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Derby’s Electric Pets have released their new single Out Of Nowhere via Surface Noise and given Louder Than War an exclusive first look at the video.
Out of Nowhere is Electric Pets second release this year following Then We Kissed which was released on Valentines Day is a love letter to the 60s obsession with twangy guitars blended with tijuana brass that became the soundtrack to innumerous Spaghetti Westerns that dominated movie theatres throughout the decade.
The band are a four-piece from Derby, fronted by singer-songwriter Emma Buckley with Phil Wagg on guitar and backing vocals; Pete Darrington on bass and Adam Grace on drums. They blend vintage garage rock, surf, blues, 60s girl group pop and Motown’s ‘Wall of Sound’ framing it firmly with a 21st Century styling and describe themselves as the sleazy dive-bar band you wish were providing the soundtrack to a Quentin Tarantino movie that doesn’t exist yet.
Composer Pete Darrington says of the track: “I’m a massive fan of surf music and you can
hear that influence in so many of our songs, but surf’s typical 12 bar formula can only do so much. I love how Dick Dale blended brass with surf which for me evokes the blistering heat of the desert, cacti and gun-fighting cowboys rather than the beach and hawaiin shorts thanks to Ennio Morricone,” continuing, “I wanted to write something evocative of that – the title track to an imaginary Spaghetti Western. The band loved the idea and took it all the way – Phil’s guitar licks are haunting while Emma’s lyrics and vocals give it a sweet but sour country flavour like Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’. We hired session trumpet player Josh Short which completed the picture perfectly – it’s my favourite song of ours to date.”
Explaining her lyrics, Emma Buckley says: “Out of Nowhere is a frank but passionate exploration of the complexities of forbidden love. If we resign to accepting a situation is out of our control, surrender our vulnerabilities and just embrace the ride, is a deep connection really enough?”
The band burst on to the scene in the Spring of 2022 releasing the Rhinoceros and Elephant EP’s and followed this with the single Elephants Can Swim in early 2023. Then We Kissed and Out Of Nowhere are the first releases of 2024 with another couple due before the end of the year.
Following their first ever show was at the prestigious Y-Not festival in July 2022, they have
made a string of festival appearances including two of Nottingham’s most loved venue based events ‘Hockley Hustle’ and ‘Beat The Streets’. They closed 2022 with their first headline show, at London’s Hampstead Arts Centre to a packed house. 2023 saw things step up a gear live with more festival appearances – The band returned to Y-Not festival, this time on the BBC Introducing stage and were invited to play the prestigious ‘Splendour’ festival in Wollaton Park near Nottingham.
Look out for dates to be announced for 2024
You can find Electric Pets on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
All words by Iain Key. See his author profile here or find him on X (Twitter) as @iainkey
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