Ahead of The Flies’ return to the sonic circus, charismatic spearhead
Sean Cook kindly answered the questions below, to satisfy our collective
thirst for beer insight into the release of ‘Pleasure Yourself’, their
second LP that’ll surely astound just like its auspicious predecessor.
ANT: What inspired the LP title
‘Pleasure Yourself’?
SEAN: The title of the record, ‘Pleasure
Yourself’ is taken from the name of one of the tracks, which is actually something
I normally don’t do. In this case it seemed appropriate, as much of the lyrical
content of the record deals with the vain and selfish nature of people and the
world today… I don’t think I really need to explain that, it’s all around us
and at the root of the massive downward spiral we are on as a race.
ANT: What influences your sound above
all else?
SEAN: I’m not sure that there is one particular thing that influences our
sound above all else and actually, I think that the influences change and
evolve with each new record we make. Our first LP, ‘All Too Human’ was mainly
influenced by sixties girl groups and exotica soundtracks, although there was
lots of other stuff in there as well.
Our new LP, ‘Pleasure Yourself’ has some
of those same influences too, but there’s a bit more of a leaning towards the
epic cinematic psych of the likes of Scott Walker and Roy Orbison (although
there’s a bunch of other stuff in there as well, from The Velvets and country
music to Joy Division and Kraut-rock!).
I guess ultimately we like our records
to be psychedelic, but not in the traditional sense… we essentially write quite
simple songs and then try to fuck them up.
ANT: How important are the single/
album charts?
SEAN: They are irrelevant to us because we are
never in them.
ANT: What changes can we expect from
your last outing?
SEAN: I think the new record is possibly a bit
darker (particularly in terms of lyrical content) and probably a little more
‘song’ based. On the first LP we probably leant more towards a process of
playing with sounds and interesting loops and then created songs out of them.
Whereas
on the second LP we started more with simple songs and then distorted them with
unusual sounds and effects. This is a generalisation however... you can find
both approaches on each LP. We tend not to have a manifesto about how we
approach things, but rather we do a few experiments and see what happens; if we
like it, we start to develop it.
ANT: Do you enjoy playing live or are
you more at home playing in a studio?
SEAN: I enjoy playing live but I probably prefer
being in a studio. Live work for a band like us is very difficult, particularly
so in the UK because you are very unlikely to get paid anything close to what
it costs to do the gig, so you are forever in a situation of compromise. It’s a
lot easier to play live with the likes of Massive Attack, as they have the
budget to put on a really spectacular show and it has been a real privilege to
be part of that.
Having said that, we have been rehearsing for our upcoming
shows and I have been really enjoying the challenge of stripping down the big productions
into a form that we can make work live with a five piece band. The spontaneity
and instant gratification of a live band is hard to top.
ANT: Where do you most enjoy playing
live?
SEAN: It depends on the circumstances. I have a
country band that I do with a bunch of friends including Damon Reece (who plays
drums on much of the new LP and will be with us live) and we only play in small
pubs and these are some of the most enjoyable gigs I’ve done. Over the years I
have played in pretty much every kind of venue from total toilets to huge
stadiums and festivals.
Toilets can have a lot of vibe, but often the equipment
is shagged out or not up to the job in the first place. Stadiums and festivals
have that, “Holy shit... Look at all those people!” factor and lots of posh
gear, but it can also be a bit soulless. I guess, on balance, 1000ish capacity
theatres are the best as they usually have a good sound, look good and are
still small enough to get a good vibe.
ANT: Do politics have a place in
music?
SEAN: Politics is the study and exercise of
power. Human experience and
relationships are conditioned by power… who has it and who does not. Politics is unavoidable in music, given that
music and art generally reflect human experience. There are obviously different
ways of doing this and some approaches are more overt than others, but I think
there are places for both. Some of my favourite groups, for example The Dead
Kennedys, are very political.
ANT: Are you all agreed/in control of
the formats of your releases?
SEAN: Well, we are now! On the first LP we had a deal with a major
label and really wanted a vinyl release, but the label refused to do it… we’re
not with that label anymore. Now we have less of a traditional artist/label
relationship and more of a partnership with the like-minded friends who release
our records (Library Music Recordings), so we do everything by mutual
agreement.
So, we are really prioritising the vinyl this time (both mine and
Andy’s favourite format) and releasing the new LP on octagonal gatefold 180
gram vinyl. The climate is better for vinyl now, with sales being at an
all-time high, as opposed to an all-time low as they were at the time of All
Too Human’s release... I guess it was
easier to get everyone on board behind a very special vinyl design concept.
The
record is also available on download because I guess people want that as well
but, at the moment we are not doing a CD release... I like CDs but I hate the
crappy boxes they come in. Vinyl is such a nice thing to have and to hold. When you put a lot of effort into to making
the music, you want to see it manufactured in a format that is substantial and
beautiful. ‘All Too Human’ will also be re-released on vinyl later in the year.
ANT: What music are you listening to
of late?
SEAN: Always a tough question for me because I
don’t keep up with current music really. I also have to spend so much time
listening to our music, as well as the music of the other groups I play for (I
was doing the Massive Attack v Adam Curtis tour last year and a lot of work
with Elizabeth Fraser the year before that), so
I don’t have time to keep track of new music.
Although I have to say
that I don’t like most of what I do hear. Looking at the records I have by my
deck right now, at the front of the pile I have Suicide’s first LP, Bauhaus
‘Press the Eject’, The Cramps ‘Psychedelic Jungle’, ‘The Essential’ Neil
Diamond, a 50’s rockabilly compilation, Echo and the Bunnymen’s ‘Heaven up
Here’ and ‘Up’ by The Perfect Disaster.
ANT: How important do you feel visuals
are in relation to music?
SEAN: I think visuals are very important when
presenting music. In terms of recorded music, we always try to make things look
as good as we can with the resources we have. We try to do the same thing live,
although the costs of a visually stunning show are prohibitive to us, so we
have to try to think laterally and do the best we can with the little that we
have.
Apart from cash, I don’t think there are any limits when it comes to
presenting your music… you have to throw everything you can at it to make it
the most overwhelming experience you can. If we had the cash we’d go fucking
crazy with that shit!
ANT: Any forthcoming plans for
you/the band?
SEAN: We have a double ‘A’ side single “In Her
Eyes/Turned On” out on 18th August, the LP “Pleasure Yourself” out
on 1st September and gigs at The Exchange in Bristol on 2nd
September (with Candy Darling) and London Water Rats on 3rd September (with Thousand Fingers).
Later in the year
we are releasing an EP of some odd covers we’ve done and then we are
re-releasing our first record ‘All Too Human”, in a nice gatefold vinyl
package. We’ll also be working on the new material we have for the 3rd
LP.
ANT: Thanks so much for your time Sean; I’m off to listen to ‘All Too
Human’ before I get hooked on ‘Pleasure Yourself’. Dear reader, please
take the time to read more here or, time out to fall for The Flies by following the links below…
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