Summary: Discovered by Domino label boss, Laurence Bell, in his local watering hole - a distinctly off-the-track hostelry - Archie Bronson Outfit are one of the most unique and brilliantly out of step British bands in years. Originally hailing from the West Country, the trio relocated to Southwest London where they studied art alongside future members of current up and coming London contemporaries such as The Beat Up and The Duke Spirit. Juggling their art school education with the grand task of refining their rock and roll vision, Archie Bronson Outfit arrived at their own markedly British rock cocktail - a taut, lean sound, as subtle as it is powerful. The best groups, one imagines - from The Beatles in Help to The Magic Band making Trout Mask Replica - live and create together in romantic squalor. The, Archies are no exception, the three piece sharing a decadent south London flat, where anything goes. “We came back from tour and we had nothing to do, so started writing this, album and we did it all in guitarist Dorianʼs bedroom and we went a bit nuts, ” says, singer/guitarist Sam Windett. “Weʼd get up, have a coffee and stumble straight into the room and start playing. We played for days and days and that turned into weeks and weeks.” Honing the songs down was an arduous process, but when it was done they flew to Nashville, Tennessee to record them with producer Jacquire King (Tom Waits, Modest Mouse). And the result is a compact marvel of high-strung energy and demented grooves that theyʼve called Derdang Derdang. Thereʼs an intensity and urgency to Samʼs singing that might recall Pere Ubu for some, an angularity to the boysʼ riffing which has echoes of The Monks in its unhinged thrust and bluesy roots. Theyʼd steeped themselves in soul music and Scandinavian psych, Faust, Son House and The Gun Club, but the long gestation and careful editing means that, chiefly, The ABO on Derdang Derdang sound like themselves. An 11 song set thatʼs melodically insidious and swings like a noose...
