Aug 10, 20214 min read

Doom Flamingo's Identity

Updated: Aug 11, 2021

Dueling EPs provide an outlook on the aura of this up-and-coming Charleston, SC band

Finally! Just in time for summer, the band, Doom Flamingo released some of their hottest tracks on a studio recorded EP for your listening pleasure. On June 30th, 2021, Doom Flamingo fans were treated to the band’s new EP titled Flamingo. This EP completes the other side of the earlier EP titled Doom, released on May 22nd, 2020. Completely contrasting the sound of Doom, these six new tracks on Flamingo provide a look inside the softer side of the many genres of this synth wave sextet from Charleston, SC.

The first EP, Doom captures just what the title entails- doom. The listener can hear more of the grunge and metal side of the band peeking out through the depths of this EP. In five tracks the listener is taken on a twisted journey through a demented circus while simultaneously having their face melted with the gloom.

The tracks include: “Simon,” “Blade,” “Replicant,” “Need to Feed” and “Night Marchers.”

On the contrary, Flamingo, brings out the fluffy and gregarious feelings of listening to their music.

“It’s much more oriented on pop rock” says Ryan Stasik in an interview with The Sound Podcast (link to listen can be found at the bottom of this blog), “It is much more the A-1-A Avenue, palm trees, Lamborghinis, sunset, you know, rollerblading down the boardwalk type of vibe. Summertime!”

These incredibly groovy songs like “Hot Wheels” or “Untraditional” will have your toes tapping and you may just be caught belting out the lyrics and dreaming of “another holiday.”

The six tracks on this EP include some Doom Flamingo specialties, including: “Untraditional,” “Stay,” “Somebody,” “Michelle,” “Hot Wheels,” and a cover of the Tina Turner song, “The Best.”

The song “Michelle” holds an interesting back story. The band’s lead singer, Kanika Moore tells Kevin Johnson of No Treble (link to article at the bottom of the blog):

“Michelle’ is a song dedicated to the women that exhibit love, intelligence, and charisma because it feels good to deposit positive energy and be fed with the same, I’m inspired by Michelle Obama. I was thinking of when former president Obama and his wife would party [attend live shows] and what power she must have emitted.”

With this inspiration, Kanika brings a certain intensity to this track and helps solidify the tone of the EP.

Like a flamingo, the many feathers of these musicians’ talents and influences on both EPs are out of the ordinary and deserve a spin or two (or five). You can listen to either EP depending on your mood, or you can take both EPs for a spin back-to-back to engulf yourself in a full-on Doom Flamingo experience. Ryan Stasik states

“We wanted to get both these EPs out so you can kind of have an identity of Doom Flamingo.”

The band did just that because these two contrasting EPs bring a Jekyll and Hyde personality to this album’s completion. The band’s ability to switch up their genre technique from a low, grungy sound to a lighter-hearted tone, while capturing the synth wave magic is superbly demonstrated throughout these eleven songs.

These EPs together, when switched around could remind the listener of the soundtrack to an 80’s slasher horror film. It could have been used as the soundtrack to the television show American Horror Story’s most recent season, “1984.” Flamingo holds the aura of the beginning of the story, when all the kids in the 80’s are having fun, finding love, and not knowing of the impending doom (wink wink) coming their way. Doom has the music from the ending of the movie when the killer is loose and slashing the guts out of most of the characters.

This band brings in a variety of influences varying from the 70’s-90’s into their playing but their musical approach brings their fans into the futuristic mind set. Influences such as Iron Maiden, Daft Punk, Tina Turner, Whitney Huston, Prince, 80’s arcade video game theme songs and many more can be heard on both EPs. The versatility on these tracks helps immensely in setting the tone to a magnificent set of musicians. Ryan Stasik’s fat and funky bass sound blends smoothly with Thomas Kenny’s zinging, electronic guitar and Ross Bogan’s innovative synth. Stu White’s drumming technique resembles a young Chris Frantz from Talking Heads. He depicts a perfect pop drum technique while bordering the edge of punk music. Mike Quinn comes in and absolutely nails 1984, David Bowie/Steve Gregory, smooth and caressing saxophone concept. Kanika Moore, as always, completes the hexagon with her powerhouse vocal athletics as she embodies the spirits of many incredible female vocalists and brings forth a remarkable energy.

Now that live music is returning, the band will be busy throughout the rest of the year with a few upcoming adventures. A fresh list of new tour dates (pictured below) was recently announced that includes ten stops throughout the country. They will be playing a variety of regular shows, Umphrey’s McGee after parties and will even be making their international debut at the music festival Holidaze in Puerto Morelos, Mexico at the end of this year. According to Ryan Stasik, there is also a record to be on the lookout for in the near future. Due to Doom Flamingo's persistence and dedication to producing/playing music over the year and a half that we were in quarantine, their fans are able to enjoy fresh content and shows. Doom is coming your way and there is no way you can stop the retro groove sneaking into the many souls of music lovers in Charleston and beyond.