5Q

What inspires Flies Are Spies From Hell to continue creating music?

Chris: We’ve been in this band a while now – and most of us played together before we formed Flies too. Plus, most of us have been friends since we were kids, so basically we are in a rut we can’t get out of!

Your last release, Red Eyes Unravelling, was a great success, what’s next?

Thank you. We are going out on tour in April, and playing with some bands we really love so we’re excited about that. We’ve got a run of dates with Khuda, and we’re supporting Manatees one night. Plus – From Light To Sound, Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster, Alright The Captain…. We always try to play with bands we like and respect. We should have a couple of new tracks ready to showcase at those gigs. We will also be recording some new tracks for an EP, and we’ll be trying to get over to Europe at some point this year.

How does Flies Are Spies From Hell decide which tracks will be on a release? testing them at gigs, or a different method?

You definitely need to play songs live before you record them I think – that way you have the chance to get inside a song and find the part you play in it to make it musical. You can’t really know a song until you’ve given it a good thrashing live.

What have you been listening to recently that you would recommend to your fan base?

I’ve been loving Robert Fripp recently. His Frippertronics stuff with Brian Eno and his work with King Crimson. They were a phenomenal prog band – mathy, epic at times, and never cheesy like a lot of prog can be prone to being.
I’m also looking forward to getting my hands on the new albums by A Genuine Freakshow, eaststrikewest and Eat Lights: Become Lights. And the new Silver Mt. Zion.

The obligatory political question: Can politics (whichever side of the road) solve global social problems? Discuss

There’s a lot to be said for grassroots change – making your own community better yourselves rather than waiting for the government to do it. But there are big issues such as unfair trade between the West and the developing world that need global solutions. One problem in Britain is that we don’t trust and feel alienated from our government – the war and recent expenses scandals for example increased this disaffection. The Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war could help to redress this but I doubt it will.

The obligatory digital media question: We all know that digital downloads (legal or not) are changing the music business, would you say this is a challenge or an opportunity, and why?

Will: Whilst digital sales makes ’surviving in music’ very tough, there are plenty of positives to come from the relationship between music and the internet. Sure, everyone is buying young bands/musicians music off the internet at cheap (or free) rates and the tradition of owning an album is fading, but at least more people are exposed to your music from all corners of the world. With myspace, itunes and similar sites so easily accessible I feel that people are far more inclined to check our music out, and that has to be a good thing. I’m a traditionalist and therefore have never downloaded an album myself. I love every single thing about buying a record, but am aware that the bands who don’t embrace the shift in music marketing will find it hard to survive and move forwards.



Its noticeable that fans of bands such as ‘a silver mt zion’ and other in the underground scene are more likely to buy albums rather than download them. There is much more loyalty and a stronger tradition in the underground for sure. We hope anyway……