Photo credit: Angelina Castillo

Renowned Nashville musician and multi-instrumentalist Dean Fertita announces new project TROPICAL GOTHCLUB (Third Man Records, November 4) and shares the new single “Wheels Within Wheels,” available now at all DSPs and streaming services. An official visualizer/music video premieres today on YouTube. Pre-orders are available now, and a limited edition “Wheels Within Wheels” b/w “Street Level” 7” will be released on Friday, October 7 at Third Man Nashville, Detroit and London storefronts.

“One thing can influence another on levels we don’t see,” says Fertita about “Wheels Within Wheels.” “All of our experience is chemical alteration and total DNA demolition.”

“TROPICAL GOTHCLUB as a concept is futuristic nostalgia,” he adds, “going through the seven stages of escapism, understanding the subliminal messages I’ve been sending and receiving to myself, and letting fantasy take a machete to the darkest corners of my mind. I want subculture shock and volcanic rock.”

Dean Fertita has been at the heart of American rock ‘n’ roll for almost two decades, from his role as an invaluable member of Queens of the Stone Age and The Dead Weather, touring keyboardist with The Raconteurs, and backing musician on records by Jack White, Karen O, Iggy Pop, Brendan Benson, The Kills, Beck, and more. While his own music had been the focus in his role as lead singer, guitarist, and founder of The Waxwings and on recordings as Hello=Fire, Fertita began TROPICAL GOTHCLUB with no clear mission for a solo album under his own name. In early 2020, the TN-based musician put up a small A-frame in his backyard to use as a writing and recording space while stuck at home during the looming pandemic. With rare time on his hands, Fertita set to work recording demos of the many musical ideas he had accumulated over the years, building upon songs and fragments written during different stages of his busy career. Fertita then enlisted his old friend Dave Feeny – a veteran Detroit musician and owner of The Tempermill recording studios in Ferndale, MI – to help develop the recordings even further, pushing the original demos in deliberate new directions to create a showcase for his wide-ranging songcraft and visionary imagination. 

“The TROPICAL GOTHCLUB songs are like concept cars,” says Fertita. “They were meant to be put into future production once they were reimagined and redesigned so everything is tightened up. Creatively things changed and my options weren’t just black and white. They were also fluorescent.

“I’m hoping the framework is in place with TROPICAL GOTHCLUB that I can experiment with releasing art and music in the future without following the conventional cycles. My focus has been on other projects the last few years and really, this is no exception. But I unexpectedly found more time than I thought I had and was able to move within the space I was given, veer off course, and speed towards the cliff.”

1. Needles
2. Wheels Within Wheels
3. Captivated
4. Where There Is Water
5. Infernal Inside
6. No Wonder
7. Death Rattle
8. Double Blind
9. Future To Follow
10. Thunder Towards You
11. Uniform Looks