Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats Set To Rock Australia This December
UK psychedelic heavyweights Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats will return to Australia this December, bringing their dark, hypnotic live show to stages across the country. The brainchild of Kevin Starrs, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats have spent over a decade carving out a singular space within the global heavy music landscape. Since emerging in 2009 from the depths of the British underground, the band have built a reputation for their unmistakable fusion of warped psychedelic pop, downer blues and doom-metal intensity.
Too bold and idiosyncratic to be easily defined, Uncle Acid’s sound is steeped in haunting melodies, layered vocal harmonies and eerie, cinematic arrangements, offset by crushing riffs and a persistent sense of unease. It’s a sonic world that feels both deeply nostalgic and completely otherworldly. On stage, that vision comes to life in full force. Their live show channels the spirit of heavy music’s most turbulent eras while remaining utterly unique – equal parts mesmerising and menacing. It’s this balance that has cemented Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats as one of the most compelling live acts in contemporary rock. Kevin Starrs talks to Rob Lyon about their return.
Six years between tours feels like an eternity, you must be looking forward to coming back in December?
Yeah, can’t wait. It’s been way too long. Obviously the last time was just before COVID, so it seems like so long ago.
What is it that excites you about touring Australia?
We’ve always just had a really good response every time we’ve gone out there. We always seem to sell out shows, and the crowds are always really enthusiastic. It just makes it all worthwhile, the long flight or whatever to get there. It’s just nice to have such a good fan base down there, and it’s always lovely to be there.
Since the last time you toured here, there are three new albums. Are you leaning on anything particular this time around, or trying to integrate everything into a five‑hour show?
Yeah, it’s always tough trying to figure out a setlist, but we try and make sure all the albums are represented in some way, at least one song from every album, though a couple have more than that. And obviously we’ve got a new album out, so we’re going to be playing three or four songs from that as well. But yeah, I think it’s a really good setlist we’ve come up with, so I’m looking forward to bringing it down there.
Shapes of Midnight, I haven’t seen it anywhere here in Adelaide, and couldn’t find it on Spotify either. Is that something that’s going to make its way down here in some physical capacity?
We’ve got a distributor and it should be down there, but the response to the album has been crazy. It’s back‑ordered in so many places, so we’re pressing more copies and struggling to keep up with the demand. It’s always difficult to predict how much you’re going to sell or what the response will be, but we’ve been taken aback by how positive everything’s been. So yeah, we’re pressing more copies and hopefully it should be down there fairly soon.
How would you describe this album compared to the last one?
The last record was quite a big departure from our regular sound, but we wanted to keep certain elements from that and bring them to this album. So we’ve got the analogue synthesizers back, we’ve got the saxophone again from that record. It’s just kind of a continuation, every album you pick up different things and take them to the next one, and so forth. You’re always evolving in little ways.
How significant was it recording at Abbey Road?
That was something I’ve always wanted to do for many years, and for whatever reason we just never got round to it. So it was nice to finally be able to go there and use all the equipment we wanted. They were very accommodating, and it was an honour to play in that environment. In some ways it could be easy to get overwhelmed by the history of the place, but we knew we were only there for three days, so we had to keep our heads down and get on with it and that’s what we did. We did everything we needed to do.
Did you feel even more inspired knowing the history and who’s recorded there?
Yeah. I think you raise your game in some ways because you don’t want to be a band that makes a shit album at Abbey Road, you want to put your best performances down. I think it did elevate us a little bit, knowing we were in that environment and all the history that’s gone on there. It inspires you, I don’t know what it does, but it really helps.
Do you think the same result would have been achieved anywhere else, or did the surroundings add that extra bit of magic?
I think it maybe added a little bit, and certainly it would have sounded different. It’s got a very distinct sound. We used room microphones to capture the ambience of the room, the sound reflecting off the walls, which obviously have so much history. It adds a very distinct sound. We got to use the classic reverb echo chamber, which is unique to that studio, and the mixing desk we used is very unique to Abbey Road. So the sonics would certainly have been different anywhere else.
What was the idea behind the concept of this album? Did you approach it differently from your other projects?
Once I got the general story, it usually works the same way — I think of different scenes or chapters, almost like a book, and write each song to represent that. The idea was loosely based on the Edgar Allan Poe short story The Masque of the Red Death. It was kind of an unintentional inspiration, but once I’d come up with the story, I realised it had a lot of similarities. It’s about this big mansion on the edge of town, cordoned off, with all the rich people and politicians trapped inside. They’ve shut the rest of the world out, nobody can get in, nobody can escape. Paranoia builds up, and outside is a complete hellscape. I was trying to think of what it would be like to exist in an environment like that.
Once you had the story in mind, did the music come quickly or easily?
Yeah, it sort of… you get inspired by the story, and then you come up with riffs and melodies and things. For me, it’s just an easier way of working if I have a bigger picture to focus on. I can then zone in on certain specific details and things like that. But yeah, it just helps to have a bigger picture to start with.
How important is it to be unshackled and able to release the album independently?
It’s nice. We’ve always had a really good relationship with Rise Above, our previous label. That deal came to an end, and I knew once the contract was over, I wanted to go back to self‑releasing, because that’s how we started and that’s how we would have continued, probably, to be honest. But back then, the first two records were self‑released, and I didn’t really have the knowledge to expand things further, I didn’t have the connections, I didn’t have the money to press records. So once we got a record deal, it came at a perfect time with Rise Above, and they were really great with us, very supportive. I always knew eventually I’d want to go back to being completely DIY and it also means I can work with other bands, potentially release other bands, or do my own other projects, different styles of music that I have.
Do you have a lot of other projects or bands outside of Uncle Acid?
I’ve got other songs written in various different styles. For whatever reason, I just haven’t really put it all together yet, but it would be good at some point to release it under a different project and put it through Killer Candy, which would make sense.
Are there particular genres or creative avenues that feel like an itch you haven’t scratched yet?
Yeah, I really like a lot of the power pop stuff of the 70s, so I’ve got songs in that style, very melodic, sort of three‑minute songs. I’d like to release some of that at some point.
Are there any bands from that power pop world that inspire you and maybe translate into what you’re doing on the current album?
I’ve always loved The Nerves, obviously Cheap Trick is an obvious one, the Flamin’ Groovies, those kinds of bands. But I think that’s always been in there in the Uncle Acid stuff. There’s always been elements of really poppy melodies and harmonies and things, so it can translate into what we do as well.
When you compare it to some of the modern music out at the moment, does any of that excite you, or do you think modern music’s lost its edge?
I think there’s a lot of good heavier bands in the modern scene, but the pop stuff, a lot of it’s just real garbage to me. It’s very computerized, and the production’s far too polished and clean. I prefer more of a raw sound, really.
Beyond the Australian tour, what’s next for you?
After that, we’ve got a European tour early next year, finishing up in London in March and then after that, it’ll just be the festivals in the summer again, unless anything else comes up, which sometimes it does. So yeah, it’s going to be a pretty busy year or so.
Interview By Rob Lyon
Catch Uncle Acid & The Dead Beats on the following dates, tickets from Destroy All Lines…
