British actor Thomas Aiden Turgoose first burst onto our screens as lead character Shaun Field in the critically acclaimed British drama film and TV series ‘This is England’ written and created by Shane Meadows.

Massive fans of the film we got in touch. This week he swung by to check out our SS13 collection and left rocking our Paradise Lost tee.

Including tracks from the ‘Rare Chandeliers’ mixtape he released last year and more it was a fucking awesome show. We swung by to check it out and deliver the customised trucker cap we made for the big man it went down pretty well…

Here he is rocking our ‘Paradise Lost’ tee. The only tee that not only gives you a taste of paradise and has a little something to say about blowing the shit out of the wonders of the world.

Check out our exclusive 3 minutes of interview gold. Like what you see? Give him a follow @batman_ldn.

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)

Bored of the culture surrounding grime, after years in the game he decided to pack it all in, teach himself the guitar and take a U turn in direction. Genre defying, his new stuff is a must listen.

When the opportunity arose to hook up with the man himself we did what any sane people would do called up another good mate of ours Scroobius pip and chucked them in a boxing ring together in south London to make them fight for our love.

With two chart topping albums already under his belt Green is currently recording his third solo album including rumoured collaborations with the likes of Lily Allen, Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Rey and Emeli Sande. And boasting production talent from Mike Skinner, Pharrell Williams, Slipkot and Skrillex but to name a few – it’s safe to say we’re excited.

We we’re pretty chuffed at the opportunity to hook up with the hottest man in rap to do what we do best, kit him out in the finest Fly53 threads and serve up you guys a little insight into what life’s like after two major albums, and a phenomenal amount of awards and nominations. His life is pretty amazing and now to top it all off he can add to the list bedding Chelsea’s finest Millie Mackintosh. Fuck our lives.

With the release of their debut single ‘Swing Low / Young’ through Paradyse Records at the end of 2012, London-based trio Luls had officially caught our attention. After a few days of listening to the single on repeat, intrigued, we decided to get in touch and throw a few questions at (the refreshingly down to earth and very funny) Adam.

Mutually appreciative, him of our unusual interview style, us of his particularly witty answers, we got down to business…Enjoy.

1.Calling yourself ‘cocks’ (in another language) is a nice touch for a band name, but where there other options on the table and why were they thrown out?

There were a LOT of options, thinking about it I don’t really know how or why we ended up with LULS. It was a bit of a mental process, we did these massive email conversations and I think we came up with like 300+ suggestions….that may have been what totally overwhelmed everyone.

Actually I’m on my email now, shall we do a sampler of some of the worst. YEEeeah. Top 5, here we go…

Unzipped doesn’t exist

Agape babe

Jock skull

Strangelove,

Killkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillme

So as you can see, quality was low, quantity was high. We took the approach where presumably if you come up with enough ideas eventually you’re bound to have a good one. Whether that worked or not I don’t know.

We actually played a few shows under the name Braves, but annoyingly like a lot of the better names we thought of it was already taken.

2.You just supported Crystal Castles, how was that?

Pretty amazing. It was kind of strange to tour with a band you’ve listened to since their first album. I actually used to have their T-shirt, the one with Madonna with the black eye. Bands like that always seem unreachable and distant, you imagine getting to play with them but assume it will probably never happen. So when the offer came in, that was definitely a pretty big moment, we actually only found out the day before the first show.

Over all I think we went down pretty well, which was nice. Obviously we are pretty different bands, before the first show part of me was thinking “this could go very badly”. Seemingly it didn’t, there was a circle pit, when I saw that I knew we’d be OK.

3.One of our workmates went to the show and that’s where we got the idea to contact you from. Were you surprised by us getting in contact?

Well…yes. I’d assumed our press agent had strong armed you into interviewing us. Damn i wish this wasn’t by email, I’d like to know what show they came to. Did they think it was good? Or did they just just think “those guys really need some new clothes” and took pity on us? I currently only own one pair of trousers, so what ever the reason, we really need this.

4.From what we have read about you, you seem to be what we would describe as feisty, would you agree with that description?

