Long overdue a well deserved spot in our Fly53 legends list, the charasmatic, energetic frontman of psychadelic rock royalty Blind Melon – Shannon Hoon.
Influenced by a string of other artists who have featured in our Fly53 legends list; The Grateful Dead, The Beatles, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, and Led Zeppelin it probably isn’t much of a surprise we’re big fans of the band.
The group came together partying in LA one night, where Brad Smith and Rogers Stevens watched Hoon perform his song ‘Change,’ acoustically and invited him to play with them. Later Christopher Thorn and Glen Graham were added to the mix and the five guys signed to Capital Records under the name Blind Melon.
In 1995 (despite having a shrink join them on tour to support Hoon) Shannon was found dead in the tour bus the morning after a twelve hour coke binge. The band were heart broken but went on making music, naming their album ‘Nico’ after the baby daughter Hoon left behind.
His grave was inscribed with the words from his song ‘Change,’ “I know we can’t all stay here forever – So I want to write my words on the face of today and they’ll paint it.”
Posted on: May 6, 2013
Sad day for metal as Jeff Hanneman the guitarist and co-founder of Slayer died. We’re throwing up a ‘lucy’ and banging a head in his honour.
Posted on: May 3, 2013
We can’t quite believe it, but this year marks the fifth year of the mighty Boomtown festival hitting us up with the finest in reggae, dub, funk, punk, swing, ska and bass music in the land.
Sold out year on year this is possibly the fastest growing festival to date multiplying like rabbits from just 1,000 dedicated ravers in 2009 to 28,000 of us rocking up with a pocket full of beans and a bag full of tins in 2012.
This year this ever boundary busting music phenomenon will unveil even more craziness for the ladies and gents of Boomtown town. Including a 300 ft moving magic carpet ride offering visitors an amazing view of the entire camp and saving tired feet for late night partying, a 15 meter high Lion’s Den Mayan temple and The Spider of Arcadia who will be stomping his way through the seedy streets to stake his claim and dub the centre of Downtown the hottest party destination in town.
Excited is an understatement, weird and wonderful and jam packed with some of our favourite DJs and artists ever including Stantion Warriors, DJ Hype, David Rodigan, Dirtyphonics, and more. Roll the fuck on August we say.
Scottish electropoppers Lauren, Iain and Martin aka Chvrches formed in 2011 after leaving their retrospective careers.
Lauren was keyboardist and co-vocalist for the band Blue Sky Archives. Iain was a member of Aereogramme and The Unwinding Hours; he also wrote music for film and TV. And Martin was a live member of The Twilight Sad.
Their debut single ”The Mother We Share” received much critical acclaim with reviews like, Chvrches have “rightly caused something of a stir with their accessible yet ambitious synth angles, positioned somewhere between Robyn and The Knife” from the Guardian and this track “latches on to something inside of you and holds on with all its might until you try to shake it off. You can’t get rid of it though, and perhaps that’s a good thing (hell, it’s a fabulous thing)” from others.
Currently, working on their debut album, due late summer/early autumn this year.
Bring it on we say.
Posted on: April 23, 2013
Adrian Nicholas Matthews Thaws aka Tricky is one of the finest talents to emerge from the UK music scene…ever. Infamous for his intense, rich, deep sound which blends together hip hop, rock and pop in a musical fusion so easy n the ears you might want to cry.
Over the last decade – (yes we can’t believe it either its been over a decade since we saw this man burst on the scene with debut album Maxinquaye in 1995) Tricky’s put together another 8 albums, toured the US and UK and appeared on stage with Beyoncé during her headline slot at Glastonbury last year, need we go on?
Tricky is a true UK talent and one we hooked up with for one of our infamous Fly53 Zines – see here for more on him and the others (Boom)
Posted on: April 15, 2013
Talented Manchester based duo Kill For Company met as 16 year old students who shared a love for real rock music. after playing in various bands together Mark and Michael witnessed other members self combust mentally and physically under the pressure of making it in the music biz and the idea of a duo was born.
The break off gave the pair the freedom to experiment with their unique self-manufactured hybrid guitar/bass and percussion. Within minutes of hearing their music we were on the phone to their management arranging an interview to find out more about the men behind the new and exciting sound.
Hey Guys, How’s it going? Give us the low down on what you’ve been up to recently?
Just signed with Longevity Records, getting busy with planning the big release of the Alternative to Living EP out on the 20th April. We’ve been concentrating mainly on a press and radio campaign and up to now has been great. We’ve been getting Airplay all over Greater Manchester to The West Coast of California.
Quick Fire Worst 3’s:
Worst 3 songs ever made?
No No Limits – 2unlimited, Candle in the wind – Elton John And anything written by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Worst 3 ways to die?
Piano dropping on your head, Guitar dropping on your head actually anything dropping on your head
Worst 3 chat up lines?
Cold out isn’t it (staring at boobs), Are you free tonight or is it going to cost me?, Could you just hold my drink while I go for a shit (never works but if it does you’ve got a keeper).
Worst 3 music industry wankers?
Simon Cowell, Simon Cowell, Simon Cowell.
Worst 3 jokes you’ve ever heard?
My mates tell me that I’m shit at telling jokes. I always punch up the fuck line, How many wives has a vicar got? Nun!, Why did the policeman go to sleep because he needed arrest.
Money’s no object you are throwing a party – Describe it to us? (Do you wake up like ‘that’ scene out of the hangover)
Mark – I would Michael wouldn’t. Michael is much more sensible than me. I’d hire one of those massive jumbo jet party planes like ones I’ve seen in films, have everyone party all the way over to somewhere like the playboy mansion (I’ve heard they have good parties there this time of year there). Drink far to much and pass out somewhere random then forget absolutely everything that happened. Then i’d find out what went on by asking Michael. He wouldn’t be happy.
