Radically experimental electronica artist Adrian Flanagan is the inspiration behind all your favourite alternative acts.
The renegade songwriter from Salford has been involved in a myriad of daring projects, including heading up Eccentronic Research Council, teaming up with Fat White Family members Saul Adamczewski and Lias Kaci Saoudi to become The Moonlandingz and forming the Sheffield-based synth-pop troika International Teachers of Pop.
His collabs have included working with Maxine Peake, Philip Oakey plus The Smiths rhythm section. And now, the northern cult icon leads the acid-house-inspired collective Acid Klaus which sees the maverick musician explore rave sounds with a revolving cast of collaborators.
Last week saw the release of the brand-new Acid Klaus EP P.T.S.D By Proxy which includes a remix by famed DJ and producer David Holmes. Holmes has also remixed tracks for Orbital, Jarvis Cocker and Manic Street Preachers. He composed the award-winning soundtrack for the hit series Killing Eve and produced Primal Scream’s Top 20 album More Light.
Acid Klaus take over The Bodega in Nottingham on Friday 8th November 2024. CLICK HERE to book tickets.
Gigantic Tickets is the home of live music, so click the link if you are looking to see Acid Klaus or many more cutting-edge acts and vital underground artists. Subscribers to our newsletter will also get the latest announcements of exciting gigs in your area and right across the UK.
We spoke to Adrian ahead of his unmissable show at The Bodega to talk about his unique sound which he calls northern-electro, plus the music currently exciting him and how the establishment is scared by the subversive sounds found in independent venues.
We love your dirty disco and electroclash sound which is now in vogue thanks to the likes of Confidence Man, Warmdusher and even Charli xcx following a so-called Brat summer. Who do you turn to for influence?
I don’t do electroclash. Even way back when such a micro-genre existed in the early noughties and I was putting out my first daft solo records as Kings Have Long Arms featuring people like Philip Oakey from The Human League on vocals, I made it quite clear by thumping a journalist square in the jowls that I was, in fact, northern-electro and kept that electroclash scene at arm’s length.
From being a teen, I loved all that early New York electro/hip-hop and stuff like A Guy Called Gerald, early Daft Punk, the shit-stirring and dadaism of The KLF, the laziness and mystique of New Order but with the pop sensibility of The Human League. Electroclash was all about fashion and the music was by and large emotionless and without any humour. I had no time for that stuff, to be honest.
The rest of the people you mentioned above, if anything, have been influenced by me (laughs). I remember when they were all folk artists ploughing their dainty wares at up-and-coming open mic nights in their towns.
I’m actually good pals with Confidence Man. I was probably one of their first “champions” in the UK when they just kicked off over here. We did remixes for each other’s bands (The Moonlandingz). They are a good bunch, as are Warmduscher!
You’ve worked under a variety of guises, including The Moonlandingz, International Teachers of Pop, Eccentronic Research Council and now Acid Klaus. What would you say separates each project and what direction are you taking your new incarnation in?
The Moonlandingz & Eccentronic Research Council are still a thing, I’m just finishing a Moonlandingz album. And ERC just played Krakenhaus festival last week with a headline show happening in November at Lancaster Castle.
The Moonlandingz is a psychedelic rock meets electronics thing. Eccentronic Research Council is more of an avant-garde/synth thing with spoken word. Kind of a Radiophonic Workshop meets Radio 4 play for which I write all the narrative and is read by the great actress Maxine Peake.
Acid Klaus is an unpretentious electronic-dub acid-house party collective which is in the main songs I’ve written. Some with collaborators and singers that when done live can be switched up so you’re never getting the same show twice.
Acid Klaus is a lot of fun to do live. I’ve just started doing a SOUNDSYSTEM version of Acid Klaus too which is great. A hybrid DJ set playing all the bangers with Acid Klaus tunes with live vocals thrown in the mix!
You once put in a six-month shift as a member of The Fall. What was it like working with the infamous curmudgeon Mark E. Smith?
It was lovely. Inspiring. He taught me a lot. Nothing but cheery, heartwarming happy memories here to be honest. I was just standing in, really. I was an insignificant part of Fall history in the grand scheme of things!
You have also previously recruited Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce whilst working as Kings Have Long Arms and hinted an upcoming track title was “Meat Is Tasty”, prompting a predictably angry response from Mozza fans. What was it like recruiting half of The Smiths and then dealing with the ire of their fanbase?
I was a mate of Andy’s for years. He was a fan of my bands and was always supportive of all my projects right up to his sad passing last year. The story regarding the attack of the Moz fans was that Andy and Mike (Joyce) came and played on a couple of tunes for my first solo project in a studio in Manchester and somehow someone from the Manchester Evening News got wind of The Smiths rhythm section working in the studio together with me. I got a journalist ringing me in the studio asking me questions about what was going on, and me being a bloody rent a gobshite sarcastically said we are working on a track called “Meat is Tasty” (we weren’t) and didn’t think much about it. Next day, there’s a big full-page feature news story with my face on top of the page saying “Long Arms enlists Smiths for Meat is Tasty” (laughs).
