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ZINE NEON NEON FRANK TURNER peter hook blood red shoes the great frog killing joke lunar-c Child of lov the whip & MORE
Welcome to the FLY53 Zine number 14. As FLY53
approaches the age of 20, we are still going strong with musical associations. Our Fanzines have been a staple for years as we always love working with musicians and artists of all types. As usual this content is exclusive to us, and you can see more of the unedited versions of the
interviews online at FLY53.com including videos. This time round we have curated a list of interviewees that we are stoked to be able to access. Peter Hook is a legend and should never need an intro, but we hope some of the other people we have worked with are new to you as introducing something new is always a part of
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FLY53. There’s some truly talented people out there and they all have some great stories that we want to shine some light on. We would like to send thanks to everyone in the pages as they gave us their time and for that we’re grateful.
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We cheered loudly when we last met Neon neon (Boom Bip and Gruff Rhys) just after they made THEIR concept album (‘Stainless
-
Steel’) as they had a Mercury Award Nomination for their efforts. this time round we headed to Cardiff and the set of their new album about Giangiacomo Feltrinelli (Praxis Makes Perfect) that’s also a show with the National Theatre Wales. THis is the craziest thing and one of the best we have seen all year. Why the hiatus?
subject for the next record. Then it all started clicking. So, Welsh/American via Italy, were there no stories closer to home for you guys?
Gruff: Well it’s an education you know so we’re always learning new stuff. It’s good sometimes to be detached from what you’re singing about. Feltrinelli is a really divisive figure and in Italy it would be difficult for someone from Italy to do a record about him. So, I don’t know, I’ve written a few songs about Welsh subjects, I’ve written about Howard Marks and yeah it’s good to go into the unknown. What do you think Feltrinelli would have made of the album?
Brian: I think just geography is the probably the biggest obstacle with us. Me being in California and Gruff being in Wales plus the other projects we have going on.
Gruff: I’m sure he’d be completely perplexed and confused.
It’s just a matter of timing and getting it together. That’s why we weren’t sure if we could even make a second record just because we’re so pushed for timing but it did come together in the end.
Gruff: I think music about communists is usually more hardcore, for the political rhetoric, and we did a beautiful soft pop album.
Last time round it was about Delorian, what’s it about this time round?
Gruff: Well, about ten years ago a friend gave me a book called ‘Senior Service,’ which is the biography of a guy called Giangiacomo Feltrinelli and his life story is pretty spectacular and extreme. I got loads of my mates copies of the book including Brian (Boom Bip) We did an album about Delorian, and then Feltrinelli was the only story we had in common, that we both knew. A few years ago we were listening to a lot of Italian music and it seemed completely logical at the time to do an album about an Italian. Then I think we went off the idea for a bit and we were going to do an industrial album influenced by Eastern European music. So in the end we made a communist Euro pop album about an Italian publisher. So you didn’t read the book and immediately go ‘This is an album in the making?’
Brian: No, I mean it’s a great story, there are a lot of dynamics but it wasn’t until Gruff started putting some lyrics together that we thought it could be a good
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Is that a good thing?
Brian: The thing is it’ll be available in the large retail chain that he’s established. It’s funny to think that a record about that man will be available there. So why did you do a conceptual album – what’s the attraction?
Brian: I think it’s easy for us. It’s nice to kind of escape from our personal projects where we look
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“I’m sure he’d be completely perplexed and confused”
It’s gonna’ be a real extreme live concert, unlike anything I’ve done. Surround sound, video on every surface, it’s a moving stage, seven actors, 15 extras. Brian: We’ve got events happening outside so people will be getting involved with stuff even before they come in. There’s a bookshop selling his books. You guys know music that’s what you do – this live show must be a scary new venture for you?
inwards for the music to do something where the concept boxes us into the subject matter and allows us to escape from our usual music. It’s fun to do that and to have those guidelines. Do you think you can make any story palatable with catchy music?
Gruff: I suppose if we ever make a new record we’d have to go some other way with it or we’d just become predictable. Because in theory you can just write about anything or anyone. Tell us a bit about the live show?
Brian: It’s hard to describe, but we’re collaborating National Theatre Wales, to, do an entire full production of the events of his life. Oh God I don’t know it’s so hard to describe. Where do we even start? Gruff: If you make a concept album, you might as well make a concept tour. The live shows we’re putting on in Cardiff and London we plan to bring Feltrinelli’s life to the stage and people will leave with a strong idea of who he was and what he did.
Brian: We’ve had a lot of help and we worked with Tim Price who is a playwright, he came to us in Milan to visit the Feltrinelli Foundation pretty early on in the project, almost a year ago. He was kind of writing the script for the play as we were still developing the song. So from the beginning we had this idea that we would bring full on production with the story so Tim worked with National Theatre Wales where there’s a huge staff of people taking care of every aspect. So for us at this point we can still focus on the music, they take care of everything else. So are you guys excited?
Brian:Yeah, it’s crazy exciting. It’s beyond my expectations of what it would be. From the early talks of what they wanted to do, they’ve done that and ten times more. It’s really exciting. So could you conceivably do a Damon Albarn, do a full opera?
Gruff: Well this is un-catagorisable which is really exciting. It’s good to do things that you don’t know what to call. It’s usually a good sign I think.