Michael -I’d just find a quiet corner and read a book while keeping an eye on Mark.
Five band dream gig line up?
Loaded Message, Turrentine Jones, Mr Heart, Twisted Wheel and of course Kill For Company.
Your stranded on a desert island starving – Who do you eat first? With Ketchup or Mayo?
Mark – Definitely Michael. Although he would need a lot of ketchup as Michael isn’t the biggest guy and won’t contain many calories.
Michael – I disagree. Mark would get eaten first. Not by me tho, I’d set up a trail of pub snacks leading into a monkey cage with a cold pint in it to attract the savages, job done.
Most compromising situations you’ve ever been caught in?
Mark – Lets just say I’m so glad that I have never been filmed performing as I know that some of the things that have happened would have most certainly gone viral. An we wouldn’t want that. That’s career ending material.
In ten words tell us why people should listen to Kill For Company upcoming 5 track EP?
It showcases the power of a Duo with the Guibass.
8. How/do you think hailing from Manchester with it’s massive music scene influences your music?
Michael – The diversity of sounds, from Joy Division to Mick Hucknall, in Manchester there’s a very wide range of different sounds and styles, that’s true with the current upcoming bands in Manchester too. I think it’s caused us to have more contrast in our music than we would otherwise and encouraged us to experiment and not get bogged down with trying to stick rigidly to one style or genre for every single song.
9. What would it take for you to appear on X factor?
Mark – Not much just a gun in My hand with 4 bullets.
Michael – I agree, U
Best piece of advice anyone’s ever given you?
Mark – NO!
11. Any thanks to anyone?
FFF Friends Family and Fans.
Posted on: March 29, 2013
Infamous for long gaps between releases this Spring psychedelic folk rock Swedish trio, Elias Araya, Tobias Winterkorn, and José González aka Junip, are back.
Following the unplanned-for success of González’ solo career, the band took a five-year break between first EP ((Black Refuge at the end of 2005) and September 2010s second album ‘Fields,’ but boy was it worth the wait.
Two years later, December 2012 saw the guys announce yet another long awaited come back – the release of upcoming new self titled album in April 2013.
‘Line Of Fire’ the first piece of new material from the album was unveiled to the crowd at a live show in Dortmund, Germany in May last year and gave a glimpse of the album as the band’s heaviest material to date, with strong psychedelic influences rooted in folk-rock.
Posted on: March 27, 2013
Just a bit excited for this tonight….
Launch party of new artist on the bloc, NME award winner – The Child of Lov’s killer new single ‘FLY’ at the legendary Notting Hill Arts Club.
We’ve custom printed exclusive tee’s for the event and will be wrapping them round the likes of special guests Two Inch Punch, Moroka, Iron Fingaz, Rejjie Snow, Rosie Lowe, Art Daley, Con+Kwake and more…
Posted on: March 21, 2013
Despite popular belief no one from (new kids on the block band) ‘Eliza and the Bear’ is called Eliza… or Bear (which was disappointing for obvious reasons) in fact, refreshingly the name comes from a collection of poems by Eleanor Rees of which the entire band were fans.
After announcing they’d be playing at one of our favourite festivals of the summer (TGE), we caught up with the guys producing the coolest sounds in folk pop/ folk rock since The Lumineers to find out what any sane interviewer would want to know.. their three favourite swear words.
Hey Guys how’s it going? Give us the low down on what you’ve been up to recently?
We have been writing and recording recently as well as gearing up for our run of headline shows that starts on the 25th of Feb
Quick fire Top 3’s:
Top 3 One hit wonders?
Mr Oizo – Flat beat
Baz Lurhman — Everybody’s free to wear sunscreen
Vanilla – No Way No Way (That had to be in there because its a miracle hit!)
Top 3 Favorite bands right now?
Little comets, The Head and the Heart and Peace.
Top 3 Worst haircuts?
Easy, my own, our piano player and Donald Trump (Sorry D)
Top 3 Favorite swear words?
I like extended swears like: Shit-the-bed, Fuck-a-duck and simply.. Bastard.
Can you tell us a bit about how you came up withthe name - we know no one in the band is called Eliza and we’re assuming no one is called Bear either(although we hope we’re wrong)?
No Eliza’s or Bears. Although some of us can sound like bears in the morning (Callie) . The name came from a collection of poems we all loved by Eleanor Rees, we dropped her an email and she let us use it!
TGE Festival has already announced you’ll be playing this year. Any other festivals in the pipeline? Is there any in particular you’d love to play?
Plenty of festivals coming up for us, none of which i’m allowed to mention yet! We all love festivals like Green Man, thats one we would love to play.
An asteroid is heading towards earth, you’ve got 1 day left to leave your mark on the world – What goes down?
Maybe a quick collab with Rihanna or Kanye, one last song to bid farewell to life.
If you could play with any one music legend dead or alive, who would it be and why?
I’d love to play with Springsteen. The man is a machine, he has energy that knows no bounds.
Some critics have compared your sound to Mumford and Sons, how do you feel about that comparison?
It can’t be that bad being compared to Mumford and Sons. Obviously you want your own sound but everyone will draw comparisons to one band or another.
Best piece of advice anyone’s ever given you?
Always put my boxers on before my jeans
You’re on board a sinking boat, to ensure your survival either one of you has to jump out or all of your instruments must be dumped overboard…What do you do?
Can we buy new instruments? Can the jumping member swim well? What are his chances of survival if he has to jump? These are all vital questions that have to be covered before making any hasty decisions.
Any thanks to anyone?
You guys! and anyone else who has helped us out along the way!
