Biography
-
Years Active
2015 – present (9 years)
-
Founded In
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
-
Members
- Ruth Mascelli
Special Interest is a four piece punk band emerging from New Orleans, Louisiana. Combining elements of No-Wave, Glam, and Industrial Special Interest create a frenetic and urgent revisioning of punk and electronic music for a modern world gone mad. Propulsive drum machines, a swirling layer of detuned samples, and a driving bass line create the foundation across which angular guitar work and dissonant synth lines glide. Front and center are Alli Logout’s commanding vocals and razor sharp lyrics moving from high camp satire to insightful political imperatives often within the course of one song.
Special Interest initially formed in 2015 to play one show in a basement. Originally a two-piece with Alli Logout and Maria Elena playing guitars and power tools over the beat of a 70’s Univox drum machine. Soon after they ditched the power tools and were joined by Ruth Mascelli on electronics and Nathan Cassiani on bass. Special Interest quickly gained a reputation for their intense and energetic live shows. A dense wall of sound oscillating from aggressive and noisy to joyous and danceable punctuated by the no holds barred on stage persona of their vocalist. Special Interest have embarked on several short tours of the southeast and have traveled to play festivals such as Suoni Per Popolo, Slut Island, and Not Dead Yet.
Their debut album Spiraling w as recorded in New Orleans in 2017 by organist, inventor, and fixture of the local underground music scene Quintron. The first new release on Brice Nice’s Raw Sugar label since 2011, Spiraling is perhaps the sum of its members influences. Which is, to say, everything. They are currently working on a follow up LP to be released in the US on Thrilling Living and in the UK/Europe on Night School Records.
There is another artist with the same name:
2) Special Interest are Tom and Damien. They both discovered house music through the Midlands free party scene of the early 90's, first at DIY parties and club nights and then Smokescreen parties. Tom went on to dj for Smokescreen and Damien moved to Leicester and joined Babble Soundsystem. The next step was to get involved with studio production. Tom co-founded a studio with Steve Littlemen (together they had releases on Drop Music) and Damien help set up Funky Transport with releases on 2020 Vision and Brique Rouge. On Damiens return to Nottingham they began collaborating in the studio. They now have and well received ep. on Mobile Trax to their name and one soon to be released on Guesthouse Music which features a collaboration with Fran from Smokescreen Soundsystem. They have also licensed a track to Om Records for Miguel Mig's Get Salted compilation. Together and apart they have Djed all over the Uk and as far afield as Miami, Thailand and the Czech Republic.
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
