About this artist
Special Interest emerged from the D.I.Y. scene of New Orleans in the mid-2010s with a mix of angular no wave, impulsive hardcore, glam, and alternative dance grooves. The band’s first album, Spiraling, saw release in 2018. Their Rough Trade debut, 2022′s Endure, expanded influences into the artier dance-rock of groups like Sparks and the B-52s without abandoning their more dissonant roots.
Special Interest was started by vocalist Alli Logout and guitarist Maria Elena, who began the project with a guitar, a drum machine, and a power drill. Acting as a group rather than the vision of a sole songwriter from their inception, they eventually settled into the lineup of Logout, Elena, Nathan Cassiani (bass), and Ruth Mascelli (synth, drum machine), self-releasing Trust No Wave, a set of newly recorded demos, on cassette in May 2016. Quintron (aka Jay Poggi) produced Special Interest’s proper debut album, Spiraling. It arrived on Raw Sugar Records in February 2018. The quartet moved to Thrilling Living Records (U.S.) and Night School (U.K. and Europe) for June 2020′s The Passion Of, which was recorded and mixed by James Whitten (Thou, Joystick).
The band’s third album was informed by both the despair of the COVID-19 pandemic and the righteous indignation of widespread protests in mid-2020. Self-produced at High Tower in New Orleans with engineering by Whitten, Endure was mixed by Collin Dupuis (Lana Del Rey, the Black Keys, JEFF the Brotherhood). It appeared on Rough Trade Records in November 2022. ~ Marcy Donelson