Ray of uncontrolled skids, screeching of tires and roaring pilings, the music of 2020 will not have disappointed, between Bambara, Chubby and The Gang, The Wytches, A. Swayze and The Ghosts, the unexpected return of the Spits or the ultra-cryptic Bad Slags. However, if it was necessary to designate a spokesperson for this deliquescent promotion, the choice would fall without any hesitation on Special Interest. Here’s a band that looks like everything a band should ever look like: a movie or comic book gang, a bunch of twisted, sexy, outrageous misfits, somewhere between a queer and studded version of the B-52’s, the cast. of Desperate Living by John Waters gathered at the back of a bunker for a gabber evening and fifteen simultaneous Twitter conversations tackling a jumble of sexuality, racism and depression.
Formed in Texas by singer Alli Logout and guitarist Maria Elena Delgado and now based in New Orleans, the group says it is mainly influenced by the first wave of punk Los Angeles (X, Weirdos, Germs) and cites as a reference major the Screamers, synth-punk pioneers who have never recorded a disc and whose demos have been exchanged since the end of the 70s on the verge of listening, suggesting the insane fury that smoldered this duo from the theater contemporary. Special Interest offers arguably the most beautiful and intense update since the thermonuclear Babyland (another crucial Californian formation mixing punk and electronics in the early 90s), retaining the essential – the howler synths, the frantic rhythm, the charisma, provocation, merciless words – to pass them to the great crusher 2020, option terminal chaos and maximum decompartmentalization. Techno, no-wave, post-punk, industrial metal: there is everything on The Passion of, their second album released in June, but not just anything and especially not just anyhow.
No question here of free or cheap postures: the elements fit together with a disconcerting naturalness, cogs of a prodigious machine for smashing concrete, steel, titanium, obeying the hoarse scansions of Alli Logout , extraordinary singer, the only one capable of taming a machine that breaks, destroys, shaves, crushes but also enjoys the luxury, here and there, of signing authentic hits (All Tomorrow’s Carry, Street Pulse Beat). An impression confirmed by the remixed version of the album which will be released on January 8 and on which we find, among others, the highly regarded Boy Harsher and Kontravoid. In non-Covid time, Special Interest would have been carried by a knockout hype, stolen the limelight at every festival. That they have stayed on the sidelines isn’t necessarily a bad thing – it will keep them up the pressure while gaining momentum. Because it’s also the kind of group with whom we know the best is yet to come. With such promises, they leave us no choice but to believe in them anyway.
Special Interest The Passion of (Thrilling Living /Night School).
.