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It’s been a while since we last caught up properly with Blood Red Shoes. 2,134 days approximately (March 2007) So we thought it was about time we got one of our
We showed you a photo earlier taken in 2007 - the last time we met, what’s happened in those six years?
favourite duo’s back in for a chat about what they are up to.
Steven – A lot of Damage! Laura – Six years seems like 20 to us.
It all went down at the swanky
S – That six years has been the most active six years of probably our lives, let alone our bands life. In that time we’ve released 3 albums, we’ve toured I don’t even know how many countries, but it’s probably like 30 countries, we probably played about 500 shows.
House of Wolf in North London and continued afterwards with a few (lots OF) drinks.
L – More than that. S- We’ve experienced things, which are beyond words and probably beyond comprehension.
Laura’s like ‘Don’t play the drums like that,’ we’re much more honest which makes it quicker to get things done.
Have you ever been tempted to add another person in the mix at all?
L – No, I think it’s cool to have people come and play on stage occasionally. We’ve had friends come on in the past for one song, but not as an actual member I think it would just be really weird. It would change our whole dynamic. S – Our bands nine years old this year. The idea of putting someone into a new relationship when we’ve got a whole, almost, language that nobody else can make any sense of, and a whole way of working and playing together musically, that if we put someone else into that they’d have nine years of work to catch up on, it’s near impossible.
L – I’d feel a bit sorry for them. S – Yeah we’d fucking run rings round them they wouldn’t know what’s going on. How does the dynamic work between the two of you? Has it changed over the years? Is it difficult being just two people?
L – It can be quite difficult being just two people even though we have crew and stuff it can be a bit intense. But at the same time it’s a lot easier than being in a band with loads of people. We can get stuff done and the way we work is quite direct. Working together has changed a bit over time. We’ve become more comfortable with each other but also just musically we’re able to sort of be a bit more honest about whether we think things are good or bad. S – Because we weren’t really friends before we were a band, we were a band first. Now we’re better friends. Like when we’re writing a song instead of tip-toeing around when your not sure of something we just fucking say it. Like ‘That riff sucks lets not do that,’ or,
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L – But in recording terms as well we’ve become kind of more involved in it. Where Steve’s always been involved in it because he was a sound guy before I wasn’t very technically minded, but now I’ve got much more into the recording side of stuff so we’ve ended up being able to more things together in that sense. S – Yeah that’s true. You guys tour a lot; you’ve essentially been on the road for the last nine years what’s that like?
S – Yeah it’s pretty much our home. Actually this year we made a conscious decision not to tour so much because we just thought, well for a combination of reasons, one being we just don’t want to get to the point where everyone’s sick of us because we’re always playing. Do you know what I mean? You can be that band that everyone can just see whenever they want and people just get bored. We’d like to spend a period of time writing and I guess to kinda’ just see what it’s like not to be on tour all year. We love Pulled Apart By Horses so do you, have you got any cool stories about them?
L – There’s quite a lot of funny stories about James Brown.
S – Yeah me and James got thrown out Leeds Festival twice last year when we played for wrestling backstage cause it got to the point where we were picking up all the wheelie bins and (you know like in bad wrestling on TV when they get out the ring and pick up like dummy things to smash each other up with?) we were trying to do that with the garden furniture and stuff they have back stage. So the bouncers threw us out twice. L – Then James jumped on a garden table and cut all his face up. (Laughing) And the security guard was like, ‘Would you do that in your own garden.’
“the security guard was like, ‘Would you do that in your own garden..?”
S – And we were like, ‘You’re asking the wrong guy!’ He definitely fucking would do that in his own garden. Have to say, we’re a bad combination. L – You and James Brown are. Tell us about the EP that you’ve got out at the moment?
L – It’s called, ‘Water,’ and it’s just 3 songs. The idea was, we were on tour, we had a really long tour actually, we only got 3 days off in the states in Dallas and we thought we’d just go and record these songs that were quite rough, they weren’t really finished. The idea of it was just, with the last record, ‘In time to voices,’ it was quite a considered record and we spent a lot of time carefully constructing the songs. S – Yeah agonizing over every little detail. L – So this time we thought it would be cool to just do something really free and of the moment to see what happens just a like a kind of opposite to what we’d done before and that’s what it was. I don’t know, when we do stuff we always seem to want to do the opposite. And we’re happy with how it came out. S – We’re always fighting ourselves, whatever we do we immediately hate it and want to do a different thing afterwards so that was a total reaction against the record. Plus I’ve always wanted to do a 10-inch vinyl. I was like ‘Sweet, if we do this we can put it on a 10-inch vinyl?’ I’ve wanted to do one since I was about 15. So we did a 500 pressing of it on red 10-inch vinyl. Top three bands right now?
L – Ok, Deep Valley, Tame Impala and a girl called Chelsea Wolf. S – Cool I would pick two of those three as well I really like Deep Valley and I really like Tame Impala I also really like that band Drenge, a new band as well. Let me try and pick a band that isn’t the same as yours for once...Oh a band from Brighton called The Wyches who are super new and amazing.
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FLY53 is on Instagram. Head to fly53official to see what’s floating our boat on any day of the week and for exclusive content.
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“WOW, it was like discovering your dick after 30 years again...”
