Interview: Flawes talk new music, influences & recording with Finneas
- by Andrew Braithwaite
- in Interviews
Flawes are a dynamic electro-pop trio consisting of JC (Josh Carruthers), Freddie Edwards, and Josh Hussey, all of whom come from a session musician’s background.
They have started gathering traction as a band and have even received positive feedback from Billie Eilish. They had also recorded music with Billie’s producer extraordinaire brother Finneas back in 2017.
Now they’re back with a new EP ‘Reverie,’ marked by the single "What's A Boy To Do", which dropped last Friday. With new music just released, Andrew Gilmour (Giz) from Music Talkers caught up with JC via a Zoom session to find out a little more about them. You can also listen to the interview at the bottom of this page.
Giz: How are we doing, you alright?
Flawes: Yeah, not too bad.
Giz: I’m no psychic, but I bet this year has been a bit of a weird year for you?
Flawes: Yes, it has, very much. Our debut album came out in January and we had a full year of gigs, touring, festivals appearances — basically promoting what we spent three years to write, and obviously, that was all gone.
Giz: Ahhh, nightmare!
Flawes: Yeah, we were meant to play South By Southwest Festival in Texas, and we were so excited! That was like the first major thing that got canceled, and we were still like hoping it would go ahead but yeah. But since then we have just jumped into writing more music and trying to keep busy and positive, and keep that momentum that we had. We didn't want that momentum to, kind of, end so we kind of jumped into it.
Giz: When I was asked to interview you, I was pretty sure that you had not long released an album, and then I saw, a few weeks ago, you released a single “Holding Out For The Win” on Youtube, Part One of Three Reverie. Is that one of three songs?
Flawes: Reverie is the EP, which is a six-track rip recording through the lockdown. And one of three singles and three music videos — a trilogy would you call it? So basically the storyline follows on between all three music videos.
Giz: In regards to the EP, is that being released in February. Is that correct?
Flawes: Yeah.
Giz: Because I’ve noticed a lot of bands release EPs nowadays. I think it’s like a quick way of getting new music out, rather than waiting for a full album. Is there a specific reason why you have gone for an EP instead of an album, or do you just get something out there?
Flawes: We just wanted to continually release music, and it was like the quickest way to get a flow of music and keep the momentum kind of going, and then obviously with Coronavirus everything kind of stopped. We can't go out and play live and play any songs, so it was like what can we do? Let's quickly put together an EP.
Giz: I think you’ve got a really good sound by the way. I love “When We Were Young.” I genuinely love that song. I love your cover of “Ocean Eyes.” Are you a fan of Billie Eilish?
Flawes: Yeah, yeah, a big fan! We did that cover when it only just came out, and Billie Eilish wasn't like Billie Eilish we know now. She had that single that came out and she was like gonna be the next big thing and we loved that song and did a cover of it. And then —I can’t remember what the connection was, but she ended up hearing our version, and the message came back through our label that she really loved my voice. And then her brother Finneas, who obviously does all the writing, was keen to get me in the studio. This would be back in 2017, I think. We spent three or four days with Finneas in Los Angeles, and we wrote a bunch of songs. One of the songs is called Black Dice, and then, obviously, he’s gone on to become the biggest thing, haha!
Flawes: And then Billie Eilish is this absolute huge superstar, but, yeah, we stay in touch every now and again. We did a cover of his. We started doing these isolation sessions, so every week in lockdown, we did a cover of a different song, and we did a cover of Finneas’ song “Let’s Fall In Love For The Night” and he texts me after being like ‘oh dude I just love your voice so much,’ and I was like ‘thanks man, congrats on the 5 Grammys.’ (laughs)
Giz: Yeah you should have said “cheers mate, just let us know if you need any vocals.” (laughs)
Flawes: Yeah, exactly.
Giz: Yeah that’s great because, obviously, you have done a lot of session work I see online. Did you get to the point when you thought ‘I want to do my own thing now.’ Is that how the band started?
