TINA BENITEZ-EVES
MARCH 28, 2025
When Slinky Vagabond started working on their 2021 release, King Boy Vandals, it was more of an ad hoc operation.
At the time, bandmates British fashion designer, author, and musician Keanan Duffty and Italian guitarist and producer Fabio Fabbri had just connected a few years earlier and were deciphering how they would work together and make music and ended up with 20 songs.
Several years earlier, Slinky Vagabond first formed as a punk rock supergroup with Duffty, along with Earl Slick (David Bowie, John Lennon), the Sex Pistols’ bassist Glen Matlock, Blondie drummer Clem Burke and the late Buzzcocks’ vocalist Pete Shelley.
The band made their debut in May 2007 at Irving Plaza in New York City as part of the annual Joey RamoneBirthday Bash in New York City, playing alongside the New York Dolls.
“I hadn’t been on stage for quite a few years at that point, so it was kind of a baptism of fire,” remembers Duffty. “And it was like a dream come true. I mean, Slick on one side, Glenn on the other.”
With Duffty at its core, from its inception, Slinky Vagabond was about bringing in a collective of artists and collaborators as the project evolved.
“On the first go around with that band in 2007 we did a cover of Bowie’s ‘Boys Keep Swinging’ with Pete Shelley singing backing vocal on it,” recalls Duffty. “Even back then, I wanted it to be collaborative with people that I love working with.”
After recording and playing some shows in New York City, the first iteration of the band dissolved after the Sex Pistols briefly reformed, and Blondie picked up on touring. Everyone went their separate ways, with Duffty refocusing on his fashion brand, which included a collaboration with Bowie, and his clothes appearing on television shows like Entourage and American Idol.
By 2017, the Slinky Vagabond project had been on hiatus for a decade when Duffty, who was in Florence giving a fashion lecture, first met Fabbri. Both immediately shared a musical kinship and continued working remotely, with Duffty sending over lyrics and Fabbri putting the music to everything before both united in Italy to record.