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FLY53 Meets PETER HOOK
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Can you tell us a bit about Peter Hook and the Light and how it started?
Well it wasn’t supposed to be Peter Hook and the Light, it was supposed to be The Light. My idea was to for once in my life please myself and that anything that we did was solely dictated by me and metaphorically I had seen the light and it would be better if I just got my own way all the time. I was very lucky because the guys I got to work with me I’d worked with before. The guitarist was from Freebass and originally I was going to play bass in The Light and we were going to get a singer in but what happened was that there was so much internet revulsion about the very idea of me performing Joy Division.
Peter Hook is one of the most influential musicians in FLY53’s lifetime. One of our directors used to pause and slow-mo video’s of him playing bass to understand how he did what he did with his fingers on the fret. We had a chance to interview him, in a room at his home where ‘everything here has a story’ as he sat in front of electronic equipment that made the New Order sound.
I never realised how protective people felt about something like that, I was quite surprised because coming out of New Order when New Order split and sort of coming up with the idea of celebrating the music it seemed really fresh to me and really exciting because I hadn’t played it for thirty years. So I was very, very up about it and then all the keyboard terrorists started and the first thing they did was scare off the singers. The singers felt the reaction was too strong - so then I had no singer and was in a bit of a predicament really and I tried to get Rowetta to sing but she said the song were too manly and as soon as she said it I knew what she meant. Most of them didn’t suit a woman’s vocal so she came up with the idea one night and she said to me you’re gonna have to do it and I was like ‘Oh shit’. I thought ‘Oh god’ because I’d never envisaged singing I’d always just envisaged playing bass. So then once I thought about it I thought well there is no other way, it’s either me sing it or it isn’t gonna happen. And I was very, very adamant that I wanted to celebrate Ian’s 30th anniversary of his life. And I felt it was a real shame because one of the things that puzzled me about New Order was that we never celebrated anything to do with Joy Division and I think that that felt ok when New Order existed but when New Order split in 2006 and you were outside you sort of wondered why we did nothing. Did it almost feel like it was taboo (playing Joy Division)?
Well I mean I think it was something we made a decision about very early on when Ian died that it wasn’t going to be the same, it would never be the same and it was over. But if you’d have carried on doing Joy Division songs you wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on making a whole new sound which New Order ended up doing. Having a very different sound and a very unique sound in the same way that Joy Division had had a unique sound in a different way. And your Son took the vacant Bass position...
Yeah, me singing did leave a bass playing position vacant, which my Son took on. So he stepped into it very well and the thing I love about him T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E
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was the fact he was the same age as I was when I did Joy Division. He was 21 when we did ‘Unknown Pleasures’ and 22 when we did ‘Closer’ and 23 when we did ‘Still.’ So it was quite weird and he was actually the same age as when we did ‘Movement.’ I only wanted to do one gig we just wanted to do one celebration. We did it and it sold out, we did two nights then we started getting offers from all round the world and this is our third year now we’ve done over 150 gigs and we’ve done really well. It has given me a new lease of life, but the trouble was because I’m the name that’s known as soon as a promoter puts you on it was ‘Peter Hook and The Light’ and while I protested valiantly, promoters aren’t interested they just want the brand name, they need that strength to sell the tickets so you get used to it after a while. Has your process of making music changed from being 22/24?
PETER
Yeah, I mean the big thing that struck me was that most people who have heard Joy Division have heard that one record and not live, obviously for obvious reasons, we didn’t play very much at all. We only existed for two and a half years from start to finish and we were only professional for six months before we stopped completely so I knew that most people had heard the records, which are very different from seeing Joy Division. I can’t re-create Joy Division live because I’ve not got the other members of Joy Division so the thing I did decide to do was listen to Martin Hannet who was the Producer brought to our songs and celebrate that as well, because that the record is the thing that’s lasted over the years. The group didn’t last unfortunately but the records did and people listen to it now and get swept away with the same
“because I’m the name that’s known as soon as a promoter puts you on it was ‘Peter
HOOK
Hook and The Light’ and while I protested valiantly, promoters aren’t interested - they just want the brand name”
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emotion and feeling the got in 1978 when they heard it then.
t-shirt ever in their existence, because we never really thought much of it.
Does the music still make you happy?
A merchandiser was telling me actually, a guy who works for Plastica that in the industry Joy Division is the most bootlegged band ever in the history of music. I was like ‘Yes, wow,’
You know what, it makes me much happier now, because the odd thing was we never used to play it in New Order so you always felt like you’d lost something and I suppose it was the same when the so called New Order reformed without me you again felt like you’d lost something, like something had been taken away from you. It was really nice to get it back and then to be able to play it as faithfully as you possibly could to the record, which we were all happy with, and which the audience was happy with was wonderful and yeah I’ve really enjoyed it. To get ‘Closer’ back, because we never played ‘Closer’ as a group, Ian died before we’d finished it really, so we never got to pay most of the songs on it. So to get them back was like ‘WOW’ you know it was like discovering your dick after 30 years again. (laughing)
It was weird, I mean it started off as a joke actually, I started DJing as a pissed up lunatic ‘that guy that used to be in a band,’ and everyone just came to have a look because I used to be in a band. I made balls of it and I got in a lot of trouble through arsing about and not taking it
This is my one time, when you’re working with people as equals you never get your own way its always a compromise and its always usually the one that’s the most difficult that gets the least compromises. Towards the end of New Order in particular I’m sure Bernard thought that compromise was something you did, “Oh compromise I know that, you do that don’t you?” Everybody else does it, it really did become like that. So we weren’t being satisfied really in any way creatively.
