Clinic Get Tropical on New Album

Liverpool's Clinic isn't exactly the most easily identifiable band, given its members' penchant for hiding behind surgical masks and scrubs. That won't change but singer Ade Blackburn tells Spinner that the band is making some tweaks as they get ready to tour in support of their April 8-due album, 'Do It!.' "We've got a tropical theme for the gigs coming up," he says. "A bit of sunshine."

That's not the only thing Clinic is doing differently this year. The band is asking fans to help choose the set list for their U.S. May tour. "People often pick obscure songs they want to hear, which stops it from being predictable," Blackburn says. "This time, we'll play all of 'Do It!' in one set, then the older ones in a second set. It just breaks things up live." Fans can email the band at contact@clinicvoot.org to make their requests.

'Do It!' displays the variety of influences that inform Clinic's dark mélange of garage-influenced rock, often lumped into the "psyche-rock" category. That doesn't sit very well with Blackburn, though. "That's a very vague term," he says. "I think it's psychedelic in that it plays with your mind, but not in the 'rock' sense. There's no heavy solos or sludgy rhythms."

Perhaps not, but the record is unmistakably Clinic, from Blackburn's nervous vocals to their trademark spare song construction. "This album is a lot brighter and melodic -- almost easy listening in places," he says. "The approach was to make the songs and song structures a lot more twisted, inventive and playful."