"The Beauty in You " is the first official video of the Slinky Vagabond new album.
"The Beauty in You" is included in the album "King Boy Vandals" out May 6th 2021.
The video is produced and directed by Fausto Fabbri a young italian vodeomaker and sound designer who was inspired by the times gone atmoshere of the song.
"The Beauty in You" official video is dedicated to our friend and drummer David Maher who played in all the tracks of the album and unfortunately passed away in 2021.
"The Beauty in You" is about the beauty in decay, Keanan Duffty explains: “Although it masquerades as a love song, it’s actually about abandoned ghost towns like Pripyat in northern Ukraine, which was evacuated after the explosion of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Also, the Salton Sea in California where the town of Bombay Beach was once a popular destination for Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, and Bing Crosby and it now is a derelict ‘living ghost town.’ I love that place. It’s like being in a deserted town on Mars.”
The soul atmoshere of the song, highlighted by Duffty's original vocal interpretation that is well mixed with Fabbri's powerful guitar, created a very original sound that is even more emphasized by the contribution of important guests.
Dave Formula (Visage/Magazine/The Finks) on keyboards, who has created a particular atmosphere that has given the song a very special sound. Tony Bowers (The Durutti Column, Simply Red) on bass guitar who has brought a unique sound with his original style . And the English drummer David Maher who has left his signature on the track switching between powerful drumming and more elegant softer parts.
Mario J. McNulty's mixing of the track enhanced the sound of the song even more.
Fabio Fabbri's Wolfmountain Home Recording Studio is the place where Slinky Vagabond recorded their album “ King Boy Vandals”.
Fabio Fabbri and Keanan Duffty started working in 2019 at Fabio’s Wolfmountain Home Recording Studio near Florence, Italy.
Luckily, they completed all the vocal lines before the lockdown. Duringthe pandemic some great musicians had the possibility to listen to the tracks and wanted to be part of the projectplaying their instruments. Having a personal recording studio, Fabio Fabbri had the possibility to work on the tracks and continue producing and mixing also duringlockdown.
The result is a new music project that has its roots in the ‘70s and ‘80smusical genres, butwith various different influences that givetheir music a contemporary sound.
In fact, Slinky Vagabond music is not conceptual or experimental, it is a recording studio output, produced as overall direction of the creativeprocessfrom beginning to end, where Slinky Vagabond have taken control of everything: have written the songs, supervised the arrangements, masterminded all phases of the recording process with most painful attention to detail and released the result on their own online distribution.
This use of the recording studio is one more element that characterises Slinky Vagabond music. Fabio Fabbri is a music producer who considers the recording studio as an additional musical instrument used to aid the process of composition, as Jimi Hendrix and other artists used to do.
If, during the ‘70s, rock was in counter-tradition to traditional music, nowadays we could say that Slinky Vagabondmusic is in counter-tradition to the vulgarisation and the exaggeratedmarketingof disposable music.
The result has been that many great musicians from ‘70s and ’80s have recognised themselves in Slinky Vagabond music and have been delighted to participate as guests in theproject
Regarding the Slinky Vagabond experience,Fabio Fabbri says “ It has been incredible: each musician played his instrument live at his own recording studio, in Great Britain, in Ireland, in the USAand we exchanged files directly using modern technology to create a real live performance. It has been the most exciting experience I have ever had in my musical life ! “
And Keanan Duffty says; “Fabio Fabbri is one of the most gifted and genuine musical talents that I have ever met and I have been very lucky to work with some legendary musicians, who also happen to be my heroes. Fabio’s guitar playing is a pleasure to experience. His melodies are sublime and unique and he is one of the kindest people I know”.
All the recordings were produced by Fabio Fabbri at his Wolfmountain Home Recording Studio.
Mario McNulty, a New York City Grammy Award winning music producer, mixer and engineer, was delighted to participate in the project doing the mixing of the track ‘The Beauty in You’ .
