- 2024-09-05
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MUSIC
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The Knocks & Perfume Genius Team Up to Cover Bronski Beat's “Smalltown Boy”
New York-based electro-pop duo The Knocks, consisting of Ben Ruttner and James Patterson, and American singer-songwriter Perfume Genius joined forces to release a cover of British synth-pop band Bronski Beat's “Smalltown Boy” on September 4, 2024.
The song will appear on the upcoming 40th anniversary reissue of Bronski Beat's debut album “The Age of Consent”, which is set to be released on October 18, 2024 via London Records.
The original version of the song was released by Bronski Beat as their debut single in 1984.
This year, the original version went viral on TikTok and retuned to the UK Top 100.
The track was written by Jimmy Somerville, Larry Steinbachek, and Steve Bronski. The cover version was produced by Mike Thorne and The Knocks.
Bronski Beat's Jimmy Somerville said of the new version, “It's like a beautiful echo coming back after travelling a long and eventful distance.”- The Knocks' Ben Ruttner said, “We wanted to really keep it close to the original but just give it a little more of a modern dance floor feel. Perfume Genius already brings such a cool new element to it, so we just wanted to support his voice as much as possible while giving it a little bit of The Knocks dance pop touch. That main synth sound is so iconic so we wanted that to be the main star of the show, still.”
James Patterson added, “I think the song definitely carries meaning in 2024. That's part of the reason we are doing the rework. The song itself is amazing, but the meaning behind it is what makes it a timeless classic. Even with all the strides the LGBTQI+ community has made in the past 40 years, there are tons of queer folk living in small towns that don't feel seen or supported within those communities. As long as that still exists, this song will always be relevant.” -
Perfume Genius said, “When you’re trying to sing an iconic song, you want to make sure that you can do it justice and then also add your own information without fucking with it too much, you know? So it’s a tall order but I was really, really excited.”
He added, “I think I always have hope, and I think my experience is that all of my friends in the community do, too. We're good at it. In the face of whatever. In the face of nothing. In the face of a lot. We're good at having hope, and we're good at building it up and finding where it is.” - source : Apple Music
