Acid Klaus Interview – “Artists are to be beasted, manipulated and bled by big labels”

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Just a few weeks on from the release of their fantastic Acid Klaus debut, Step on My Travelator, mastermind musician Adrian Flanagan sits down with Ewan Gleadow to talk the next steps of a new project, working with Yard Act and releasing on an independent, artist-led label.

Ewan Gleadow: Obviously, you’re a very tenured musician with lots of projects on the go, what brought you to Acid Klaus as your next project? 

Adrian Flanagan: Yes, I’m somewhat of a professor of itchy feet. The people I work with can’t keep up with my ever-running river of creativity and the people who follow me can’t keep up with my breathtaking and sincere, throbbing output. I’m like a long-haul truck driver, once I’ve dropped off my latest load I’m already in a different continent picking up new collaborators and filling my pallets with whatever my next cultural endeavour may be. Sometimes I’m driving many trucks and occasionally one of those trucks will end up on its roof down a quarry, so I’ll come back to it when I’ve dropped off the other trucks. The wheels have just got to keep on moving. Which is how Acid Klaus came about! (Laughs).

Get yourself a bit of Acid Klaus live and present at their gigs listed below for next year.

Friday 6th January – Rockaway Beach Festival, Bognor Regis
Saturday 4th February – Lewes Psychedelic Festival
Saturday 25th February – Leeds Dark Arts Festival – Belgrave Music Hall
Saturday 6th May Focus Wales, Wrexham
Saturday 5th August – Wilderness Festival

Ewan: Well done on Step on My Travellator, a very fun and engaging album. There seems to be a focus on collaboration there, what was the push for that? A lot of great names to put to tracks throughout that. 

Adrian: During the lockdown periods I was knocking out a couple of tunes and songs a day with nowhere to put them, so thought it would be nice to reach out to a bunch of artists and friends I like and new artists who were on my radar. I just messaged a few and everyone was up for it, there were a few that had their own records due out or the timing wasn’t right – or they couldn’t make my deadline but on the whole, I was surprised that so many people wanted to collaborate and still do. That was one positive thing about the pandemic – no matter what your social status or your level of fame was it put everyone on an even keel as we were all on our arses and all missing creating, touring and collaborating with people.

So I made it happen. I’ve always been a collaborator, it was great to work with some new artists like Lieselot Elzinga from Dutch group Baby’s Berserk, welsh language singer-songwriter Cat Rin, Bianca Eddleston from Calder Valley-based music project Soft Focus and Bradford-born, London-based pop noir singer Hannah Hu. All are very different from each other but complement the album as a whole. I finished it off with my long-time collaborator Maxine Peake, my New York pal who worked with my other project, The Moonlandingz – Charlotte Kemp Muhl – and I got Richard Hawley to lay down a bit of last-minute lap steel guitar on the track that features Hannah Hu, My Hats On Fire. I wanted that track to be a bit like something on The KLF’s Chill Out album, something to help you get your breath back with after all the bangers!!”

Ewan: How important are new, artist-owned labels like Zen FC in supporting independent artists?

Adrian: I’ve put loads of records out over the years on little DIY labels, big major indie labels and my own labels. I’m very versed in what’s needed for people to know your record exists. I think the difference between doing a record with a label run by fellow artists is they understand that you want to work quickly to get your music out in order so you can get out working and touring. Bigger labels usually like to make you wait a year, by which time you’re kind of homeless, in ill health and spending your afternoons sucking dick in the park for petty cash – the worse thing though is you just end up bored shitless of the record you made over a year ago and I’ve already moved on and written four other album projects.

I think there’s a slightly more supportive network doing things via an artist-run label too as either side can pick up the phone, or go to the pub and chat about creative ideas or worries, which is a bit more human than the usual clinical relationship between artist and a commercial record label. Most major labels or big indies want as little contact with the artists as possible. Major labels just want to speak with the managers or lawyers or accountants and have as little to do with the makers of the music as possible. Artists are seen as these low down in the food chain – insignificant gimps to be beasted, manipulated and bled halal style over a filthy fiery pit.

Ewan: Could you tell us a little more about the relationship you have with the band behind Zen FC? How did their hand in publishing your work come about?

Adrian: It’s been pretty good so far working with Yard Act and Zen FC, they’ve been really generous and I like them all as human beings! James (Smith) and Ryan (Needham) have been fans of my various projects over the years too so when I heard they’d just set up a label, I was literally just finishing this Acid Klaus record off so just asked them directly what their plans were and whether they had a bit of a budget for press and radio and when they said they did I just sent them my almost finished album and they loved it.

I think initially they just wanted to do some singles on vinyl as in reality, they were already pretty frazzled at that point, with still a mountain of world touring commitments for the rest of the year and weren’t sure if they had the time and energy to commit to doing someone’s album, but we worked it out and their managers helped take off some of the flack by dealing with me for the business and deadline side of things. The more creative and conceptual chats, the fun ideas, I went to James and Ryan with.

There was no real big masterplan all that mattered to me was to get a few digital singles out quickly over the summer and for the album to get a physical release six months down the line so I can get out working and playing live off the back of some decent press and a bit of radio. They and our little team made that happen, which has been great. The reaction now the records is out has been pretty incredible really, it’s had loads of great reviews and loads of features and our debut headline shows pulled some decent, up-for-it crowds. So yeah, it’s been lovely really.

Ewan: You’ve just rounded up some opening act gigs for Yard Act (Newcastle was mint) and embarked on a tour of your own very recently, just how much fun is it to create and recreate this music to live audiences?

Adrian: Yeah, Yard Act just took us out on tour with them so we got to play to a thousand plus people every night and play the tunes through a decent PA  on big stages which was ace –  we went down really great with their crowd. We won over plenty of new fans wherever we went for sure. It’s been good to finally get the tunes and my live collective out of the back bedroom and onto some big stages. It’s where we should be!

Ewan: What’s next for Acid Klaus? It’s a mad question considering how much you’ve already accomplished under that banner, but everyone’s always hungry for whatever is next.

Adrian: I’m gonna have Christmas off, then the first week of January 2023 we are playing Rockaway beach festival – then I’ve festivals already booked in from February (and more coming in every week) right through until September 2023. Hopefully, we can get a couple of new singles out in spring or summer time to keep a bit of momentum going, though I’ve not really given it much thought as I’ve only just put out my debut album so I still owe it to the nation and label to promote and play that to people as there’s still loads of people who haven’t seen it live or heard its magnificence yet. I’ve got a few other album ideas but they will remain a secret for now! So far I’m really pleased with how things are going, dare I say it – I’m quite happy! Which is exactly the time when I get that little devilish cunt tapping me on my shoulder, willing me to sabotage the lot!

Bag a copy of Step On My Travelator here.