STEPHEN HARRISON AND Aric Improta knew they wanted to create something unique together someday. It was just a matter of being patient. The pair bonded during their five years in Fever 333, with Stephen (formerly of The Chariot) on guitars/ bass and Aric (also in Night Verses) on drums, and when they left in October 2022, they realised that the time for backing themselves was drawing near. They didn’t know exactly how they wanted to sound, but the thrill came from simply wanting to find out. House Of Protection was born.
“We’ve seen how things get so professional so fast,” Aric says of their time in Fever 333. “There’s almost no room to experiment and have fun when you’re in that space. So, if anything, it was a relief for us to be able to figure everything out from scratch. It was like, ‘Let’s just meet up with our friends and see what happens.’”
When Aric says “friends”, he means some of alternative music’s most talented and forward-thinking minds. Early on, the pair brought in former Bring Me The Horizon keyboardist and producer Jordan Fish to help make sense of the different reference points they were pulling from, which included everything from The Smashing Pumpkins to The Prodigy and Massive Attack. They also recruited Aric’s Night Verses bandmate, guitarist Nick DePirro, and the gang was complete.