Uncle Acid

Interview & Song Stream: Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats

Despite one of the more far-out names in the modern metal scene, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats have been making waves with their unique and trippy brand of ’70s style retro rock. Where similar bands fall into the muck of simply pretending to be Black Sabbath and leave it at that, Uncle Acid aims more a more authentic conjuration of the sounds and atmosphere of 1970s hard rock ‘n roll. Mixing pop influences with the freakier side of proto-doom, the British foursome comes across as an acid-burned mutant of past and future, uniting disparate strains of fuzz and foreboding into a cohesive, analog-washed package. Uncle Acid is coming out with a new record, Mind Control to follow up their groundbreaking 2011 Bloodlust, and Invisible Oranges is proud to debut the track “Evil Love” from it today. To provide further insight, we spoke with the band about their latest album, Mind Control, the influence of drugs, the growing field of ’70s throwback rock, and what the future holds in store for the cult of Uncle Acid.

— Rhys Williams

You guys have a new album due in the US next week. What all has changed since the sudden, unprecedented success of Blood Lust and what all are you keeping the same? Is there a plan on moving in a different direction?

I think all our albums have different feels to them. It’s good to experiment with different ideas and mix things up a bit, but there is no definite plan for anything. I think our music will always have the riffs and vocal harmonies though.

Who is “Uncle Acid”, what’s in a name? How much of an influence do drugs have on the Uncle Acid sound?

Uncle Acid is Starrs/Rubinger/Millar/Rubinger. The name isn’t important.

The songs arrive out of thin air so I’d say drugs have no influence on the sound at all. They’re all floating around, fully written for someone to capture and beat into shape. If you’re not tuned in, someone else catches them.

Uncle Acid is often grouped with a set of throwback early ’70s psych-hard rock bands, such as The Devil’s Blood, Ghost, Graveyard, Witchcraft, Purson, et al. Would you agree that there is common ground between you and these other groups, or do you feel your music is markedly different? To that end, what do you consider your music to be; metal, psych, rock’n roll, what in particular?

The common ground is that we’re all bands. It ends there for me. There is nothing to be gained from grouping music. I don’t think in terms of musical genres so I wouldn’t know how to answer that. It’s all either good or bad.

A lot of Uncle Acid’s imagery seems based upon classic Hammer horror and ’70s exploitation films. It’s fairly cinematic music, in that regard. If you had to give one film that best exemplified the Uncle Acid sound and attitude, what would it be?

There isn’t one in particular. The cinema influence changes from each album. The new record is a bit biker/exploitation influenced, the next one could be inspired by a western, who knows!!

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats are touring around Europe this summer: which fests/shows are you all most looking forward to? Any plans to go overseas with the acid caravan in the near future? More importantly, how does touring fit in with the Uncle Acid band dynamic?

I’m looking forward to playing at Castle Donington with Iron Maiden. It goes by some technology, computer name nowdays, but to me its still fucking Monsters of Rock! I’m really looking forward to all of them though. We’ve never toured before, so we’ll have to see how things pan out. It’s nice to ease into it by doing all these festival shows throughout the summer.

Roadburn was one of your first dates as a band. What were your expectations going in? How did it feel to sort of play the first show and the biggest show of your life in one fell swoop?

It was very strange but we enjoyed it and the audiences have all been very supportive. I think some people expected us to come on in masks or have some stupid gimmick to fall back on, so for those people it may have been a disappointment. From day one it’s always been about letting the music do the talking. That’s one of the reasons for the anonymity. There’s no band image. Theres no political viewpoint. We get on stage, play our music and present it in the way that we see fit.

The final words I leave to you.

Thank you all!!