As you can imagine it didn’t go down too well on Morrissey forums, there was hundreds of super negative comments towards me and Mike and Andy. Mike Joyce had to temporarily shut his website down and I got veiled death threats from Mexican Moz fans and from someone who said they were gonna “get me” when I DJ’d in Sheffield after a Morrissey gig there. It was a bit worrying, but nothing happened. In fact, I got myself on Morrissey’s guest list on the same night!
Your new EP P.T.S.D By Proxy sees you team up with Rosey PM, Cat Rin plus Philly Piper. How did you assemble such a stellar cast of collaborators, and what are they like to work with?
Philly I’ve worked with in some capacity across many projects on and off for over a decade, so she’s a long-time close friend, so she gets me, she knows I can be a knobhead but she also knows I’m a good-hearted knobhead.
Catrin is a Welsh language singer-songwriter based in London. She’s on my debut album and the new EP. She’s brilliant and has been part of my live collective for the past two years or so.
Rosey PM I’ve known for years in Sheffield from knocking about the DIY scene and I’ve always rated her as an artist and as a thoroughly decent human being. Rosey’s been like a super sub stepping in for me live when I’ve been a member down or if someone can’t do a show.
I’ve just added another great singer to the collective too called Amelia Lace as some of the live collective have moved down south and have full-time jobs so it’s a bit more difficult for them to do live shows. That’s what’s good about Acid Klaus having a bunch of great singers and artists to pool from and to be able to switch the squad around from time to time. Keeps it interesting and on its toes. It never gets complacent which is very important to me. It’s time to knock it on the head or switch things up as soon as there’s a whiff of complacency!
The EP also sees you reunite with the acclaimed actress Maxine Peake. How did you first meet and begin working on music together?
I met Maxine 14 years ago. I asked her to be in a little DIY video we made for a short-lived project I was doing at the time called The Chanteuse & The Crippled Claw which I did with a singer from Liverpool called Candie Payne. For the video, I asked Maxine if she’d dress as a bunny rabbit for me and have an arm wrestle and a water pistol fight with me on a moor in Salford. Liking the cut of my gobshittery she agreed. I paid her in rockabilly records, a bottle of thunderbirds and a signed autograph of the late great Pat Phoenix from Coronation Street.
After that, we got talking about the Pendle Witches and how we’d like to do something creative about them. So, me and Maxine had a drive up to Pendle Hill and its surrounding areas and I went straight home and ended up writing an album's worth of narrative on the subject, which became the debut critically acclaimed Eccentronic Research Council LP 1612 Underture. We made a few more albums and have done sporadic live shows in weird places almost every year ever since, which are always pretty special!
P.T.S.D By Proxy climaxes with a remix of “Aerodromes” by the legendary producer David Holmes. How much interaction did you have in creating the big beat reworking and were you happy with the results?
David is a pal. I met him for the first time at Convenanza Festival in Carcassonne in France last year where Acid Klaus were playing. He said he liked our set and I was always a fan of his records and remixes and DJ sets, so we kept in touch.
And, as I wanted to try raise a small amount of cash from the digital sales of my new EP for Medical Aid for Palestine, I asked David if he’d do a remix of the first single taken from my EP Aerodromes which he agreed to do as we both don’t like seeing the mass slaughter of innocent children, women and men. I’ll never be desensitised to the images we’ve been subjected to. It should never be allowed to be normalised!
In regards to the remix, I think he did a great job. I love it. He used elements of the original track, slowed it down and added his own thing. Yeah, it’s fucking great and an honour that he even said yes!
The mind-blowing promo vid was shot by Ukrainian filmmaker Alexander Dobrev at The Golden Lion in Todmorden. Sadly, we’re losing too many independent venues at an alarming rate. How do we reverse this trend and why do you think previous governments have allowed so many important community spaces to fold?
The Golden Lion is a prime example of if the community supports its local venues, and the venues look after its visiting artists and makes it a pleasurable experience both the artist and the audience will want to come back. I’ve played a lot of shows where you're treated like a piece of shit, like a low-end commodity, and before you even play your backs up and people can see you don’t want to be there. It just makes for a shit atmosphere.
Often when you’re touring, you are missing home, your home comforts, your own bed, your own space and three-square meals a day. So, it’s the venues and promoters that treat you like a human being and make sure you’re looked after are the shows you remember and the places you return to. However, If people don’t go out and support their little local venues regularly and come see smaller artists like me, they will lose them as without punters coming through the doors buying tickets and drinks and merch there’s very little funding for venues/arts spaces outside of commercial drinks companies, etc.
