As the brainchild of West London producer Santi Arribas, who was recently name-checked in Pitchfork & Vive Le Rock this month for his work on the new Gang of Four EP, The Roadside Bandits Project are looking to continue their positive and upward ascent as they return with their new single My Own Lies.
Working in collaboration Gang Of Four vocalist John Sterry, My Own Lies uses a stellar mix of bold and blistering production with a huge amount of eclectic instrumentation to create a wonderfully bright and uplifting return.
So with their new single available now, we sat down with Santi to find out more about their direction and where they expect to find themselves in the near future.
Hi Santi, how are you today?
Stunning!
For those that haven’t heard of you yet, how would you best describe your sound and who have been your biggest influences so far?
It’s blues in its core but with a strong electronic influence, I like the idea of a more modern view of the blues and I also like sound landscapes but I try to keep talking about the very important things that seriously affect society like social injustice, populism or racism.
I’m influenced by blues guitarists like Stevie Ray Vaughan, BB King, Albert King and Ry Cooder and also by early electronic musicians like Giorgio Moroder or Kraftwerk.
You have just released your new single ‘My Own Lies’. Can you tell us how that track came about?
I wanted to write a song about the lies that politicians tell us on a daily basis, politics have become the theatre of the absurd and I wanted to say something about it. From the beginning I thought that John Sterry’s voice (Gang Of Four) would be ideal for it, he has that tone in his voice that tells you a story…
And was there a particular style you were looking for when you wrote it?
Yes, I wanted it to be bluesy and sort of heavy, when I had finished recording it I felt that it needed something else, something a bit more electronic and dreamy so I asked Matt Johnson from Jamiroquai to lay down some synth sounds on it and he gave it the final touch that it needed.
You are also about to release your new self-titled album in September. Can you tell us what we can expect from that?
A lot of instrumental music and sound landscapes, I hope it takes the listener to places, there are a lot of guitar solos and general weirdness…
The coronavirus outbreak has obviously affected everyone’s plans, but what have you got in store for the rest of the year?
Difficult to tell right now, it doesn’t look like it is going to go away any time soon, I’ve already started working on new material so I guess I’ll continue writing music!
And finally, standard interview question, where do you see yourself in five years?
I hope I’m still making and producing music and I hope this world sorts itself out a bit somehow.
The Roadside Bandits Project’s new single My Own Lies ft. John Sterry is available to stream and download now, alongside with their self-titled new album. Have a listen to My Own Lies below.
