Eight questions with Flight Brigade

Steve Gullick

1. Who are Flight Brigade? (a short introduction)

We're seven friends who grew up very near each other in Hampshire & after going separate ways, and being in different bands at uni and stuff, we came back together. The two girls, Miriam & Dorry (violin) are sisters and Ollie (lead singer) is married to Miriam (microkorg, backing vocals) so nearly half of us are related.

2. How long have you been making music as Flight Brigade, and what have the highlights been since then?

We've gigged as Flight Brigade for five years, a recent highlight would definitely be playing Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg last month, our show completelely sold out, they had to turn a load of people away, which kind of took us by surprise. The audience were really responsive, dancing and even singing along. We'd already fallen in love with Germany but now we're totally psyched for touring there at the end of he year!

3. Your biography mentions comparisons to Arcade Fire and Of Monsters and Men… two other bands with a mix of male and female vocals (and two of our favourites!) - how do you take such comparisons, and which bands do you find inspiration in?

These are both bands we admire hugely, both for their albums and their live shows. Arcade Fire especially have incredible intensity on stage and are so good at drawing the crowd into the experience, we're deeply honoured if people do say they see a comparison. We also love heavier bands, especially Queens of The Stone Age, & Nine Inch Nails. Our drummer's a metal- head and is always introducing us to his latest discovery.

4. Your debut album ‘Our Friends Our Enemies’ is being released in a couple of weeks… how exciting is that?! When was it recorded, and where? Tell us if there are any interesting stories about producers and session players you met and worked with!

We recorded it by the sea in Eastbourne, of all places, you don't associate Eastbourne with rock music but it's a great studio called Echo Zoo, with a huge live room and lots of vintage gear. We had the chance to record drums, bass & guitar playing together to try to capture some of the energy of a gig. We also recorded the singing together which was something we were dead keen to do. The studio is literally a one minute walk from the sea so, when we took breaks we got to walk out on the beach which makes you feel so good and gets rid of any cabin fever.

5. Who is your audience and how do you connect with your fans? Any crazy, fun, exciting stories are very welcome.

We seem to have quite a broad range of fans. We often seem to find ourselves meeting Canadian and German fans after playing gigs which excites us as we're heading to Germany but would also love to tour Canada too of course! We still find Facebook the most useful way to let people know about things that are happening and especially for inviting people to gigs. We've some fans who volunteer at the festivals we play at, it's really heart warming to get a message asking where we'll be playing cause they're planning their summer and wanna know where to apply to volunteer.

6. What are you doing to prepare for the album release tour? Any surprises in store? The Oxford date falls in the latter half of the tour… how do you keep band morale up when you’re on the road?

We've been meeting up for 'Band Camp' -taking a weekend to play & work on a few new songs too, just to throw somethin new in the mix and keep things fresh! We always like to have a couple new toons to road test. We keep up band morale by listening to Kenny Loggins & watching Baseball! But seriously, we just try to ignore small annoyances and remember how lucky we are to be with a group of close mates travelling round playing music.

7. What would your dream gig look like? Are there any artists you’d love to play alongside or cities you haven’t visited yet as a band?

Our top dream would be to support Death Cab For Cutie touring round America. We haven't played in the US yet but would lurve a road trip and Death Cab are huge heroes of ours.

8. After this 17-date tour, what does the rest of the year hold for you? A break? Any plans for 2017 yet?

No break, nooo, we head off to tour Germany and Holland (soon to be announced- we're supporting a Finnish band on tour) so it's pretty all-go till Christmas which will be a well deserved break we reckon! We haven't thought too much about 2017 yet - just enjoying what we're up to today!

Flight Brigade headline a show at Oxford's The Cellar on 21st October, with Harry Pane and Water Pageant supporting - tickets available here!