Over the last eight years, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats have risen as a prominent force in the retro / occult / psych-rock revival. With four albums to their name and a fifth, Wasteland, on the way, the U.K. outfit has partnered with Loudwire to bring you the album's first single, the melodic garage rocker "Stranger Tonight," in the video above.

When they're not trudging through Sabbathian riffs and doomy paces, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats can be pretty upbeat. "Stranger Tonight" takes delight in its wickedness, feeding off '70s power-pop (says frontman Kevin Starrs in our interview below), jangling guitars, saloon piano and the band's signature ghastly dual vocal attack.

Wasteland will be released on Oct. 12 through Rise Above Records and you can pre-order your copy here. Starrs also answered a couple of our questions about drug rock, recording in Los Angeles and the role of melody in rock today.

Ester Segarra
Ester Segarra
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Wasteland embraces psychedelia even more so than previous albums. Studies show that there's been a dramatic increase in young adults who have taken psychedelic drugs in recent years. With the current social and political tensions echoing sentiments of the '60s, do you feel a return for drug rock?

I don't think it ever went away. It's still there in the sewer, watching and luring in the youth. Maybe it needs to escape and run riot for a while.

This was your first time recording in Los Angeles. In what ways, if any, did this environment affect the process and why did you choose Los Angeles?

We were recording in a great room where so many of our favorite records were made so I think it brought out the best in our playing. L.A. was chosen partly for convenience and partly because of the quality of studios and equipment they have there. Sadly, most of the classic U.K. studios are long gone.

There are some pop elements present on the new album in some of the vocal melodies (old pop - '50s/'60s). With the "rock is dead" narrative perpetuated by the mainstream, do you think heavy music has hit a wall of sorts with its bombast and is returning to the basics of songwriting, meaning a melody and a lyric? Was it important for rock to reach this point?

There's room for all kinds of heavy music but I hope we see a return to melody in some of it. Modern pop is garbage and offers nothing. With "Stranger Tonight" we've dug up the corpse of '70s power pop, tied it to the back of a van and will now parade it along Main Street. I'm sure people will be delighted that we're back in town.

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