I do wish there wasn’t the two camps and I do wish that we weren’t at odds with each other the way we are but you know that’s just life, that’s just business. As a father have you still held onto your punk ethic?
I think there’s realism comes in as you get older. I mean our punk ideals were mainly about independence. I mean we were talking before about the Ramones doing t-shirts and amazingly Joy Division have never made a
old shit just to annoy the audience...”
FLY53 Meets PETER HOOK
For me, the boys, considering they didn’t write it show such a sense of enthusiasm and such passion for what they’re doing that it’s very humbling actually. The amount of power and work that they put in.
It did make me really happy, I’ve really enjoyed it and it really oddly has given me a new lease of life.
at the start - I’d play any
Last question, can you tell us about how you transitioned into DJ’ing?
Backstage when you finish a gig is it a sense of elation then?
Now I’ve got the other extreme, I’m the boss and I get to dictate how faithful it is to the original and I must admit that being faithful to the original is what makes me really happy. It was the same when we got to New Order this year, we played ‘Movement’ and ‘Power Crush and lies’ I know what the so called New order do so it left room for you to be very strictly original, in the way that the records were using the proper sounds and the proper orders and stuff.
“I was very awkward
seriously as it should be treated. Then I sobered up and my attitude funnily enough sobered up and I started really enjoying it. I was very awkward at the start I’d play any old shit just to annoy the audience. Then you sort of come round and think, these people are here, they’re on a night out they probably want a great night, the same way that you do when you go out, you want a great night. You don’t want somebody annoying you playing shit. (Laughing). I think the art of Dj’ing is quite lost on people. If you go out and have a great night you don’t even notice the DJ but if you have a shit night it’s the DJ (laughing).
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Sizzling sausages on barbies. Hot sun. Loungin’ with friends. FEST IVALS. Weekend warriors. Chilled drinks. Occasiona l downpours. It’s the UK summer and we’ re in there like sw imwear. Take some ideas from the outfits we ha ve put together, head to FLY53.co m and get in the summer mood.
5
1 Bunker Jacket / Barwin Shir t
Aluko Shor ts / Jilted Shoes / Sausages 2 Puako Tee / Aluko Shor ts 3 Glitch Tee / Aluko Shor ts /
Ghosty High Tops / Bog roll / 4 Wavefor m Zip / Love Thy Enemy Tee
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Aluko Shor ts 5 Aluko Shor ts / Collat Polo 6 Kanite Shor ts / Tried & Tested Tee / Ghosty High Tops
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Landshapes Landshapes, the latest signing to Bella Union started out as Lulu and the Lampshades whose Cups video went viral with hits in excess of 3 million resulting in scores of spin offs. Since then they’ve gone through a big musical metamorphosis applying broad brushstrokes, big sounds and mournful melodies. In Limbo is the first example of this. Their album Rambutan is released soon.
KILL FOR COMPANY A lo-fi duo from Manchester. Michael Banfield plays a unique, self-manufactured hybrid guitar/bass (guibass) joined by Mark O`Donoughue on drums and percussion.The first self produced EP quickly sold out, bringing the duo to the attention of Amazing Radio, ManchesterRadioOnline, 4QMagazine, Rainy Skies magazine and BBC Introducing. Recently signed to Longevity Records, their second E.P “Alternative To Living” received national play by Tom Robinson on BBC6Music and a sellout E.P Launch.
Daytona Lights
Young Rival
Drawing favourable comparisons to Aztec Camera, Duran Duran and The Beach Boys, Daytona Lights bring a unique modern twist to influences, crafting spacious grooves and lyrics that last. The boys have achieved airplay and delivered live sessions on Radio 1, Radio 2, XFM, BBC 6Music and also featured in ad campaigns for Blackberry and Olympus. The band’s new EP - ‘Old Fashioned Love’ is out now.
Eliza and the Bear
RAWCuss
New kids on the block exciting indie rockers Eliza and the Bear first grabbed our attention in the last year with their debut track ‘Brothers Boat’ produced by Peter Miles. Intrigued, we did a little research to find out where we could catch them this summer and the list was impressive to say the least. From the kick off to your summer festy ‘The Great Escape,’ to ‘Hard Rock Calling,’ to ‘Secret Garden Party,’ to ‘Lounge on the Farm,’ and a few more in between. It seems this quartet are in popular demand. T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E
Canadian three piece Young Rival recall Hot Hot Heat, The Strokes with surf boards, or, as Happy Mondays’ Gary Whelan would have it - “The Beach Boys meet the Sex Pistols”. The band have their new single ‘Two Reasons’, with one of the most incredible videos we’ve seen in a long while, out now.
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In their short career, Rawcuss one of the freshest, most original bands on the current Manchester music scene have already rocked many of the city’s top venues – The Academy, The Roadhouse, Band on the Wall, Ruby Lounge and Night and Day but to name a few spreading news of their unique sound dubbed “a tantalizing mix of The Kinks and The Buzzcocks.” Count us in. In October last year the guys were invited to Abbey Road studios in London to meet with Rob Cass who has worked with more artists and producers than we’ve had hot dinners from the likes of Estelle to John Leckie of Radiohead.
It’s not everyday we get a request for something a band member wants to wear onstage, so when it does happen, we’re happier than a dog with two dicks that it’s Killing Joke that asks the question. Killing Joke provided not just a harder edge soundtrack to our post teenage years, their singer Jaz Coleman was also a character we loved. We have always thought rock and roll stars should use their fame to live on the edge and Jaz has done exactly that. What’s the use in being a musician if you act like a choir boy? When we had our showroom in Soho back in 2011, Jaz came in for a meeting and he immediately decided he wanted a black boiler suit from us. It’s taken a while but it’s been worth the wait as he’s on a world tour with these bad boys suits now. The suits are quite simple with a black fireproof material (you never know when that might be useful) a hand painted Nazca Spider from Peru alongside some specially made FLY53 patches.
For more from this story, head online to FLY53.com
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So why the name The Great Frog?
It’s a funny one actually and I still haven’t really got to the bottom of it. Obviously my Dad started the business in 1972 and in that time it was post 60s hippie, rock and roll era and he bandies a few stories around but most of them are to do with doing a lot of LSD. At the time there was some particular west coast comics, the most well known of those was ‘Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers’. Within that whole realm of psychedelic comics, he came across one of the story lines about a guy high on LSD and he was tryna’ discover the secret of the universe and I think somebody said the secret of the universe is, ‘all of the waters of the
of the time and that sort of sound lends itself perfectly to skulls and gothic imagery for want of a better description. That obviously translates into our jewellery even to this day. That imagery seems to resonate with certain genres of music, subcultures, tattoos and motorbikes, I don’t know why but it just seems to be that way.
“If you’ve got a crazy idea, it’s interesting and it’s a laugh”
It turns out he actually went and brought some stuff from our store which we can’t do anything about.You know you can’t stop people from buying what they want. But a lot of the time record labels, you’ll get an email from them saying can you make something for so and so and I’ll take a look and if there not really a fit or I can’t in my sort of conscience get to grips with it then I’ll just be like, ‘Nah we can’t really do it, it’s not really within our brand remit,’ or something like that. Make up some sort of feasible excuse rather than just saying, ‘You’re shit mate.’ Have there ever been any designs where you’ve had to reign somebody in?
We’ve done some crazy shit put it that way. There’s certain things that I don’t like doing and that I won’t do. I don’t do things like swastikas and things like that even though I know they’re sort of, at the moment, quite fashionable on the whole bike scene. A lot of the companies I work with within the jewellery industry are Jewish, obviously the jewellery industry is quite a big Jewish trade and I don’t really like to do that sort of thing just because I don’t like to cause offence to people. I think it’s a bit irresponsible to use images that are responsible for so much hurt, anguish and horror to families and I don’t think it should be allowed to be turned into something that’s trivial so I don’t do them for that reason.
world are held within the armpit of the great frog.’ I think that resonated somewhat with my Dad and yeah, he decided to use that as the name of the company. So I’m stuck with it. But it turns out it’s a pretty good name although it’s quite hard to pick out exactly what it is, so I think it kinda’ mystifies people, which I quite like now. It’s grown on me. What’s the connection between music and what you guys do?
I think there’s quite a lot of (within the music that I like – the heavier more alternative side of things) there’s quite a lot of symbolism within the graphics and the album and sleeve covers and content of the music has always been quite dark. The vocals and the beats and everything are quite heavy and hard and aggressive a lot
Is there any genre of music that you haven’t been able to work with?
Err yeah. Lets just say there are a few things that I’ve done (you know you’ve always gotta’ make a buck) but I haven’t really shouted about it.You know things you’re a bit embarrassed to be associated with, so try to keep a lid on it? Recently we’ve had people coming to us; in fact I’ve had to put my foot down on a few occasions. We’ve been told by record companies that we should do some stuff for Justin Beiber and things like that and we’ve just been like, ‘nah sorry we can’t.’ and a few other bits like that.
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“We’ve been told by record companies that we should do some stuff for Justin Beiber and things like that and we’ve just been like, ‘nah sorry we can’t.’..”
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S But yeah on a lighter note we’ve done all sorts of crazy shit like you know people have wanted a skull with two crossed cocks underneath.You know people have bought pictures of vaginas in to make rings and stuff like that, yeah we’ve done it, pretty much anything we’ll do any crazy shit. If you’ve got a crazy idea, it’s interesting and it’s a laugh.
I just thought it was a great opportunity to work with a great legend really and to be part of that whole New York thing. Also we’ve just opened up in New York, we’ve been there a year now. In fact it would have been nice if this happened when we first opened because
‘all of the waters of the world are held within the armpit of the great frog.’
So tell us a little bit about the FLY53 x Arturo Vega hatchet?
Well obviously the Ramones are a massive influence on what we do, we listen to them all the time while we’re working the album and the artwork is very, very iconic. I hadn’t actually heard of Arturo until I was told and educated on what we was and did being creatively part of the Ramones and that side of things.
we’re new to the city really. We’re on lower east side and we obviously made a bit of a pilgrimage to like C.B.G.B.’s which is now John Varvatos, and had a look in there. It’s a really iconic place and we were like, ‘yeah this is great this is what we want our store to be like.’ But we kinda started out fresh off the boat as it were in New York, not really knowing a lot of people and we kinda had to like make it from there. Obviously Arturo and those guys being from original New York in the days when it was really edgy and cool sort of the nucleus of punk rock in America it would
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have been great to have had some input from those guys to begin with but, this is just a great tie in with what we do. We have so much music history here and it would be great to get something going over in New York. Plus its just nice to work with like-minded people really. Especially the pieces we’ve don they turned out to be really fun to work with. They were really nice and tactile lovely pieces, which are nice to wear. I can’t wait to actually wear one myself but I haven’t made enough yet so I’m gonna’ have to make an extra one for myself. I think they’re a really nice iconic piece with a nice backstory to it, which always transcends the piece itself when there’s a back-story and there’s something interesting to say. It elevates it from just a small piece of metal, which is essentially what it is into something better and something that’s got more intrinsic value really. So yeah it was an exiting project all round.
ST D A Lunar C’s profile is on an upward trajectory, in large part because of his quick verbal skills mixed with a deadly northern sense of humor that exploded onto the battle rap video series - ‘Don’t Flop’...
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...Thing is, Battling is only part of the story and part of the persona that’s on very public display. Engaging, personable, witty, driven, he’s got a plan.
Just don’t call his mum a slag unless it’s when you’re battling him.
How’s the transition from battle to studio going?
Good man, it was never really a transition, I mean, I’ve done music a lot more than I’ve battled for. It’s more just proving that to other people that that’s what I’m good at, but yeah it good man. It’s what I do best in my opinion. Do you think once you move to studio you can go back to battling – Do you think you would go back?
Me personally, right now I wouldn’t say yes or no because you know I’m fucking 22 years old I’m too young to say I’m retiring from anything, I just do what makes me happy and what I think is a good choice for me. Like I say I only really did the battles to promote the my music and I was only really initially gonna do one battle but then there was a bit more demand for it, so I did a bit more, but it was all just to keep the hype up about my music really. I was always planning to kinda’ come out of it and use the battle hype for my music. You know. Quit while you’re ahead. Fuck yourself. (Laughing) Don’t Flop is the biggest thing on the scene at the moment. We never knew there were so many MC’s around...
Fucking definitely man, they’re everywhere. It can be the most run down little village, but if it’s got two
bands and a pub there’ll be 20 MC’s they’re bickering about how gangsta they are. There’s a lot of people with a lot of raw shit and loads of like slept on artists who wouldn’t get the exposure if it wasn’t for battling and they kinda’ have to do it for that. So it’s good man it’s definitely done the scene a lot of good in that sense - Big up Don’t Flop. Do you ever get tired of defending yourself in battles and as an artist?
The thing is man like when you’ve done a battle it means that a few thousand people have took in on face value, and all they get from that video is that you’ve been stood in a room talking shit about somebody while they just stand there in a room of people and talk shit about you and your family and your mum and your girlfriend and you’ve basically just stood and took that off each other. So they watch that and they think that’s what this guys about he must be up for banter like 24/7. But it’s not really like that. Like if you come up to me in the street and say, ‘Your mums a slag,’ I’ll punch you in the face. Do you know what I mean? There has to be like that understanding. Like I say about boundaries in battles, you can’t really act in real life like you do in a battle. As well as the defensive side of battles there’s also a humorous side – Do you think that’s a stronger or more important element?
Definitely. I don’t think it’s stronger because it doesn’t exist as much as the more confrontational side of hip hop and grime. But I’ll take the piss out of anything and anyone that’s why I have a lot of arguments on twitter because anything I don’t like I’ll just take the piss out of it. And I take the piss out of myself a lot as well. I’ve kinda got a tongue in cheek style in a battle, if you come with more of an aggressive style it’s just gonna’ bounce back on to you and make you look like an idiot cos’ I don’t really care about anything you’re saying to me.You’re just gonna’ get more worked up and angry and look like an idiot so you’ll lose. Talk to us a little bit about Fly Tippers?
Fly Tippers, has been going for a while man. Before the battling, like years before that I was living in Shipley, T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E
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record all sorts. Like literally, some of them couldn’t write, didn’t have any past with music or rhyming and it got them off the streets a little bit. Got them into music and being productive. “we made a track called ‘Kick Buttica’ Which is the most embarrassing thing I’ve
which is where I first lived as a child before I moved to somewhere called West Malling (I was brought up there from four years old) but I moved back to Shipley when I was like 19/20. There was obviously like no hip-hop scene or anything, a few grime MC’s here and there but no real scene. Me and my boy Phoenix used to just go down to the park and freestyle and a few kids like used to congregate and give us cigs for doing freestyle. We used to have little battles and freestyle sessions. Kids would start writing and coming and it ended up with 20 kids in the park. Me and Phoenix were making music together and we were trying to get a name for the crew. We ended up calling it Fly Tippers. I told one of my mates about what had been happening, these 20 kids in the park battling with nowhere to go. He was working with a youth club at the time and he got some funding for us to get the kids into an office in Bradford. When we were there we used to teach them how to write, get them beats, and help them
ever said in an interview”
But then David Cameron fucked it all up. But Fly Tippers is still a crew we’re still making music. We’ve got like Chief Wigz in there whose a little bit older than me. He’s been around West Yorkshire Hip hop scene a little bit longer. Minas from Huddersfield, WideBoi from Bradford. Cez is still in it so it’s just growing. Who do you look up to now – is it still the old names on the scene?
