Bikini Black Special are, if you didn’t know, one of Preston’s best musical hopes putting our fair city on the musical map. PR1 caught up with the band just before their record breaking set at 53 Degrees.

 When asked to describe their sound, both Paddy Green (guitars/synths/vocals) and Kim Seward (vocals) agree that “We just want to make noise. We make noisy electro rock, we like to dance around and we hope that other people want to dance around with us too!”

Luckily then, it seems that people certainly do. Bikini Black Special have just broken the ticket sales record for an unsigned act playing DIY@Promo. You would think this would be a massive cause for celebration but instead Bobby (drums) is putting the stickers on the CDs which will be on sale later in the evening. Still though, there’s a jovial atmosphere to proceedings as Kim often breaks out into a booming, infectious laugh whilst Paddy is normally the one cracking her up.

Their music is an intelligent blend of many different backgrounds, “We‘re into so much stuff between us; jazz, soul, electro, drum‘n‘bass and heavier stuff too. Our sound is poppy without being puerile and I think that makes it more accessible. I mean, come on, we all love pop music. Don‘t tell me you didn‘t enjoy Sound Of The Underground.”

However they aren’t open to all genres, when asked why they didn’t go down the predictable if successful route of indie rock a la Pigeon Detectives, Paddy retorts “It‘s soulless empty music by numbers. The Pigeon Detectives make me shudder; they‘re a horrible, horrible band!”

The name Bikini Black Special is based on an American system they have called DefCon which rates the state of the country in terms of war footing. For example, Bikini Black is absolute peace, Bikini Red is absolute death and war, whilst Bikini Black Special is a state we’ve been in for a while now which is a state of unspecified threat. This makes sense really when you consider their output has been described as having the ambience and atmospherics of a horror movie. However this is coupled with an erotically charged element which has led to ‘The Grim Mathematics Of Intercourse’, the title for their forthcoming debut album.

It’s going to be a self-produced, self-penned and self-released affair. “We‘ve got a big DIY ethos. And you have to because the music industry is starting to lose relevance. We need to connect with our fans directly, we don‘t need a faceless corporation. I mean at the end of the day, they don‘t need to find people, they can just make people.

“We‘ve got the Internet; we can give our music away or sell it. The only downside is that we can‘t give ourselves a cash advance! (Apparently Kim would spend it all on shoes) It‘s all about targeting your audience and getting people to hear it which is why we use Facebook, MySpace and even Pluto.”

Although the free alcohol is a welcome bonus to the band, extroverted Paddy recalls how “I once wrote a rider which consisted of 200 items, mostly booze and a donkey in a paddling pool. Next time I‘ll ask for some food, oh and world peace and the truth.”

When asked what one song they would listen to, if they could only listen to one for the rest of their lives ‘We Become Silhouettes’ by The Postal Service is Paddy’s answer. Whilst on the adjacent red sofa, Kim begins to malfunction under the pressure of the question, referring to it for the next ten minutes without actually giving an answer, “I can‘t cope with that!” she squirms.

Luckily by the time they go on stage, the ill-effects have worn off. Showcasing songs of their new EP they more than justify the ticket sales. ‘Electric Eye’ has developed a sneering attitude live, whilst ‘El Tango Del Hombre Diablo’s’ atmospherics echo Dummy-era Portishead. The distorted male/female vocals playing off against each other ferociously.

As Paddy had earlier mentioned, the local music scene suffered a blip after the initial excitation caused by Radio 1’s Big Weekend but things are starting to look up again. Team Waterpolo have cracked the NME crowd and if there’s any justice Bikini Black Special will be the next band to make it big from Preston.