rocket
working for a nuclear free city

'It's psychedelic dance music for a generation that prefers liquor.' Pitchfork

'Like listening to a hipster jukebox as the past moves in and out of focus.' Mojo

Following their critically acclaimed, eponymously titled debut album, the ever-prolific Working For A Nuclear Free City are set to release four brand new tracks as the Rocket EP. In WFANFC’s world, there are no constants. The album found favour with fans of dance music, electronica and indie for its wide-ranging musical styles and textures. The Rocket EP looks set to do the same, encompassing loose, Beta Band-style grooves, neat Krautrock touches and even a spoken word intro (Shangri-La’s, eat your heart out).

Rocket was recorded at our friend Julian's in Wilmslow,’ says guitarist Gary McLure. ‘His mum has a grand piano so Phil & I decided to go down and sample it. When we couldn't come up with anything, we were just sitting around and I was strumming Julian’s acoustic. Phil noticed the chord pattern I was playing and said, ‘Why don’t we just record that and see where it goes?’ The basic ingredients came together pretty quickly but Phil didn't want to finish it at all at one point. It took about 12 hours and 12 litres of cider.’

Working For A Nuclear City began as a studio project involving Gary McClure and Phil Kay (keys/production). In 2004, they took to the stage, recruiting Phil’s brother Jon on drums and Ed Hulme on bass. The impetus was simple: they were sick of seeing terrible bands on the local circuit and they thought they could do better. ‘We must have witnessed a million piece of shit bands playing in Manchester,’ says Phil. ‘They motivated us to want to destroy them.’

WFANFC’s confidence isn’t borne of arrogance. It comes from a desire to find something new in music, to push boundaries back and to never, ever stop thinking about the way songs, sounds and music take shape. It’s an approach that’s found favour with many bands – like-minded or otherwise – who have called on the band for remixes. The Rakes, Polytechnic, Shitdisco, Archie Bronson Outfit, The Whip and Starsailor have all received the WFANFC treatment, although the finished product often sounds more like the work of the remixer than the remixee.
‘I never listen to the original track if I can help it,’ says Phil. ‘I go through the files and find interesting sounds and create a new piece of music from that. I’ll take the coughs of the vocalist before he did his take and turn them into a beat, or take the string noise from the guitar and make them into a new instrument.’

With plaudits for the album across the board and a reputation as an intense, heads-down live band, it seems WFANFC have begun to achieve what they set out to do. ‘We want to create an alternative to the current retrospective trend in music, to get the focus back on creating something innovative,’ says Phil. ‘We have no plans for world domination or anything. That’s not what we’re about, and we’re too ‘difficult’ anyway. We just want to keep moving into uncharted territory.’