“The old Bamian road. The road of long ago. There the days are scorched by the heat of a thousand suns and the nights are cold with freezing ice”

So speaks Omar Sharif in a sample from the 1971 film “The Horsemen” before White City's new single “Perfect 10” kicks in. The band were the first western-style rock band to play in post-Taliban Afghanistan. A motley mix of British journalist, Australian videographer and Swedish humanitarian worker came together in Kabul during the fall of 2009 in the shape of Ruth “Ru” Owen (vox, bass), Travis “Travka” Beard (guitar, FX) and Andreas “Andronik” Stefansson (drums, percussion).

They've toured all around the war-torn country as well as taking their energetic live show on the road, playing every country ending in 'stan.

The road running from Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, to the central province of Bamian is real and as dangerous as it is long. Riding it on motorbikes is the inspiration for the Afghanistan-based band's first single from their debut album “Landlocked”, set for release on February 16th 2014.

Says guitarist Travis “Travka” Beard, “Afghanistan is still a truly beautiful country, despite 30 years of war. We want to let everyone know how much potential it still has to inspire.

With its insistent beat and chugging guitars, “Perfect 10” is a song made for the open road – motorbikes, dust in your teeth and speed on the brain. In this conservative land of covered women, a man would never dare elegise the perfect female curves. But what if it were a woman?

“Perfect 10, small and round, curved like the moon to the earth,” sings Ruth “Ru” Owen, as she joins her bandmates on a motorbike ride through the unforgiving Afghan desert.

“It's not just men who wonder what's beneath the flowing robes of Afghan women,” says Ru. I wanted to put myself in the mind of an onlooker to a beautiful female form. I want to celebrate what's so often considered taboo.” Why? “Afghan women are as beautiful and wonderful as any in the world. I've always tried to show Afghan girls through our stage show that they don't need to flaunt their bodies on stage like so many modern pop stars, but that's doesn't mean they don't have them and shouldn't be proud of them.”

The crest of the song breaks into a middle section of floating guitars, tribal drums and choral vocals, which, says drummer Andreas “Andronik” Steffanson, is about “taking off your fears and prejudice, getting out there and letting go, cruise uphill and float downstream, embrace the adventure and beauty, and discover that the world holds natural perfection and bliss - it´s just waiting there for you.”

The band have been invited to showcase at SXSW in March and will kick off their first US tour in late February.

“Perfect 10” is released on the 27th January 2014
whitecitykabul.com