The Tories ditched most of the arts funding for independent venues and put it all into London-centric posh theatres and galleries. So, it’s helping fund the royal ballet or some gallery filled with stolen artwork. My theory is it’s because the government know that it’s the DIY and independent venues where the counter-culture grows from, you know? Artists who resist and speak out about the government and its shoddy, evil ways. So, they stop funding the indie venues till they are on their knees and shut down and thus the counter-culture goes with it! No one’s forming an agit anti-right-wing drone-metal band after seeing Swan Lake are they? They are too busy stuffing their fannies with foie gras!!
This summer saw you making appearances at Seek Out Festival and Krankenhouse Festival, also playing headline dates around the UK. What are your favourite memories of the season?
Both Krankenhaus and Seek Out festival were small boutique festivals and both just so much better than the soulless corporate monstrosities that I may normally play. I’m not a big fan of festivals anyway. But those two specifically were such lovely experiences where you’re not treated like some non-entity but treated like part of the family with “special & appreciated skills”. So, for that reason alone, both those festivals were a high point and great shows with lovely crowds! You can’t ask for anything more than that really.
And what was it like playing support for Roisin Murphy at The Royal Albert Hall last year?
It was a funny one. I’ll always love Roisin for giving me that particular showbiz break. I think me being the outsider's outsider artist of choice and little pockets of people across the globe have been rooting for me for such a long time I guess it was seen as a triumph of sorts for “the little guy”. The one who has been forever playing your little 100-200 cap venues for almost eternity, just pottering along doing my own thing. So, to have the door opened for me into what’s by and large a distant planet for me was a beautiful act of kindness
Obviously, I treated it with the same flair, magic and disdain as I would playing a pub gig but with the spirit of Sinatra riding my shoulders. The stage alone was bigger than the usual gaffs I play in!!
Now, you’re gearing up for an autumn tour. What can we expect from the upcoming headline dates?
There’ll be a whole lot of new AK bangers and old bangers played. You will lose control of your legs and your body. You will sweat and you will go home with a smile on your face. They’ll be water juggling and philosophical maxims. There’ll also be no submission or mercy. Resistance is futile!
All we ask from you is to turn up. You could literally do the whole Acid Klaus tour with hotels and travel for less than an Oasis ticket. People really are suckers for that corporate masochism, aren’t they? I know I am!
Following that, 2025 kicks off with an appearance at the brilliantly bonkers Rockaway Festival. What outlandish plans have you got in store for next year?
I’d like to do more late-night Acid Klaus SOUNDSYSTEM parties. I’m also finishing the new Moonlandingz album off, so if all goes to plan that should come out next year. Hopefully, I’ll be doing more of that live.
I just don’t really know. I’ve never had more than a six-month plan. So, just gonna get this year out the way and hopefully have a month off early 2025. I’ve literally not had a holiday in years, I’ve always had multiple projects on the go simultaneously so just want to take my time working on my next moves. It’s without doubt going to be of great cultural significance though (laughs)!
The North is a hotbed of experimental electronica artists, daring to create something totally different. Which other acts have been getting you excited that we need to know about?
I’m pretty much out of the loop on what’s been happening locally as if I've not been doing shows with multiple projects, I’ve been rehearsing multiple projects. And if I've not been doing that I’ve been recording, or doing a mountain of admin. The only time I've had off to myself I’ve been visiting sick family!
To answer your question, I like Black Haine over in Salford but he’s not really new. I like Good News, Ye Woodbests and Dearthworms in Sheffield who are brilliant and fresh-sounding, though not necessarily electronic. But they stand out from the atypical indie guitar gloop and Fred Perry shirt vibe that’s permeated the city in the wake of the success of bands like the Arctic Monkeys.
I also like a few other weird outsider electronic artists from the Steel City like Dimitri, Wet Man, Crystal Blaze. I could list for hours musicians and bands that I hate but I’m trying to be a better person, a nicer guy even by giving them zero endorsement!
And who is on your dream hitlist for collaborations in the future?
I’ve just done my dream collaboration, actually. Literally, it can’t be bettered. Other than say Lou Reed, Nico, Bowie, George Michael or Leonard Cohen. They are all dead so would have to collaborate via a Ouija board. However, I could die tomorrow safe in the knowledge that I’ve written and recorded a song with an absolute icon and a total hero.
Other than that, I’d like to do a tune with both Madonna and Morrissey at the same time. Write a duet for me maybe. Have them begrudgingly writhing about together on a black leather waterbed in the video, with a still steaming pot noodle on the bedside table!!
📆 Tour Dates:
- Friday 8th November 2024: Acid Klaus- The Bodega, Nottingham