Opus Kink - ‘WILD BILL’
Welcome to the wacky, witty and wonderful world of ‘Wild Bill’. Released today, the latest track from Opus Kink is a fruitful exploration of the unraveling of a corrupted psyche faced with the turmoils of God, death, judgment and a whole lot more.
Taking inspiration from Fela Kuti to Leonard Cohen (dream team?), the song is charged with raging guitar and saxophone riffs that’ll place you somewhere between the Wild West and a mosh pit. Complimented by an array of chorus chants and spaghetti Western trumpet, lead singer Angus Rogers’ lyrics will have you in a head spin, as his pithy delivery takes you on a cinematic journey through a dark and twisted world of impending existentialism.
The song’s journey to release is just as exciting - written in an industrial estate in Brighton, the band then saw themselves heading to Wales to record the track at the one and only Rockfield Studios with The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess. Picked up by Nice Swan Records (elite tastemakers in the world of new music) as part of their ‘Nice Swan Introduces…’ series, it’s clear that we’re not the only ones who have fallen under the spell of Wild Bill.
This song is genuinely one of the most exciting releases we’ve heard in a while. We’ve told you what we think, now it’s time to hand the mic over to Opus Kink.
This whole release: the cover art, the video, the lyrics, are so cinematic. Where did you get the inspiration from?
Thematically the inspiration is frontier legend Wild Bill Hickock, except I've twisted him into an unwitting poster-boy for the fears and failings of the Western gentleman as a whole. Musically we tried to gaffer-tape together a galloping cowboy groove and the desert blues riffs of North African groups like Tinariwen and Songhoy Blues. Our attraction to those landscapes, the frontier and the desert, is indeed how cinematic and sweeping they are and all the magic and evil you can dream into them - so we hammed it up with that in mind.
What’s the story behind the video?
For this video we collaborated with our good mate and visual foil Kyle McCarthy, and it was a rich learning-on-the-job experience for us. He’s very focused and driven in the way he works and puts himself into the project, which is a relief. We disappeared into the woods for a few days and worked round a loose plan - but really we were just fucking about playing cowboy dress-up while the cameras rolled and ideas came in the moment. The end result is like a three minute spaghetti western.
You guys recorded with The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess at Rockfield Studios which is epic. What was this process like and how did it come about?
A case of 'don't ask, don't get' - Tim B was talking to Matt Johnson of The The during one of his listening parties and the subject came up of a music video that Jazz's (our keys player) old man had made for The The in the 80s. One introduction led to another and we carpe'd the diem and just sent Tim some naughty demos. Luckily he liked them and said let's do it - he suggested Rockfield and off we fucked. When I was sixteen I used to stay up all night sweating and watching videos of Oasis and the Stone Roses recording there and thinking 'imagine that...' so, epic indeed. We also worked with Tim Lewis aka Thighpaulsandra on the buttons, who was a gas to record with and facilitated lots of junkyard & alien noises which we greatly appreciated.
How have you kept your creativity flowing this past year?
Not being able to play shows has meant that we've been writing and scheming at a rabid pace so as not to think about that. The idea of not performing AND coming out the end of this with nothing to show for it has been a hell of an impetus to work. But it's mainly having the time to ingest so much more artwork at a slower pace and with nothing else to do that's kept ideas flowing. In some ways I'm grateful for it. Some.
What gig memory has kept you excited for the comeback of live music?
Being plied with red roses and soiled drawers by fawning, screaming multitudes as the overture reaches crescendo.
PHOTO BY SEAN HAWKEY
Where would you find Wild Bill hanging out on a Friday night?
Face-down on a poker table in Dakota Territory with a hole in his head.
Fast-forward 5 years. ‘Wild Bill : The Movie’ is being made into a big Hollywood production. What are your character names, what are their stories and who’s playing you?
Everyone's called Wild Bill, it's a dystopian cautionary tale. It's like that scene in Being John Malkovich but every character is played by David Spade. All the Wild Bills pick each other off like rats in a barrel until there's only one Bill/Spade left, and he delivers a rousing sermon on moral transgression with a tear streaking down his filthy face before blasting his own head off.
We’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel…imagine you’ve just had a raucous first night out post-lockdown. Where have you been and what were you doing?
We've been all round the houses drinking paint thinner, spitting in Espresso martinis, licking door handles and spreading the new summer variant like wildfire.
You're on the Last Bus home. What are you listening to?
At the moment Marc Ribot's 'Songs of Resistance 1942-2018', Nina Simone's 'Plain Gold Ring', Alice Coltrane, Spang Sisters, Bull, Muck Spreader, Legss, Elvis Aaron Presley.
What's Wild Bill's kink? (Get it.. ha...ha)
He fucking loves being offered conciliation with his fears, then firing blindly into the open-armed crowd and fleeing. That really gets him going.