitless creativity, the band’s ethos can be felt in their ambitious sound and frenetic visuals.
On the meaning behind House of Protection, Aric says, “‘Protection’ was specifically chosen because it’s a Massive Attack song and I was reading their biography as we started this project. It was very inspiring when it came to us initiating this whole thing. The full name is because we wanted to build something that protected our creativity and ideas as well as the people that come to the shows.”
Their debut single, 'It’s Supposed To Hurt', sees Aric and Stephen sing for the first time in their careers – discovering a voice neither knew they had. The abrasive anthem is produced by Jordan Fish (Bring Me The Horizon) and accompanied by an official video capturing the House of Protection energy in a series of extreme, chaos-fuelled shots. The band’s DIY spirit bleeds through the screen, giving fans a taste of their live shows to come.
On the origins of the single, the band shares, “‘It’s Supposed To Hurt’ was the first song we wrote. Some of the vocals were from our initial improvisations. When we started this, we had no idea how we would sound or where we wanted to take it. Neither of us had sung before, we just knew the energy we wanted to create sonically and that we’d put in whatever time it took to get it to feel right. Fortunately, this song answered a lot of those questions instantly.”
Hear 'It's Supposed To Hurt' on streaming services here and watch the video below.
About House of Protection
House of Protection, the new venture from Stephen Harrison and Aric Improta, serves as a sanctuary for those who surrender to impulse. Abandoning any regard for tradition and form, they followed a feeling and unearthed a sound that sees them push their limits further than ever before. Bridging the not-so-disparate worlds of hardcore, electronica, and punk, they forged a space for boundless creativity and a community fuelled by chaos.
Between their shared experience with Fever 333, Aric’s ongoing work with experimental rock group Night Verses, and Steve’s turn as guitarist for iconic post-hardcore band The Chariot, the pair are renowned in the world of heavy music for never being afraid of extremes. House of Protection is a continuation of that unabashed self-expression, bottled into a snarling vessel of anger, uncertainty, joy, and creativity.
“We wanted to create something where all our ideas, no matter how wild, felt safe,” says Steve. That’s the foundation for which House of Protection was built upon, arming their audiences with a level of fearlessness and bliss that blurs the line between the crowd and the performers. Inspired by the likes of The Smashing Pumpkins, The Prodigy, Alice Glass, Massive Attack, Cocteau Twins and Sleigh Bells, the pair were drawn to bands that invented their own way to bring a certain energy to the stage.
Teaming up with close friends Nick DePirro (Night Verses) and Jordan Fish (Bring Me The Horizon), they created the sprawling, urgent debut single ‘It’s Supposed To Hurt.’ “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy to start again from scratch but that phrase became our ethos. Starting again was the whole point of this,” offers Aric. House of Protection thrive in the margins of unpredictability, where anything goes and all are invited. Welcome home.