Yeah man definitely. I basically have always listened to hip-hop. I can remember when I was like 12/13 even younger man, me and my boys made a track when we were like seven or eight. We were in a little stupid crew called Zonk and we made a track called ‘Kick Buttica’ Which is the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever said in an interview. Then I got into it more when I turned 16 because I got kicked out of school and I had to do a course in this place where there was a free studio. I started listening to dudes like Skinnyman, Jehst, Task Force; I was taking their style a little bit and taking what I could from them. Then it got to the point where I was like I’m not gonna’ do anything unless I’ve got my own style and it obviously developed over time.
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But yeah if it wasn’t for Mystro and Skinny Man I probably wouldn’t be as good a rapper as I am today. Especially Mystro, he does a lot of multi syllabic bars and he’s just solid with it none of it’s forced so I definitely try to adapt that a little bit in my style. I idolize those guys man. Even if I get ten times bigger and I have a better career than all of them I’ll still look up to them always. What’s the goal?
The goal is just take it as far as I can without turning into something I’m not. Without compromising at all really. When I got a little bit of hype at first I kinda’ got a lot of opportunities a few links with certain people who could have taken me onto bigger things and I kinda’ got a bit star struck a few times and a bit gassed up, I’ll be honest I did at first. I was like yeah ‘I just wanna be as big as possible and I’ll do anything,’ and I spent a couple of months thinking like that. But it just wasn’t me man, at all. Like I was working on something and I was just like this is not me at all. I was trying to do it for radio and not for my fans, or something I would like to listen to. I decided it was bullshit and recently all I’ve been trying to do is stick to my roots as corny as that sounds but like what I’m good at and what got me my fanbase initially. Even before the battles like I still had a fanbase before the battles, I wasn’t too known but I still had people that liked my music. I’ve just got to keep going at what I’m good at and just get better and better at it until I can buy a diamond encrusted Lamborghini and loads of little children from Africa and see if I can sell any to Angelina Jolie. That’s about it.
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Electronic pop, Manchester born
THE WHIP
birthday and the first time we’d met Bez. He came up to me after the gig and was like “You’re alright for a bitch.” (Laughing) he’s amazing. We’d travelled 20 hours to get there and then first place we went was just full of Mancunian’s eating pizza.
three piece, Bruce, Fee and Nathan aka The Whip, have long graced our record
Nathan - That was with Hooky and The Charlatans and that lot.
collection here at Fly53 HQ. with reviews like; “their sound is reminiscent of the sound of seagulls frying on electricity power cables,” fresh in our minds (which as far as we were concerned could only be a good thing). We caught up with them browsing through Piccadilly Records to probe them about their time on tour with The Charlatans, New Order and Zombie Nation and get them to reveal their deepest darkest guilty pleasures.
FRYING SEAGULLS
How has ‘Wired’ been received?
Bruce - When the album came out we got to tour all sorts of different places, which was amazing to be still working, as a band after so many years that was our dream really. We’re going back to Japan to travel round there for a while, because it’s only just come out in Japan. Fee - So we’re still very much feeding off it now which is amazing. Bruce - I think the UK is ready for new material, which is why we’re beavering away on fresh meat, but these things take time. Have you got any good tour stories you can share with us?
Nathan - There’s been some cool nights in Japan with The Charlatan’s. We went out last year to play with them and it was the same old story after every gig. Bruce- Those guys party quite hard. Shocker. Wrestling on a bed with the drummer from The Charlatans and Zombie Nation. Fee - I’ve got photos of it, it was wild. It was my T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E
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Bruce - Steve our sound guy has never been to Japan before, he was really excited about it and all the culture he was going to see and he was in a hotel with a load of British people eating pizza. Why do you think Manchester is so rich for music?
Fee – There’s a lot of creativity in Manchester. One of my theories is because the weather is so rubbish, people don’t want to go out and they just write songs. Also there’s a lot of venues in the city that will give you a chance when you’re starting out. I think for people in other cities it can be a lot harder. Nathan - It’s a very working class town Manchester, and not a lot of well off people, so people have a story to tell. Also, for people like us, our age there’s a lot of history in Manchester music. The music history here is great it goes back to the generation before us to in the 60s. Bruce - It’s quite an intense industrial place to be and it is raining all the time. Nathan - All the time. Bruce - So it probably rubs off on people being creative in the city. All bands from Manchester seem to support other bands from Manchester is there some sort of secret handshake we don’t know about?
Nathan - There is but it’s a secret! Nathan - It’s not like the 90s any more when it was bands against bands and there was a lot of rivalry. When
I first started playing in Manchester in like 1996 or something bands used to hate each other. Everyone just knows how difficult it is now to make it, you’re not going to get anywhere by slagging off other bands. Its best to just let people do what they do.
“WE’RE BEAVERING AWAY ON FRESH MEAT...”
THE WHIP
Does playing on the same bill as the likes of New Order terrify you or inspire you?
