British-based electrosurfbilly band, Flirt With Danger have released their debut album, ‘The Mini-Album’.
The music is an imaginative, provocative and eclectic mix of neo-rockabilly, surf, 60s garage and proto-punk, combined with analogue synth sounds. The lyrics draw on both modern concerns and retro-futuristic imagery, very much in line with the burgeoning atompunk artistic scene. It represents a significant departure from the existing UK music scene and has already attracted considerable interest in the USA, particularly in California and Texas.
The tracks were written by Les ‘Spaceman’ Rowley, the former keyboard player of South London indie rock band, Brilliant Pink, theatrical heavy metallers, Aunt May, and drum’n’bass trio, Tectonic.
Mr Rowley said, “This is just a taste of a large catalogue of material that provides a refreshing alternative to a popular music scene that’s become somewhat staid and formulaic in recent years.”
In true punk DIY spirit, Flirt With Danger are not signed to a record company, and the mini-album is both self-financed and self-produced. All songs were recorded in Worcester-based studio, The Space Underground and professionally mastered at Metropolis Studios.
The mini-album can be heard at https://flirtwithdanger.bandcamp.com/releases
The mini-album will be available through bandcamp, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify and all the usual digital stores.
How would you describe your music ?
‘Punk Noir’ – a term I use to describe its mix of rockabilly, surf, garage/punk, 40s detective film themes and analog electronics.
What is your new single about and where did the inspiration for the mini album come from ?
Main track on the Mini-album is Even Spooks Need To Rock & Roll. Inspired by checking the server stats for the band website and discovering a whole load of hits from British Indian Ocean Territories – it gave me a vision of guys working the spy centres out there, getting bored on the night shift and using their surveillance equipment to listen to rock & roll instead.
What are your fave tracks or artists of all time ?
The Clash, the Cramps, Stray Cats. Special mention for the 1st Roxy Music album, with their ‘Teds From Outer Space’ look and sound.
Do you ever play any cover versions ?
My live acoustic bluegrass/punk thing would consist of covers, usually ones that no-one had heard of. Flirt With Danger only did covers in the early days.
What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs ?
Black humour, mainly. Retro sci-fi also plays a role in many songs. The emptiness / unfairness of modern life occasionally inspires some wrath.
What has been your biggest challenge as an artist ?
Believing I could do it, or that there was any point in even trying. Having such a bleak outlook on that score is part of what led me to start practising Nichiren Buddhism in 1994. The turnaround has been slow and full of backward steps but in terms of my own happiness, more than worth it.
The next stage was realising in terms of genre, what I actually wanted to do, which has been evolving over the last 5 years or so – I think it was always in the back of my mind, but it never at all crystallised before.
Online:
