• Interviews

• All
• Music
• Cinema
• TV
• Comic Books

Jul 08, 2022 Web Exclusive By Dom Gourlay

Under the Radar have been long time fans of songwriter, performer and producer Adrian Flanagan, whose past works include The International Teachers of Pop, The Moonlandingz, Eccentronic Research Council, and countless others. We were taken aback in May by the excellent “Party Sized Away Day” too, the debut single from his latest project ACID KLAUS. So, we’re incredibly excited for his first long player, the brilliantly titled Step On My Travelator: The Imagined Career Trajectory of Superstar DJ & Dance-Pop Producer, Melvin Harris which will be released on November 18th on Yard Act’s ZEN F.C. label. Co-produced with his musical partner in the Eccentronic Research Council Dean Honer, the album features contributions from long-time collaborators and friends including actress Maxine Peake, US musician and video director Charlotte Kemp Muhl (Ghost of a Sabertooth Tiger), Maria Uzor from Sink Ya Teeth (who collaborated on the aforementioned debut single) and the Bradford-born pop-noir singer (currently singing in The Specials), Hannah Hu who is joined on lap steel guitar on a track by Richard Hawley. The album is completed by a whole host of fresh and exciting artists including enigmatic Queen Bee of the Calder Valley, solo artist, Bianca Eddleston who goes under the name Soft Focus and finally from South Wales (and the current talk of the South London scene), the incredible welsh language singer-songwriter, Cat Rin.

In the meantime, the second ACID KLAUS single “Nightclub Marilyn (Room 1)” featuring Lieselot Elzinga from Amsterdam based post-punk/no-wave/futurist music collective, Baby’s Berserk is out now.

The full tracklisting for Step On My Travelator: The Imagined Career Trajectory of Superstar DJ & Dance-Pop Producer, Melvin Harris is as follows:-

1. “Step On My Travelator”
2. “Party Sized Away Day (feat. Maria Uzor)”
3. “Bethlehem or Bust (feat. Cat Rin)”
4. “Blow Your Speakers (feat. Soft Focus)”
5. “Crashing Cars in Ibiza (feat Maria Uzor)”
6. “Bad Club Bad Drugs Bad People”
7. “Elevate (feat. Charlotte Kemp Muhl)”
8. “The Three Rooms of Nightclub Marilyn (feat Lieselot Elzinga)”
9. “I Used to be a DJ in a Club (But Now I’m Just a DJ in My Bedroom)”
10. “My Hats On Fire (feat. Hannah Hu and Richard Hawley)”
11. “Eulogy to a Quiet Life (feat. Maxine Peake)”

Below, Adrian Flanagan talks us through 5 pieces of music that influenced ACID KLAUS.

“After years of album projects and tour cycles - going from Eccentronic Research Council to The Moonlandingz - then straight in to International Teachers of Pop and loads of other side projects (I’d done 10 albums in as many years) - the forced stop of Covid probably saved my life. In the months leading up to the first lockdown I’d lost a succession of close family members and friends but just kept on gigging so I was in this permanent state of grief and faux joy - crashing lows and depression one minute then people applauding you for being able to walk from one side of a stage to another the next - so when we could no longer leave the house it was frankly, a God send! But what I found I was doing more than ever was digging out my old records and also listening to and discovering lots of new artists. The new found love for my record collection was definitely both a help in soothing my grief but also a massive inspiration in to what ended up being my forthcoming debut collaborative Acid Klaus Album as I started digging out the old drum machines, vocoders and analogue synths, I started enjoying my own space and started to learn how to use all this old musical junk I’d acquired over the years.”

Jam on it (wiki wiki) - Newcleus

“One of the first things I dived deep in too during the early days of ‘the plague’ was my old Street Sounds Electro compilations, I loved these records when I was a kid and I fell back deep in love with them all again - often using up my allotted 20 minute exercise time to break dance in my garden. …specially this 808 minimal synth electro hip hop banger by Newcleus.”

Ba Ba GO, Go - TOPO

“Another tune that was never off the turn table was this by Italian artist TOPO.. A tune he wrote for his Cat… ‘Ba Ba Go, go- I love you!’ He says whilst an electronic synth Cat meows back at him .. nice bit of slinky Italo disco mixed in with a bit of trans Europe Kraftwerk .. a winning combination.”

Home to you - Cate Le Bon

“The whole of Cate’s reward album is just a beautiful piece of work. There’s a tone in her voice that really resonates with me on a genuine emotional level - & being a sensitive boy who at the time was grieving for his grandmother - a woman who in many ways was ‘Home to me’ - this song particularly really dredged those tear ducts and massaged the heart as I played it, over and over again (sorry, not sorry neighbours). I think if the NHS put Cate Le Bon records out as a prescription to grieving boys & girls, the world would be a better place.”

Baby’s Berserk - What I Mean

“Baby’s Berserk are a relatively new band from Amsterdam (on the Bongo Joe label) I bought this on 7” off bandcamp and it’s always in my record bag when I dj under my Outernational Yorkshire alias. It’s a mixture of post punk electro and African Pop. I like that they are making electronic no wave pop that doesn’t sound too tied to the computer - there’s a looseness to their tightness - things are played in live .. I loved this tune so much I wrote to them and asked them to collaborate on a track with me. And thus Nightclub Marilyn was born.”

I need somebody to love tonight - Sylvester.

“I found lockdown quite funny as there was all these musicians, djs & actors not able to go out or work so every night there’d be some ego heavy dude, chonged up with their shirt open to the waste in their bedrooms or living room doing dj sets or singing some hearty ballad … I’ve got a song on my album called ‘I used to be a dj in a club (now I’m just a dj in my bedroom)… it’s kind of taking the piss out of that period but simultaneously stating how fragile this choice of career is. This tune popped up quite a few times on many dj sets.. it’s one of my very favourite tunes featuring Sylvester…”

ACID KLAUS has confirmed a number of live dates over the coming months, calling in at…

Tour dates

Jul 22 | Standon Calling
Nov 18 | Yellow Arch, Sheffield (Album Launch Party)
Nov 19 | Night & Day, Manchester
Nov 21 | The Lexington, London
Nov 22 | Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow (w/ Yard Act)
Nov 23 | NUSU, Newcastle (w/ Yard Act)
Nov 24 | Academy, Leeds (w/ Yard Act)
Jan 06 | Rockaway Beach Festival

Twitter

Instagram