Bruce - I think anyone that’s in a band have their favourite bands and people that they’re inspired by, and to get a bit of respect back from them is absolutely brilliant. Fee - We’ve got this gig with them at Jodrell Bank in Mackelsfield coming up and we wanted to do that since they’ve been using that as a venue, we’ve been gagging to play there. They’ve given us that opportunity, that’ll be a proper highlight of this year for us. Touring with the likes of New Order have they ever given you any good advice?
Nathan - I was talking to Steven Morris in Ibiza about releasing records and what its like these days. And he said ‘you just keep going’. If you’re a good band you just always keep going.You know, stick together. I’ve had that advice from a lot of people. Some of the Elbow lot said the same thing, if you just stick at it you’ll be fine. A lot of bands when they get hit with a bit of a wall instead of trying to break it down they’re more like “Oh well, we had a good run” and that’s it. Who are you listening to at the moment? Can you recommend any new bands for us to look out for?
Fee - Disclosure I’m liking what they’re doing. Bruce - It’s mad they got to number one. Suddenly house tunes like Duke Dumont and Disclosure are at the top of the charts. All of a sudden he’s struck gold, found some sort of formula that’s working for a wider audience, it’s great! Rider requests?
Fee - Vodka Nathan - Gin Bruce - Whisky
Guilty pleasures?
Bruce - Vodka, Gin and Whisky ha ha ha. Nathan - No I have a thing for 80s music. Big 80s pop productions you know like Michael Mcdonald like LA west coast 80s sounds. (Is LA West Coast?) Anyway that’s my guilty pleasure. Fee - I like sweets and cakes. Oh I like a good cake. Bruce - We are pretty bad actually if we go into a dressing room after travelling all day and there’s a load of sweets and cakes and stuff like that we all three just stand there eating and don’t really speak. Nathan - Our tour manager is like come on you’ve got a sound check but we’re just too busy eating. Bruce - Haribo and like weird European chocolate things that aren’t even that chocolaty - they put weird things in them don’t they taste different, but we still eat lots of them.
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“If you’re a good band you just always keep going. You know, stick together..”
“There are certainly parts of the record that make me pretty uncomfortable”
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“I wish someone had had a word with me back then...”
The last time we met was the day before Wembley (sold out Fri 13th 2012 gig). That went well didn’t it?!
Indeed it did. No complaints from my end. Then of course there was the little matter of the Olympics how did you manage to keep that a secret?
I was actually legally bound not to tell anyone about it, I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement. I did tell my Mum.
Frank Turner has been on our radar and stereo since his Million Dead days. His music has gone from strength to strength and we have been following him, catching up periodically in between his shows and tours. This time round we caught him, very quickly, before two massive shows in Birmingham and London (both sold out) and threw a few questions at him, then left him to get on with slaying the crowd.
East London bars are referenced in your new album and there has been a scene based around those bars in the last few years, from Kid Harpoon to Mystery Jets and even Amy Winehouse, do you think that was a rich environment?
It’s flats in East London, ha ha. I hang out in Camden usually when I’m in town. I had a great time back in 2005/7 at Nambucca in Holloway, that was a good time and place for me. The idea of a “scene” is something I want to be careful about though, it’s usually a pretty constructed elitist thing, not something I’m interested in. Self-reliance is a key part of what you not just sing about but do as a musician to get yourself out there. Does this spring from being let down by others or are you a control freak?
Watching ‘The Way I Tend To Be’ (a film about the road to Wembley) we immediately thought, wow, is the hair (Million Dead) length ever coming back?
A little bit of both of those, and a lot of existing on the road. Townes Van Zandt sang that the road would keep you free and clean, and he wasn’t wrong about much.
Fuck no. That doc is great, Greg did an awesome job, but it is kind of a tour of my terrible hair through the years. I wish someone had had a word with me back then, ha ha. We are loving Tape Deck Heart, is this your most rabble-rousing album to date (we pumped a fist or two)?
In places, yeah, though overall I feel it’s quite an inwardlooking record. Hopefully people can relate. As it sounds so personal, was it the hardest album to write and were there bits that you had to leave out – too raw versus too sappy?
It wasn’t an easy write, I was pushing myself to dig deeper and find something intense. Pitching it right was hard, sure. I tried my best to keep all the rawest stuff on T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E
there. There are certainly parts of the record that make me pretty uncomfortable.
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If we are reading past interviews right, you are worried about a dislocation between musicians and fans as the musician gets bigger. Less to write about that’s associated with the man/woman on the street, do you think you can stop that disassociation from happening to you?
I think that’s something every musician who becomes successful has to address on some level. It’s the Streets conundrum - what does Mike Skinner sing about for album three? (I think he’s a genius, incidentally). I’m doing my best not to fall into the trap, in part that’s why I wanted to write a personal album this time around, stop things getting too grandiose. Success has its trappings, but with your feet so firmly planted on earth, what do you allow yourself? Fine wine, cars, houses, holidays, guitar strings of silk…?
Uh, I buy my friends dinner when I see them.
FLY53ZINE
THE
/ FRANK TURNER / NEON NEON / peter hook / blood red shoes / killing joke / / lunar-c / Child of lov / the whip / the great frog & MORE / T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E
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