Following their debut release 'Parasite'.
Flamingo House’s debut song “Parasite” is an intricate post-punk song that encompasses a multitude of stylistic and technical nuances. In the six minutes of listening you will hear numerous seamless transitions between contrasting grooves, melodies and dynamics. Just one song on the clock, and I’m already drooling for more. DRAB have had the pleasure of getting a sneak peak at their EP Waiting for Something to Happen, which is due to be released on 4/20. So if you hadn’t already had the date in your diary (for reasons DRAB must legally refuse to endorse) then I can assure you this release is worth jotting down!
DRAB: Hi from me, and ‘ey up’ from Leeds. I hope you guys are keeping well. We're super stoked to have you featured on our blog- so I hope you have the time to answer our questions! Let me start by asking where you’re all from. How did you guys meet?
Flamingo House: We’re all from Flint in North Wales. Charlie (drums), Alex (bass) and Lee (guitar) were all friends throughout high school. Alex and Charlie have been playing in cover bands together since they were 11-12 before starting Flamingo House when they were 16-17. We met Evie (vocals) when we advertised for a singer in a local jam night page on Facebook.
What are the themes around your music?
In our music we jump between order and chaos a lot. We always try and balance one out with the other and try not to get too carried away with either of them.
In my opinion, that ‘order and chaos’ is exactly what I see in your recent single. What is “Parasite” about?
In terms of the lyrics, “Parasite” is simply just about life and all the shit that happens to you. When Evie writes her lyrics, she doesn’t set out with a goal in mind of “This is what this song is about” or “I’m going to write about this topic”. Everything comes very naturally. We always figure out some type of meaning afterwards.
Where did you take inspiration from?
We obviously take massive inspiration from the musicians we love. Collectively we are always looking up to bands like Radiohead, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Slint, Pixies etc. Other than music, we take huge inspiration from film, the people and landscape around us, art and ourselves, as pretentious as that sounds.
From listening to your EP, I can see that the element of ‘surprising’ your audience is a staple of your music. For example, changing the groove or dynamics in sudden flurries. Was this a creative choice or just something that came naturally from playing together?
It definitely is an active choice. We actively make sure we’re changing things like tempos, intensities etc. We always want to keep things interesting; for us and the audience. We love to make our music repetitive but also keep it interesting and constantly developing. We like to startle people.
How long did it take to develop your sound/style from these influences?
When writing, we subconsciously write in phases. For example, this EP is one phase of our writing and the last phase was a completely different sound and feel. Because of this, we’ve been developing our sound since we started as a band and we’ll continue to develop it until we stop making music. We never want to stagnate and make music that we’re completely comfortable with. We always want to push ourselves as much as we can and also make the best music we can.
So what’s next for Flamingo House? Short term/long term?
As soon as lockdown’s over, we can’t wait to get back to our practice space and start writing some new stuff.
Like you said: at the time of writing, the country is still in lockdown. Do you have any words to say about what’s important to you as artists during this time?
The best thing to do is support your favourite local musicians so that they can get back to writing as well. Even something as simple as sharing their new song or adding their stuff to your playlist goes a massive way.
I couldn’t agree more. Have you been to Leeds before? If no, do you have any plans to come? If yes, what’s your favourite thing about the city?
Alex, Evie and Charlie have been going to Leeds Festival for years but haven’t actually been into the city centre. Lee’s been there quite a lot though and said he highly recommends Wacky Warehouse.
What have you heard or seen about the scene here? Any art or music, even venues or restaurants to recommend?
We’ve seen quite a lot about the scene up there. Specifically, Brudenell Social Club seems like a really great venue. We’d really love to play in Leeds soon.
Thanks for doing this guys, and I look forward to the release of your EP! Any closing words?
In terms of closing words, we hope everyone’s doing as good as they can during the “apocalypse”. To keep yourselves entertained, you should check out our debut EP, Waiting for Something to Happen, when it’s released on 20/4/20. Add it to your playlists, share it about, stream it constantly blah blah blah... Thank you!
You can listen to “Parasite” through our bi-weekly Spotify playlist ‘DRAB sounds’, in anticipation for their EP release on 4/20.
Writing by Luc Gibbons