Fabio Fabbri is not only the producer and the composer of most of the songs, he is also the lead guitarist.
About his experience with Slinky Vagabond he remembers: “ I was used to playingthesame guitar - Fenderor Gibson - all through a live performance or the recording of an album. But the experience with Slinky Vagabond has givenme new insightinto the useand choice of the instruments. I havealways played a Fender Stratocaster, looking fordifferent tones and sounds throughthe guitar touch that at that moment inspired me. But, during the work with Slinky Vagabond, while the recording was going on,it was as ifI was gradually castingoffclichés concerning the various ways ofusingthedifferent kinds of guitars.”
In fact, within the guitarist community there is the tendency to choose the specific kind of guitar in relation to the the genre or the kind of sound or riff or solo the guitaristwants to produce. Many guitarists and specialised magazines, tend to advise a guitarist to choose a specific kind of guitarin relation to the kind of sound or riff they want to achieve, also remembering the choices thatlegendary guitarists made in similar situations.
“Actually, -Fabio says- having almost always used my Fender Stratocaster, I have never had to consider which guitar to use to produce a particular riff or sound. I have always looked for the best sound using the touching and the phrasing while playing my Fender Stratocaster also in situations where itwould have seemed more suitable to use a Gibson Les Paul timbre.”
That means that the possibility to experiment doesn’t only refer to the use ofnew recording technologies or electronics, but also to a different wayto use the instrument in relation tothe arrangement of a track.
Fabio continues:“I think that the habit many guitarists have in choosing a specific guitar in relation to the soundthey are looking for, is probably more apsychological questionthan a practical one. I think that this approachisdue more tothe influence that specialised magazines have onthe guitarist’s approach, than on a realistic reason.”
In fact, if you take a glance at an iconic guitarist like Jimi Hendrix, whose image was closely linked to Fender Stratocaster, a kind of guitar that has a very recognisable sound and that Jimi used for most of his tracks also because he could use the lever, it’s very impressive to see him playing a Gibson SG Special onthe albumBand of Gypsy, with which he produced a different sound whilemaintaining the typical characteristics of the Hendrix phrasing.
We can say the same for Mick Ronson who especially loved Fender Telecaster, while during live concerts he mostly used a Les Paul, leaving us doubtful about which guitar he had really used during the recording sessions.
Therealquestion iswhetherthe guitarist chooses the guitar according to the sound he wants to achieve, rather than be influenced by the way in whichgreatguitarists used that particular kind of guitar.
Fabio says: “ Recording with electric guitars, in my Wolfmountain Home Recording Studio,I have alwayspreferredflatrecordingwhich meansrecording directly without the use of special effects. I have also used this approachduring the recording of the Slinky Vagabond album. This determined my choice of the guitar that would guarantee the sound I was aiming at. I must say that during the recording of King Boy Vandals, I changed my usual habit and I used different guitars during the recording of the tracks, more than I used to do in the past, looking for the right feeling for anytrack or riff or solo. I must honestly say that I’m satisfied with the result, that encouraged me to develop a different, wider and more varied ,approach to the instrument. During the recording of sometracks of "King Boy Vandals" great guitarists like Midge Ure, Richard Fortus and David Torn joined us on the project. It has been a great experience because, despite the fact that everyone used different guitars and differentrecording methods, the result is fantastic.The variety of the soundeach guitarist createdand the different styles of playing guitar mixed and interconnected perfectly, producing excellent results. To confirm the fact that for a good soundthe choice of the guitar is not crucial but it’s the guitarist’s taste and the way heplays that counts."
A special section should be dedicated to acoustic guitars. In the album there is an impressive acoustic version of “The Beauty in You”.
Fabio Fabbri is used to playing a Taylor and a Sigma Est 1970 12 Strings.
He thinks that when using acoustic guitars the touch impact is essential, even though the quality of the hollow body is also important.
