Duffty began visiting the desert when he and his wife, fashion producer Nancy Garcia, lived in San Francisco about 10 years ago. Their trips became less frequent when they returned to New York, but they came in May to shoot a couple of music videos for Slinky Vagabond’s new album, King Boy Vandals, in Joshua Tree National Park, Pioneertown, and the Amigo Room bar at the Ace Hotel & Swim Club in Palm Springs.
“Generally, we’re there for fun,” he says, emphasizing that he and his wife visit Joshua Tree each time. “We go walking for hours. We love it. It’s so transcendent. It’s such an escape, because it takes you away from all of the rubbish in the real world. There’s nothing commercial. You don’t see streetlights, and you don’t really see other people. It’s brilliant.”
Over the past four years, Duffty has worked intermittently in Florence, Italy. In 2017, he and bassist Glen Matlock (of the Sex Pistols) gave a lecture at a fashion university there. “Both of us worked in retail when we were kids,” Duffty says, “and we were talking about that experience and how important that is for burgeoning fashion people to understand the consumer. It’s not a dirty job; it’s the frontline.”
At the university, Duffty met songwriter and guitarist Fabio Fabbri, who invited him to jam at his studio, and a friendship was born. Over the next couple of years, they wrote 16 songs, with Duffty penning the lyrics and Fabbri the music. When the pandemic struck, Duffty invited friends to play on the tracks: Live Aid co-founder Midge Ure; Richard Fortus (Guns N’ Roses, Psychedelic Furs); Tony Bowers (Simply Red); David Torn (David Bowie); Martin Turner (Wishbone Ash); and Dave Formula (Magazine).
