The tracks trace a musical journey of classic 80's analogue electro pop and twenty first century rock & roll. Many of the songs were written or co-written by Duffty with the exceptions of two covers: the David Bowie classic Boys Keep Swinging and the Bauhaus goth anthem Bela Lugosi's Dead.
Buy the album on iTunes or listen on Spotify.
Interview With Keanan Duffty:
- The album features songs spanning over 20 years (1985-2007), do you have a favorite musical era throughout that time?
KD: Oh god, well the early 80’s were pretty inventive. Music from that time sounds fresh now and the clothes were probably as important as the tunes. In those days I had a ‘New Romantic’ band-Nick Woodhead the keyboard played dressed like ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, and the rest of us looked like dandy storm troopers in eye shadow and ballet shoes. Obviously this was before stylists. Our synthesizers went out of tune half way through the shows, but the audience never notice-they were too busy admiring each other's outfits which were a mixture of RuPaul’s Drag Race and the cast of a low budget Fellini movie-great fun. So obviously this was truly my favorite era.
My band used to rehearse in my bedroom at my parent’s house wearing full costume. Every half an hour my mum would come in and say “Would you like a cup of tea lads?” That sort of blew the atmosphere a bit.
- Any favorite memories from the recording studio?
KD: I remember being in the recording studio at EMI records Manchester Square (in London), in 1984.
It’s the building that’s featured on both The Beatles ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ albums with the Fab Four peering over the balcony. My producer was a guy who had worked on Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’. Half way through the session the producer said “We had Freddy Mercury in here the other day doing demos for his solo album”. I remember thinking “I’ve arrived! I’m spitting on the same microphone as Freddy”.
- Is there a significance to the two covers included - Bowie's "Boys Keep
Swinging" and Bauhaus' "Bela Lugosi's Dead"?
KD: ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ is the goth anthem written by Bauhaus. I recorded the ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ cover version in 1997 so it has a drum & bass meets ‘industrial’ sound to it. I have loved the song since I saw Bauhaus in a small sweaty club in the UK in 1979. The singer was wearing black tights and not much else. Nothing was left to the imagination. He looked pretty sinister.
"Boys Keep Swinging" was done with Glen Matlock from the Sex Pistols, Clem Burke from Blondie and Earl Slick who has played with David Bowie, John Lennon and the New York Dolls. I think “Boys” is an underrated Bowie song. Our version starts with Slick doing a mutant version of ‘Rebel Rebel’ before we all kick into the song. It was Glen’s idea to do it - the bass line is great.
- What is the story behind the album title?
KD: As this record is a compilation I thought I would use one of the songs as the title. Then I decided to cut two of the titles up and stuck them together. It is an amalgam of the songs ‘Sun Kissed Killers’ and ‘Glitterbug’.
- Any new musical projects on the horizon?
KD: I have an album coming out later in the year called ‘The Cut Ups’. As any William Burroughs fan knows, cut-up was a writing technique that Burroughs employed, taking pages of a manuscript, chopping them up and sticking different bits together. Bowie did it with lyrics and Rob Curry, the Academy of Art’s Associate Director of 3D design does this with his shirts and it looks great. So I thought I would try cutting up some music. Burrough’s style. I love William Burroughs-he was a great writer...but a terrible shot. Just ask Mrs Burroughs...
Killers In Glitter is now available in the following iTunes stores around the globe:
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Grenada, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Malta, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nepal, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tobago, Trinidad, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam and Zimbabwe
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