“ Recording and equalising acoustic guitars, - says Fabio- I think that you have to pay much more attention to the type ofarrangements of the songs rather than when recording electric guitars. In fact, when the sound of an acoustic guitarprevails as in folk music and in acoustic ballads, the sound produced by the recording must be rich in harmonics. Differently when the sound of anacoustic guitar is drowned out by the sound of other instruments - especially when the sound of the electric guitar is distorted- you have to optimisehigh frequencies that allow the acoustic guitar not only to mix with the other instruments butalso to emerge.”
Regarding the recording of the sound of an acoustic guitar, we must remember that itrequires not only a mic of good quality but also it being in the right position in relation tothe sound source.
Nowadays, the use of sophisticated microphones requires more care during the recording because if the equipment - mixers, analog/ digital converters , pre amps etc - are not all of the same quality, the result, in home recording, regarding the width and warmth of sound, could be belowexpectations.
This means it is necessary to reach the bestquality level equilibriumof the various components of the equipment.
Acoustic recordings made during the 70’sare still benchmarks even now !
After recording and live performances in New York, with the reformation of Sex Pistols in 2007/2008 and Blondie’s touring schedule, this version of Slinky Vagabond soon split up, but the members still remain good friends.
In this video Keranan Duffty talks about the Slinky Vagabond first incarnation which features. Earl Slick, Glen Matlock and Clem Burke with Duffty on lead vocals.
Also watch David Bowie's swashbuckling performance of 'Boys Keep Swinging' on the Kenny Everett show in 1979.
"The Beauty in You" is the new Slinky Vagabond single .
"The Beauty in You " came out as Slinky Vagabond's new single April 16th 2021, and it is a track from the album "King Boy Vandals" out May 6th 2021.
It may seem unusual to introduce a rock band with a ballad and not with a faster track. But "The Beauty in You" is the Slinky Vagabond new single and it's the song that the band love for many reasons.
"The Beauty in You" was one of the rough mix tracks recorded with drum machine programmings, that Slinky Vagabond had some musician friends listen to for an opinion. One of them Mario J.McNulty, Grammy Award-winning music producer, mixer and engineer, greatly encouraged them to go ahead.
"The Beauty in You" is about the beauty in decay, Keanan Duffty explains: “Although it masquerades as a love song, it’s actually about abandoned ghost towns like Pripyat in northern Ukraine, which was evacuated after the explosion of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Also, the Salton Sea in California where the town of Bombay Beach was once a popular destination for Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, and Bing Crosby and it now is a derelict ‘living ghost town.’ I love that place. It’s like being in a deserted town on Mars.”
The soul atmoshere of the song, highlighted by Duffty's original vocal interpretation that is well mixed with Fabbri's powerful guitar, created a very original sound that is even more emphasized by the contribution of important guests.
Dave Formula (Visage/Magazine/The Finks) on keyboards, who has created a particular atmosphere that has given the song a very special sound. Tony Bowers (The Durutti Column, Simply Red) on bass guitar who has brought a unique sound with his original style . And the English drummer David Maher who has left his signature on the track switching between powerful drumming and more elegant softer parts.
Mario J. McNulty's mixing of the track enhanced the sound of the song even more.
"To Cut a Long Story Short", this Spandau Ballet cover version, was the first step towards the new Slinky Vagabond project.
After their first encounter at Polimoda International Fashion School, for Keanan Duffty and Fabio Fabbri , to make the cover version of the Spandau Ballet song "To Cut a Long Story Short" was a chance to make some music together for the first time.
Fabio Fabbri remembers : "I heard from Keanan again shortly after our first encounter.His friend Gary Kemp, Spandau Ballet composer and guitarist, gave himthe idea of rearranging the Spandau Ballet song ‘To Cut A Long Story Short’. So Keanan suggested I rearrange the song on an acoustic base.”
