Still Flyin' : Interview

San Francisco superband, Still Flyin' have joyously bounded a long way since their joke fuelled dub and reggae infused early development. Their complete refusal to reflect the dark mood of the moment infecting the world through their music has since 2004 brought a smile to the faces of anyone with the good fortune of hearing so much as a chord emanating from within the talented collective’s party band philosophy.  I don’t care whether it’s hypothermic conditions out there, or whether you are nursing a February-long hangover due to it being a truly shit month or whether we are still in the grips of a global recession, Still Flyin' are back full of their natural high inducing boisterousness and it’s that little bit of non-bile projecting sunshine that we all need right now.  Praise the God of Music (quick Wikipedia check tells me this is Apollo). 

Still Flyin' are a formidable collective of musicians and other creative sorts brought together by  brainchild Sean Rawls who established everything initially on a joke reggae inspired song ‘Never going to touch the ground’ written prior.

“That song just wouldn’t leave my mind, so I started Still Flyin' based around that so I guess you could say we were kind of a joke band to start with.  And since it was a joke band I just invited everyone I knew to join in, which is how it came to be so big” explains Rawls in his drawn out Southern accent over a pint and a packet of “chips” in a dive in Camden.

“Now our membership just keeps growing and growing because not everyone can make every tour plus we can’t really afford to take everyone, so we kind of fill in the holes with other friends”.

Last year spawned Still Flyin’s debut album ‘Never Gonna Touch The Ground' on Moshi Moshi after the label head honcho was introduced to the band through friends and one-time label mates Architecture in Helsinki.  An 11-track foray into their mash up of influences from the afore mentioned reggae to West Coast indie pop to anything and everything in between.  It was a debut that received widespread acclaim for its fortitude of instrumentation, insightful arrangements and general good time vibes, proving they were more than just doing it for a laugh and that the reggae flecks were being left behind.

“We realised early on that although the reggae stuff was fun to play live, we didn’t really want to be that kind of band so we started making other kinds of songs” recalls a jovial Rawls, “I always think it’s good when a band changes what they are doing anyway, so by the time we got to the album we had newer material that had more of a funk aspect to them.  Now we have songs that are kraut-rock sounding which demonstrates how we are constantly changing which keeps it interesting for us and hopefully for the audience too.” 

Kraut-rock?  Yep you read that right.  Their soon to be released EP is taking things in a completely different direction and that’s after the new single ‘Runaway Train’ takes them through the transition between the album and the ep out in March in a flurry of percussion, horns and dance fuelled connotations.  

“We have taken it [the EP] in an 80s krautrock electronic direction yes, it’s a complete departure but everyone seems to think it sounds like Still Flyin except now its about the 80s synth jams and stuff” he laughs.  So I ask, is that a sound set to remain for a while, or might we be entering some unchartered territory into black metal for example or what about nu-folk?

“It’s exciting isn’t it; I am sure once we are through this stuff that’s coming out this year that we will start doing something completely different again.  I hope so anyway”.

Whatever the future holds for Still Flyin' sound wise, they will never fall short of their own brand of Hamm Jamm, a personal label applied to the mash up of sounds and instruments that reflects the avant garde nature of their work and the downright dance hard vibes they intoxicate you with.  It’s the gospel according to Still Flyin' and never underestimate just how alluring it is.

Moshi Moshi, synonymous with being at the forefront of the indie label scene in the UK has been steady backers of the hamm jamm purveyors, introducing them to UK audiences last year.  The album and subsequent tours were met with positivity and praise from journalists not to mention the collection of Still Flyin' fans that they accumulated after a summer of festivals.

“I think it’s when people see us live that they really understand what we are trying to do, because we are essentially a party band trying to make people feel good, which doesn’t quite come across on record.  So when we play live there always seems to be a great response, whether there’s a huge crowd or a small one.  That’s the whole Still Flyin' experience”.

Booked to play the Pavement curated ATP alongside the recently reunited band in May they will be part of what is is currently one of the hottest tickets around.  It is a chance to showcase the kraut-rock curveball and glean the experience of playing on a line-up alongside such a revered and iconic cult band.   Following that will be a headline UK tour and a prolific inclusion to many of Europe’s prominent festivals, which is where Rawls concludes, is the perfect environment for the collective to stage a show.

“It’s perfect in the outdoors in the daytime when people are drinking and getting in to it, especially if its is in front of a huge crowd” 

“It is infectious, our energy gets into them and when they get into it it gets into us again and keeps getting crazier and crazier, we love them [festivals] because it is the right place for our music".

Just imagining that scenario brings me out of my perpetual state of seasonal affective disorder and makes me want to swap my thermals for a bikini, grab a pint of Brothers and wander around the office offering free hugs to anyone who is unlikely to have me sectioned. Such is the depressive nature of bloody British winters by now it has us all going slightly delusional.  And that is what Still Flyin' draw on most, the antithesis if you like to all that is gloomy, dark or ominous, instead instigating a lighthearted approach to feel good music with serious musicality at its heart.

Rawl’s lyrical inspiration derives from his own life experiences that everyone can relate to.  But lets be honest, this is no Dylan or Morrissey kind of lyricising, it’s really not that deep, but a more witty approach at depicting the mundanities of life.

“I just try and make a whole song out of the seemingly ordinary things that happen in my life but make it sound more interesting than it actually is” laughs Rawls, adding “but I try to make some kind of anthem out of it that anyone can relate to to make it sound kind of life affirming.. They can get crazier and abstract at times but I definitely take an autobiographical approach I guess”.

It is what it is, without any delusions of grandeur and with summer touching distance away Still Flyin' are set to warm our cockles and transplant a smile upon faces as we get down and party.  Hard.

Words: Francesca Strange

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swrawfea
Reply #1 on : Sat June 26, 2010, 23:11:54

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