With the imminent release of their new single ‘Down Low’, West End’s Signature Series is set to perform an eclectic amalgamation of gangster horns and sampled back-alley twang.

“I often get quite inspired by cinematic ideas, a lot of my songs are story-based regarding what the feeling would be like if you were on the run and had to go to Mexico,” frontman Chico Mendez says about his creative process.

Signature Series formed around the thriving West End musical scene, and are now regular performers at a swag of local venues.

“I was playing music in Brisbane and moved to West End and had a lot of friends in the scene in West End... I started playing soul and hip hop music in that region which there wasn't a lot of. It was pretty reggae heavy at the time and still is but that introduced people to me who were interested in that genre and we started playing a few shows locally.

“The way West End works, everyone is in about 14 bands. Everyone is really tight and friends outside of music, so I suppose when you're doing something that is a little bit different you tend to pull in a lot of different types of people with different backgrounds... so I suppose there is a bit of an incestuous family vibe.”

Citing Muddy Waters and The Black Keys’ Blackroc project as inspiration for their latest single, the recording process for 'Down Low' was a long-distance collaboration between Mendez and Grim Tilla of Laneous & The Family Yah fame.

“I wrote the whole thing on my own, but Grim Tilla lives up on the Sunshine Coast. I sent him the lyrics and a voice recording from my phone of me singing the chorus. We collaborated but we collaborated remotely, which was a new thing for me. In the studio it was the idea of taking all sorts of different drum sounds from around the room and trying to create a kit from that again with sampling — live sampling by recording all different sorts of sounds and then creating the beats from that.”

Signature Series plays The Joynt Saturday April 13 and The Beach Hotel, Byron Bay, Friday April 26.