Ona hot July afternoon, this Spandau Ballet cover version of "To Cut a Long Story Short" was born. An acoustic guitar, a simple rhythmic sequence, and the voice of Keanan.
At the beginning the arrangement should have foreseen the participation of a violinist, to give the cover version something new.But things went differently.
Fabio Fabbri says “ I was looking for a good solowith my acoustic guitar but everything seemed too predictable or banal. At a certain moment I tried to insert a ‘reverse effect’ , thateffectively reversed the guitar execution by making it sound likea real Tzigano Violin. Keanan loved this execution and we went ahead with arranging and singing the cover versiontrack: it was the first time we had workedtogether but we immediately understood that we enjoyedplaying together withoutlimits or preconceptions, only making the music we loved.”
Inthe end, the resultseemed to beencouraging because it respected the original structure butat the same time it sounded new.
Whenthe Spandau Ballet author Gary Kempl listened to this cover version of "To Cut a Long Story Short" and tweeted “ Good acoustic version of the Spandau’s To Cut a Long Story Short here sung by Keanan Duffty”, they thought they had created something really good!
Fabio Fabbri says: “ It was absolutely clearwhen Gary told me that originally, when he composed the song the first time, hewould have arranged it in Flamenco style. But, according to the‘80s trend, with the new Romantic style and the use of Synthesizers,the Flamenco arrangement was abandoned. “
This experience encouraged Fabio and Keanan to continue with composing and recording music together.
They spent two years processing what soundedgood to them: a mix of instrumental and electronic sound, where the guitars have an importantrole but, at the same time, are at the service of the track, both in the execution as in thetimbre.
The result is a brand new album with 11 tracks that fully represents theSlinky Vagabond sound.
Along the way they met important musicians who have very much enjoyed playing their instruments with Slinky Vagabond
Fabio and Keanansay “ We are very grateful to them, and we hope that the music welove is also loved by those who listen to it”
Slinky Vagabond is a new art rock music project by Keanan Duffty and Fabio Fabbri. Their new album " King Boy Vandals" contains a fantastic lineup of great artists: Midge Ure, Richard Fortus, Martin Turner, David Torn , Dave Formula, Tony Bowers.
The new Slinky Vagabond art rock music project starts with the encounter between Fabio Fabbri - Italian guitarist and composer - and Keanan Duffty English fashion designer and singer based in NYC.
They met for the first time in 2017 at the Polimoda International Fashion School - where they are both teachers- after a lecture on fashion and music held by Keanan and Glen Matlock, the Sex Pistols bass guitarist and song writer . Duffty dressed the Sex Pistols during their 2003 American tour, so the lecture was an opportunity to show students the Keanan and Glen experience in music and fashion.
Some months after this first encounter, Fabio and Keanan started discussing music and decided to collaborate to create a new rock music project.
They worked at this new rock music project for two years adjusting some compositions of Fabio to Keanan's voice and lyrics and rearranging some Keanan's tracks in relation to the new musical line, recording at Wolfmountain Studio, outside Florence, every time that Keanan was in Italy for his work at the Polimoda Fashion Institute.
They have had a lot of fun working together at this new music project and the result is a sound that entirely expresses the musical experience of the two musicians, that comes from and perfectly mixes their different musical background. Thus, Fabio‘s R’&R’ guitars are mixed perfectly with Keanan’s voice and glam style. Their mutual passion for Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie is reflected in their music, although their sound is totally original and new.
In two years they have collected a lot of material that is now published in their new album "King Boy Vandals".
They decided to adopt the name Slinky Vagabond, a term used in the David Bowie song “Young Americans”, from the album of the same name, released in 1975. It is a tribute to the greatness of David Bowie and a name that Keanan has already used in the past in some of his projects and activities, and it was also the name of a R'&R' band formed by Keanan in 2007 with illustrious musicians like Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols, Clem Burke of Blondie and Earl Slick who performed with David Bowie and John Lennon.
They met for the first time in 2017 at the