Interview with Flight Brigade

Interview with Flight Brigade

I can easily say that this is by far the largest band I have ever interviewed! Consisting of two sisters, four guys and one husband and wife, both Flight Brigade's on stage and off stage presence certainly is something to behold.

I recently chatted to the London based band about the release of their EP 'Stealing Fire', current tour and plenty more!

"We formed because Ollie (lead singer) grew up on the road from us girls in the group Me, (Miriam, now his wife) and my sister Dorry. Ollie had written some songs, and plucked up the nerve to drop in on our musician parents to see what they thought of his early demos. Dorry & I just started jamming along and a few months later we recruited musician friends from college. Neil was, and still is, the heaviest drummer we know, he's mad for really heavy music and we think that's bought a lot to our sound -as we like to combine beauty, harmonies and more delicate stuff with pretty heavy riffs. The fact there is 7 of us means we can get an almost orchestral sound at times and build layers and play with dynamics."

If you haven't already checked this band out on YouTube, I would highly recommend that you do so! Or alternatively, check out their tour dates on their website and tag along to a gig because here is what you can expect at a live performance:

"We like to think we give it all we can, people have told us, that's what comes across - which is good!. We aim to do what we do with conviction. To tell the story, or communicate a feeling. We also like to make use of dynamics, bring out the contrast between delicate intimacy and thunderous heaviness."  

No doubt, the setlist at a gig will be filled with older material but also the newer stuff on the EP. The band believe the new release has it's similarities and differences to their previous releases, something fans will be delighted to hear.

"I think there's some similarity and some contrast. Housefire has a brooding mood, which is also present in the track 'Our Friends Our Enemies'. We tend to write songs that tell a story. 'Our Friends Our Enemies' was written after Ollie heard an amazing story about World War 11. Ollie's was walking with a friend round Clapham Junction, where we lived, and his friend mentioned that bombs had fallen, right where they were standing, during World War 2 but hadn't exploded. Some Czech workers, under forced labor by the Nazi government were rolling powder-less shells off the munitions assembly line. One of the unexploded bombs was opened up and inside was a note, written in Czech, that read 'this is all we can do, for now'. This just inspired the song, it was a story of incredible courage under the watchful eye of the enemy. In contrast 'When We Were Young' is a fun, nostalgic track its got quite a different feel, kind of feeling of reminiscence. The Phantom is also more synth-driven and has an almost playful feel."

Although the band are understandably thrilled with the end product of the EP, they don't want to stop there, and already have plans to release an album in the not too distant future.

"We can't wait to get the album out. Work is being done on it as we speak. We're squirreling away on it in-between tour dates!"

Ah yes, the tour! I was joking to the guys that one noticeable absence from the tour was Ireland! But they assure me it's high up on their to-do list. Sit tight Irish fans.

"Yes it is busy but we're kinda used to that. We played 16 UK festivals this summer so it's been pretty non stop for a while! If only we could play Ireland in this tour! We'd love nothing more. Us sisters are half-Irish, we love the country and have loads of family in Connemara.  So, yes, we'd especially love to come play Ireland. But Yeah, we love playing live, we've played hundreds of gigs and learnt lots through doing that. It's hard to beat the feeling of playing live, its addictive in many ways, - we're truly hooked at any rate!"

As I mentioned, you can check out their tour dates on the website www.flightbrigade.com. The EP was released last Friday October 23rd and is available to purchase on all digital outlets and physical copies are available to buy at one of the gigs! If you're considering popping along to a gig, here's a little taster of what to expect - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3N91IAT_yY

EOIN!