The first coronavirus lockdown has inspired a Mansfield man to return to making music ­— in his spare bedroom.

Ricky Boot, an alternative electronic producer, is releasing a solo EP, called Pushing Buttons, on 11th June.

A member of two-piece electro punk indie rave band Battlecat! that played many UK gigs from 2007-2010 — as well as a sold-out show in France and appearing at the infamous Turnmills club in London — Ricky, 33, decided to get back into creating music last year.

“I had a break from making music from 2011 to concentrate on trying to develop a comfortable enough life for my wife, Maxine, and I.

“Then in 2013 my beautiful daughter, Alice, came along, so all my efforts went into fatherhood.

“However, I was furloughed during the first lockdown and so started making music again out of boredom because I already smashed The Tiger King on Netflix in the first week.”

Pushing Buttons has been recorded, mixed and mastered in his spare bedroom/music studio.

It draws influences from Burial, Bicep, early Prodigy, Boards of Canada and The xx.

Ricky sent the first completed track, Let Me In, to the radio show BBC Introducing ­— and it was played over the airwaves the same week.

Presenter Dean Jackson called it a great track, so Ricky “decided to knuckle down and work on this seven-track debut EP”.

He was also asked to do music for a game by a Nottingham indie game developer.

Ricky, whose family ran live music venue the Town Mill in Mansfield before the last big recession hit, said he was not looking for any major success from his new music.

“It’s almost like a form of therapy for me to be honest,” he added.

“If I can get a few EP sales and a few gigs out of it, then I will be happy.”

Pushing Buttons is on Spotify and Bandcamp from Friday, 11th June and is also available as a CD, digital download and on cassette.

Already it has received god reviews, including from A&R Factory, who said ‘… With angsty vocal samples thrown into the complex layers of pulsing indietronica around the future pop female vocals, you can’t help but be endeared by the personality on offer here.’