Feisty?! Haha. What have you read? Feisty reminds me of the character you see in so many 80′s movies, you know, the girl next door’s best friend, who takes no shit and has a crush on the lead character that’s not reciprocated. Does that describe us? Hmm….yes, but with beards.

I thought we came across more mildly depressed and cynical in interviews, I often find myself talking about how mundane my life is and how I don’t really like talking about the band. Beard-o’s is probably a more accurate description.

5.As we think you might be feisty we’re going to let you ask us a question…

Ooooo…..erm. See now I have to think of a “feisty” question, to match our newly acquired feisty image. That’s hard. Hmmm…

If you and the rest of the staff at Fly53 were marooned on a desert island Lord Of the Flies style, which of you would be…

A. The first to elect themselves leader, only to be turned on later.

B. The one who snaps and is later found talking to a volleyball they have named Wilson, possibly wearing a crown made of washed up tampons.

C. The highly intelligent, morally correct fat kid who gets crushed by a rock for being boring.

Easy (mentioning no names) some of us can already be found talking to the odd mannequin or two at the end of a hard day in the office. And we’ve definitely found ourselves in some pretty compromising states after a work night out. We’re saying B all the way we’ll rock that crown of pons and we’ll rock it hard. We’re all mad here. 

6.Back to you – What is the best thing since sliced bread?

Easy…Max Martin.

He seems to have basically written every guilty pleasure song ever.

Taylor Swift – We Are Never Ever Ever Ever Getting Back Together. CHECK. Kelly Clarkson – Since You’ve Been Gone. CHECK. 5IVE – Slam Dunk (Da Funk). CHEEECK.

So him and er I dunno….I guess what with doing the touring we have all rediscovered junk food. That’s been pretty exciting. I hadn’t had KFC in about 5 years, it was a taste sensation. Actually forget that…..the free-view channel Yesterday. It’s been my rock through many an uneventful year. They have found a strong theme and run with it: WWII.

7.We’ve just partied hard this NYE, who would you have as a line up for a dream NYE party?

I think it would sort of depend on what mood I was in.

If we are talking band line up, I’d revert to my teens and go with….Orchestra Of Wolves era Gallows, Relationship of Command era At The Drive Inn, Battle Of Los Angeles era Rage Against The Machine and White Pony era Deftones. If that exact line up could be snatched out of time and placed at my NYE party I’d head bang till my neck vertebrae turned into sand…fact.

If we are talking guests…Andrew W.K. for obvious reasons. Owsley Stanley, the Greatful Dead’s sound-man and creator of the Owsley Acid Test. Nick Kent, if The Dark Stuff is anything to go by he’s got a few good stories. Jimmy Page, but transported forward in time from the point in the 70′s when he was really into Majik. And to make up numbers the 2004 cast of Neighbours.

8.What’s the plan for 2013?

Well it will start with releasing our second single, which we are pretty excited about. From there things are a little bit less certain. At a guess following that we’ll release a third single, which with any luck will be the first off our album, get out on tour…you know, the usual band stuff. I think as long as we are busy we’ll be happy, when there is nothing to do I tend to loose it a bit. Hopefully 2013 will be the year where it all becomes a bit more real, I’m tired of sitting around wondering what will happen, next year is when we find out.

9.Any thanks you would like to pass on?

Er yeah….. thank you to the person in your office who came to see us and instigated this. We really appreciate that. Actually these are definitely some of the better questions we’ve been asked, so thank you also. You didn’t ask “how did you meet” or “describe your music” which is always a plus.

Reaching the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as ‘You Oughta Be With Me,’ ‘I’m Still In Love With You,’ ‘Love and Happiness,’ and (our personal favourite) ‘Lets stay together,’ Al was born to make us smile.

One of the most gifted purveyors of soul music globally he has sold more than 20 million records worldwide, worked with the likes of (Soul Queens) Aretha Franklin and Lyle Lovett, been honored as a BMI Icon (joining the an impressive list of previous Icon legends including, James Brown, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley) and seen five of his over fourteen released albums be certified gold. Impressive hey.

His music is timeless, it bridges generations and takes us away to a more relaxed any happy place. All hail King Al. Here’s a little reminder why we love him so bloody much.