“My post post-modern introduction reeks of second hand deduction, I need my fascist style instruction, way back home in Dalston Junction”
Front man of The Phoenix Foundation, Samuel Flynn Scott provides some interesting insight into how the song Dalston Junction came to fruition. The single appears on the Beck's New New Zealand Music compilation album which was released earlier this month.
"My wife and I stayed on our friends’ couch on the corner of Dalston Lane and Kingsland High St for a month in 2008. It wasn’t so cool back then, the hipsters hadn’t quite won the battle of gentrification. It was actually a pretty seedy neighbourhood (chicken bones littered the streets!). James (Lawrence Arabia) was working at a bookstore in Charring Cross and while we hung out with his partner Anns and wandered the streets of East London I started making up these verses about him getting the 38 bus. It spiralled out of control and the Pet Shop Boys voiced protagonist of the song is certainly no longer James. I don’t think James ever got a perm. I dropped the first verse to Anns and Jessica as we walked through London fields on our way to get a coffee (hence ‘go to Climpson’s for a Latte’). They looked really confused but asked for an encore performance.
Once I had the killer verse I would basically spit it at people to make them uncomfortable. Our UK record label was terrified of my London rap style. It took us 6 years to nail the beats but Conrad, Luke and the guys never lost faith in the integrity of my lyrics. So I have to thank TPF for allowing me to be myself for once and just rap some crazy shit."
You can listen to Dalston Junction here:
https://soundcloud.com/aeroplane-music-services/07-dalston-junction