Flawes: Yeah, all three of us had been in bands before Flawes. We always had the dream of having our own thing. I think all three of us fell into the session world, and, of course, playing for other artists which was an absolutely amazing experience. I used to play for an artist Ella Eyre and we toured the world and played the biggest festivals, but there was no creative input at all. I guess I felt I wanted to write, so I started writing my own and that, kind of, formed the start of Flawes
Giz: Good stuff! So you have got the new EP coming up, “Holding Out For The Win” has been out a few weeks. What’s the next single coming up?
Flawes: The next single is “What's A Boy To Do.” It will be the second of three singles. We are just really excited about it, as you can tell. It was an idea all three of us had and it actually came about.
Giz: So I guess you have just been busy writing the songs for the EP during the lockdown, is that correct?
Flawes: Yeah, we are fortunate we’ve got a little part of where we live. This is my little studio here.
Giz: Nice
Flawes: So this is my keyboard, vocal booth - we all have our own spaces, which felt so fortunate to have in lockdown. I was limiting the times I was looking at the news, I went through a stage I was obsessed, I’d glimpse at my phone and watch the news, but I kind of persuaded myself that I didn’t need to keep watching the news, just once a day. The rest of the time I came in here and threw everything into writing music. All three of us use logic, and we pass around projects between us, like ideas, and play around with them back and forth
Giz: Do you mix it yourself, or do you get someone to mix it when it’s all put together?
Flawes: We usually get a song to a certain standard, and then we usually bring in an external producer to do some productions. So with “Holding Out For The Win,” we got a guy called Tony Scott, who we actually co-wrote the song with, he’s based in Brighton, but we obviously did the sessions on Zoom. For “What’s A Boy To Do” and the other songs, we did with a producer called Keith Varon, but he’s based out in L.A. So the sessions that we do were starting at 8:00 p.m- 9:00 p.m. at night, and obviously going on until the early hours, which was something we had not done. When we did the studio sessions we would wrap up at 6:00-7:00 p.m.
Giz: I’d heard your releases but never actually given ‘Highlights’ a proper listen until earlier this morning - I had a really good listen and I really like your sound. I’m just curious to your influences?
Flawes: Between the three of us, we’re quite varied. You can see on my wall here, these are like my three favorite albums of all time.
Giz: Is that Jeff Buckley Grace?
Flawes: It is, indeed!
Giz: Oh mate! Here is my canvas of Jeff I have just handy here. “Dream Brother” - there’s just something about that song, it’s absolutely haunting, isn't it?
Flawes: Yeah, I mean, I think I was 13 or 14 when I was first introduced to him. I mean all three of those albums here like ‘OK Computer.’
Giz: Yeah, another one of my favorite bands. Oh, hang on, I have a picture of Thom Yorke here too. (laughs) Thom Yorke and Jeff Buckley right there, look.
Flawes: There we go! I mean you’ve clearly got a great taste in music.
Giz: Great minds and all that (laughs)
Flawes: That’s what I kind of grew up listening to. That was kind of what I was into but Huss (Josh Hussey) is a lot more into his hip-hop and punk rock, that’s kind of what he grew up on. Freddie (Freddie Edwards) is into his blues kind of stuff and those classic rock bands. So I think it’s kind of been a mixture of all those things, and we are very open about the ideas and stuff.
Giz: Excellent! Well, hopefully, when we put this out, it can help gain you more fans. And anyone listening to this, I encourage you to listen to “Holding Out For The Win” straight away, go check it out. Great video as well. Is there anything you would like to say to your existing fans, anything you would like to say to wrap up this interview?
Flawes: I think — just thanks for sticking with us. I basically can’t wait to see you at a show. The second that it’s safe to do so, we’re out there, we’re out touring, so we want to see you there! I think for every band it’s going to be an occasion, it’s going to be such a party, and I will look forward to that.
Giz: Well it’s been lovely chatting to you, and thanks for joining us. We will get this out there and promoted, and all the best for the upcoming single I will look forward to hearing it, and I will look forward to the new EP and will look for when you’re touring.
Flawes: Nice one, thank you very much, thanks for having us.
