Covered: Alternative Pop Band Flawes
In the next instalment of Covered, an interview series discussing the use of music in sync from the perspective of artists and producers, No Sheet Music’s Elle Lord heads to a bustling cafe in central London to sit down with three cheerful Huddersfield and London hailing chaps for a chinwag over a pot of tea. Flawes, consisting of members JC, Freddie and Huss, have been signed to RedBull Records since being Shazamed through Radio 1’s record of the week. With links to Ella Eyre and Mike Crossey the band are only on the up, and have been synced with the likes of LA Dodgers & Love Island US. So what is it like to be a band in 2019?
Q> Flawes! How are we all/what have you been up to today?
JC> All good! We’re playing two headline shows in Huddersfield and London. Playing at Thousand Island in Highbury and Islington, 15th October and then off to Huddersfield to play the parish, 18th October.
Huss> The Huddersfield gig will be more of a celebration than a gig as we’re making a big announcement.
Q> How did you guys band together?
JC> I met Huss at Rastrick High School in Huddersfield. We went back recently and saw that they put up a new sign saying 'Vistor Entrance' - which is probably the Yorkshire way of saying it. We were both in bands and performed as session musicians growing up and then I started writing my own ideas. I was playing for Ella Eyre as a session musician and as she gave me a lift home she asked to hear some of my stuff, which then turned into her asking me to support her on her tour. She gave me three months to get my act together and find a band. I then bumped into Huss by coincidence and Huss’s band had just come to an end. We then met Freddie through our mutual friend, Dave Baker, had a rehearsal and it all clicked together. Four months later we were on tour with Ella.
Q> You then got signed to Red Bull Records – how did that come about?
Huss> The power of Shazam! BBC Radio 1 made our song tune of the week so that song was playing on every show throughout the day and Redbull shazamed and signed us. Over the last couple of years we’ve been busy writing.
Q> How would you describe your music to those who haven’t heard it?
H> Alternative pop - not bubblegum. It’s honest music that we love to write and play. Somewhere between Bastille, OneRepublic and Coldplay - that kind of vibe.
Q> What’s the best thing you’ve done so far?
Freddie> Writing out in America. We went to some amazing studios in LA and worked with some incredible people.
JC> We wrote with Mike Crossey - I’ve wanted to work with him since I was a kid.
Huss> Touring and being able to see new countries. On tour in December supporting AJR, doing the whole of Europe and UK so playing Kentish Town Forum.
Q> And what’s the big Flawes dream?
Huss> John Smith’s Stadium Huddersfield!
JC> Honestly just having the longevity to write and play as much music as we can.
Freddie> We love both elements. We always miss the playing live when recording and miss the studio when playing live. Being able to do both for a long time is the dream.
Q> How is it being a band in 2019? Do you feel like being an artist now, compared to maybe 20 years ago has changed?
Huss> It’s so ever-changing; even in the last five years. Spotify seems to be the most relevant thing at the moment but the priority between social media platforms is always shifting. We always have to get involved with the business and marketing, which is something you cannot avoid. We may have learnt this the hard way but we realise that you have to be really involved to make things happen.
JC> With our social media we try to be as honest and open as possible so we’re not putting up a front because there’s no point trying to look cool. We tried to be dark and mysterious for a bit but that doesn’t really fit with us. We’re three bubbly guys and don’t want to come across any different. There’s nothing dark and mysterious about us.
Freddie> Apart from Huss’s beard.
Q> You’ve had some success in the world of sync – can you explain what happened there?
Freddie> It’s really cool! You get a lot of gratification. People live through social media more - being able to see content with our music is quite surreal as you know it’s hitting a wider audience with loads of different groups of people.
JC> We wrote that song in LA knowing it was a cool song, and so it’s great to see it being used in that light. When you record it you don’t imagine the American commentary sounding over it but it really works. The meaning behind that songs is about don’t count me out/don’t write me off. NY red bulls have used it as the players run out on to pitch too - huddersfield town played it when they were bottom of the league. So writing a track and seeing it apply to different pieces of content is awesome.
Q> How does it feel as a commercial Artist when you get music synced; is it ever something you think about when writing?
Freddie> After a song is written you might think this would suit that kind of content, but it would be a bad idea to write music with sync in mind. It wouldn’t feel honest. We love doing what we’re doing because there are no guidelines, we get to do what we do really honestly and our progression in sound has been very natural.
Q> There’s a huge shift towards more cover music being used in sync over the last few years. How do you feel about Artists covering each other?
Huss> We love a cover! We did a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s 'Everywhere'. We did it for a charity called Campaign Against Living Miserably, which is a charity for men’s mental health and suicide and they asked us to record a song on their album. That’s actually the song that got used on Love Island US.
Freddie> Also, when you’re covering someone else’s music you learn their chord progressions you learn to do things you wouldn’t do you yourself, so you learn from their writing style.
Q> What’s the overall Flawes message?
JC> Embrace your imperfections. We have an e in Flawes because it’s not supposed to be there - it makes our name imperfect which is perfect in its own way. We’ve all been in bands and made mistakes and we’ve learnt from our mistakes and our imperfections; that’s what makes us who we are. We all have the same tattoo as well - it’s an incomplete circle to remind us that we need to embrace our imperfections.
And there we are! Full circle. Almost.
If you’d like to go see Flawes play live they’ll be playing two headline shoes; one in London and one in Huddersfield. Tickets can be purchased here https://tickets.lnk.to/Flawes.
They also have a tour coming up in December; dates below.
