Secret Admirer loves a good boy band.
Flaming Fields are no factory made pop machines however, they have their own free will.
They use this free will to experiment with different genres of guitar twanging music.
Diamond geezers that they are.
Flaming Fields are no factory made pop machines however, they have their own free will.
They use this free will to experiment with different genres of guitar twanging music.
Diamond geezers that they are.
When and why did you start the band?
Jake: It kind of started, if you want to go back to the root of it, it kind of started this time last year with me and Joe agreeing that we wanted to start writing some songs and getting some stuff together. We weren’t really sure what direction we wanted to take it in but we knew we wanted to get something, whether it was going to be a full band or just us two. From there, we got Nick and James and it just sort of evolved from there. This kind of, alternative band that I guess we have become.
Why did you choose the name Flaming Fields?
James: It was kind of just my dad, he was going through loads of names and he just said that.
It had a ring to it.
Nick: We didn’t have any good ones really.
Jake: Essentially we had about a good ninety or so shit names before that. We really weren’t sure. What were we called? Element or something?
Joe: Yeah, Element.
James: It was the first one where we all actually said ‘yeah, I like that’. There was no one going ‘I’m not sure’, everyone was like yeah.
Joe: Then it just kinda stuck, yeah.
Jake: It was the only one that sounded alright. The only one!
What do you want people to get from listening to your music?
Jake: Personally I just want people to get some sort of energy or emotion out of it.
Joe: An experience, inspiration…anything. Whatever.
Jake: Exactly.
Joe: As long as you feel something, then it’s worth doing.
Jake: A connection, you know, a connection. That’s what music is about, you are sort of getting your message across to other people in a way that you can’t in words. Just getting your point across.
You like to experiment with different styles of music, do you ever think you are going to define your style?
Jake: I doubt it, because the thing is, we all like so many different types of music collectively. None of us are all into one band. That’s how we got together. We just all like so many different styles, and I can’t see us settling down, thinking of one specific style. Our sound is starting to develop where we have got a unique sound. But it’s not…you can’t really pigeon-hole it into a genre.
Joe: It’s all threaded together with like, a rock edge to it. But at the same time, we are trying to take influences from anywhere we can.
That’s cool.
Nick: We want to keep on experimenting.
Joe: It’s all about just making noise really.
Jake: We’ve got some stuff now that is starting to go towards…it’s got this more reggae influence. I’m a big fan of a lot of pop stuff, so that influence is creeping in there. All sorts of things just come together, so yeah.
If you could soundtrack a film, which one would you choose?
Jake: Nick?
Nick: Errr...probably Inception. That would be pretty cool. (Laughs)
Jake: I’d like to go for Pretty Woman, the re-make. Just because, you know…
Joe: Pulp Fiction man! We’d fit, we’d fit that I think.
Jake: Something where it is drastically out of context would be so much better.
Nick: What you feeling James?
James: Erm…
Jake: You can’t pick porn! You can’t pick adult films James.
You can if you want. It’s fine.
Jake: Ass Masters Five.
Nick: Say The Jungle Book, that would be a good one.
James: Yeah The Jungle Book.
What would be your dream label to sign to?
Jake: I think I asked you guys about this. Has anyone got a personal choice?
Joe: Ideally I’d like to just set one up.
That would be cool. Have you sent your demos to any record labels yet?
Jake: Not yet, but it’s that thing that everyone tells you. And I think it’s true, is that record labels get so many people sending their demos and EPs in that it’s not really a good way to get attention. They obviously get so many that it just gets put in one big pile and ignored.
Do it yourself then.
Jake: I’d love to be signed to one of those independent labels, that are a smaller division of a big label. So you have kind of got more artistic freedom. Not too much pressure. Like Beggars Banquet.
What’s the best gig you have played so far?
Joe: The last one.
Nick: Last week, weren’t it?
Jake: It was awesome, yeah.
Nick: We had about a hundred and sixty people came that came throughout the day. And we got the most people.
Joe: They were all feeling it as well.
Nick: Yeah, by the time we got on stage it was like eleven o’clock, so everyone was pretty hammered. We got some pits going and people moshing about.
Jake: It was crazy. We did our last song, ‘Be Free’ and I looked around and everyone was just dancing. And it was a bit weird when it was a song that no one really knew. It’s your own song that kind of got people going. That was nice, we were talking about it on the way down.
James: Obviously I couldn’t see because I was at the back.
Jake: The drummer always gets the bum deal.
Nick: Yeah, it was like people I’d never seen before just going for it. Gives you a good feeling. All the other bands seemed to like us too, so…
Jake: Yeah, it’s a good thing when before you go on, the other bands…you know what it’s like at these gig nights. They aren’t necessarily being horrible, but they are all…there is a bit of animosity towards other bands sometimes. And when you come off, their attitude towards you has totally changed. That’s a good sign that you are doing the right thing.
Do you think you are starting to develop a fan base?
Jake: It’s getting bigger. The thing is, it’s going to be a lot of hard work. I think it’s harder now to get a fan base than it was years ago. Because of the way things are and people’s attentions spans towards music.
They are very short.
Joe: It’s not just family and close friends now. There are a lot more people into it.
Do you have any creepy fans yet?
Jake: Nick is. He’s in the band though. Nick is the heart breaker in the band. He’s got like ten stalkers.
Nick: Unfortunately so. I’m just the wanker in the band. It’s just them bassists.
Jake: Have you not noticed, like, at uni, he just gets constant phone calls? And he’s just like, oh for fucks sake! And he has to turn his phone off.
Nick: Like that girl last night.
He’s got a creepy fan, he has definitely got one.
Jake: Does she know you are in a band?
Nick: Yeah, I think she does.
Jake: That’s brilliant, honestly. Because I think Nick’s going to be the band poster boy.
Nick: Great.
Jake: Because you seem to have the most luck with the ladies. The rest of us…I don’t know. Nick has got it.
Nick: It’s the four strings.
Jake: It’s the sound of his bass, his big, big bass.
Have you got any plans in terms of gig-ing or recording in future?
Jake: We were talking about it on the train down, we want to try and get next year fully booked for gigs. We want to expand into different cities.
Nick: We got one in November, haven’t we? In Nottingham. Then recording wise…
James: Hopefully soon.
Jake: Soon-ish, because the EP we’ve got out now isn’t the best thing that we have got. It’s just a representation of what we were as a band before we started gig-ing. Before we even knew each other properly. Apart from me and Joe, so before we even knew the band, in the true sense of the word. We now have got some new songs that have just changed again, in style. We are going to go out and record them soon. Can’t wait.
Thanks guys.
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