Tony Collum of FLAIR | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: I love every single thing about that song. That is

0:03 Speaker 1: city Lights. That is the newest single single from Flair.

0:07 Speaker 1: I love it so much I can't even say single.

0:10 Speaker 1: You're on Matt condorton Unleashed and we've got so hopefully

0:13 Speaker 1: he's still there. Tony from the band I believe, has

0:16 Speaker 1: joined us via Microsoft Teams Tony, are you there?

0:20 Speaker 2: Yeah? I'm here. How you doing?

0:21 Speaker 1: Hey? How are you? Man? Is it just you or

0:24 Speaker 1: is anybody else with you?

0:26 Speaker 2: Just me today? Everyone else is working on a Saturday.

0:29 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I completely understand. Welcome to the show. I

0:33 Speaker 1: love that song so much. By the way, we should

0:35 Speaker 1: mention too, you are the vocalist and how do you

0:38 Speaker 1: say your last name?

0:41 Speaker 2: Call him? It's like Gollum from Lord of the Call him.

0:44 Speaker 1: Okay, cool, cool, Hey, I love that song so much.

0:48 Speaker 1: We also played I think it was a couple of

0:50 Speaker 1: months ago now the time gets away from Me but

0:52 Speaker 1: run Away, which that was the first song of yours

0:54 Speaker 1: that we played. Another great track. But city Lights is amazing.

0:58 Speaker 1: That is so very catchy. Are you are you getting

1:01 Speaker 1: any traction with that at radio over there? I would

1:04 Speaker 1: imagine you are. If you're not, I'm sure it's coming.

1:07 Speaker 2: Yeah.

1:07 Speaker 3: Yeah, we got an email recently saying that, like in

1:10 Speaker 3: the first week of it being released, it's been on

1:13 Speaker 3: about sixty different shows over here. So it's doing pretty

1:17 Speaker 3: good so far, you know, and Spotify streams will hoefully

1:20 Speaker 3: be catching up with that as well soon.

1:22 Speaker 1: Oh that's fantastic. Yeah, I'm not surprised because it's a

1:25 Speaker 1: very very strong track, very catchy. And then so, now

1:30 Speaker 1: is that from the EP, because you guys have an

1:32 Speaker 1: EP out right.

1:34 Speaker 2: Yeah, no, So this one's just a single. Our EP

1:38 Speaker 2: which came out a couple of months ago.

1:39 Speaker 3: Now that was that included our songs Runaway, Sackering and.

1:43 Speaker 1: Swan Gotcha, Gotcha? Okay, so those are on an EP. Now,

1:46 Speaker 1: so is city Lights going to be on? Are you

1:48 Speaker 1: working on another EP or is this going to remain

1:50 Speaker 1: a standalone single or do you even know yet?

1:54 Speaker 3: Well, we've got a couple of more studio sessions books

1:58 Speaker 3: in a couple of months where we'll get another couple

2:01 Speaker 3: of songs done and from there I will decide they

2:05 Speaker 3: will include this and another EP or if we want

2:07 Speaker 3: to maybe use those two and another one.

2:09 Speaker 2: So still be decided.

2:11 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting, how you know, and this is this

2:14 Speaker 1: is truer than it's ever been. There's so many different

2:16 Speaker 1: ways to approach it now in terms of how you release,

2:19 Speaker 1: how you release music, whether you do a single, whether

2:21 Speaker 1: you do an EP or a full album, or you

2:23 Speaker 1: can release a series of singles that eventually become an

2:25 Speaker 1: EP or an album. It's there's a lot of different

2:27 Speaker 1: ways to do it now. And but this is such

2:30 Speaker 1: a song, a strong track. Now, who wrote Who wrote

2:33 Speaker 1: city Lights? Did you guys write it together or did

2:36 Speaker 1: you write it or what's the what's the process like

2:38 Speaker 1: in the band as far as songwriting, Well, for a lot.

2:43 Speaker 3: Of our songs, it kind of comes from us do

2:45 Speaker 3: in practice stations and just jamming together soil something kind

2:47 Speaker 3: of clicks and be all kind of getting a rhythm.

2:50 Speaker 3: But for this one particularly, it was actually I went

2:53 Speaker 3: to our bass player, Johnny's house and sort of just

2:58 Speaker 3: like a late night kind of songwriting session. The tubas

3:00 Speaker 3: kind of came up with the music in the lytics

3:02 Speaker 3: together mainly me lyrics and have music.

3:05 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's it's got a it's got a great

3:08 Speaker 1: vibe and it really kind of I'm curious is it

3:10 Speaker 1: about This might be a silly question, but is it

3:13 Speaker 1: about any particular city. Uh. And part of why I

3:16 Speaker 1: ask that is I'm someone who and maybe this is

3:18 Speaker 1: part of why the song appeals to me so much.

3:20 Speaker 1: I love Jenny knows this about me. I love images

3:22 Speaker 1: of city skylines at night. I just And it is

3:27 Speaker 1: some are prettier than others, but it can really be

3:28 Speaker 1: any city. I just I love. I love looking at

3:31 Speaker 1: city skylines at night. I love you know, the city lights.

3:33 Speaker 1: Is Is there any particular city that you had in

3:36 Speaker 1: mind when you wrote this or is it? Am I

3:39 Speaker 1: am I thinking? Uh? Am? I getting too granular in

3:42 Speaker 1: terms of my analysis of the song.

3:45 Speaker 2: Oh no, no, I'm right there with you, man.

3:46 Speaker 3: It's well, it's definitely inspired by our hometown Glasgow and

3:51 Speaker 3: here in Scotland.

3:52 Speaker 2: Yeah, but a lot of it's really like.

3:54 Speaker 3: Just like general it's a lot of it's kind of

3:57 Speaker 3: about mental health as well, and you know, like try

4:00 Speaker 3: to get away from all that kind of stuff too,

4:01 Speaker 3: So that's sort of part of its generalized. But it's

4:04 Speaker 3: tefinitely a lot of inspiration from Glasgow too.

4:07 Speaker 1: Okay, okay, And can you talk to me more about

4:10 Speaker 1: the mental health aspect of of what the song is about,

4:14 Speaker 1: because that's also something that we talk about a lot

4:16 Speaker 1: on this show. I'm a certified hypnotherapist, so I help

4:20 Speaker 1: people deal with some issues and and uh, you know,

4:22 Speaker 1: and I'm someone who I myself struggle with depression, so

4:25 Speaker 1: I know all too well how you know mental health,

4:30 Speaker 1: how how it affects so many people. And and maybe

4:32 Speaker 1: that's another thing that kind of subconsciously that I connect

4:36 Speaker 1: with with the song. But but can you can you

4:39 Speaker 1: kind of expand on that a little bit?

4:42 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, Well, when I can write lyrics, I usually

4:46 Speaker 3: do it based on past experiences. I find it easier

4:48 Speaker 3: to reflect on them that way, and can I get

4:51 Speaker 3: you know, put words to it easier. So like the

4:55 Speaker 3: time of writing, I didn't feel this way, but like

4:58 Speaker 3: it reflects back on a time where I was feeling

5:00 Speaker 3: very anxious and not in the best place. And like

5:04 Speaker 3: at the time I wouldn't be able to come up

5:06 Speaker 3: with those kind of lytrics.

5:07 Speaker 2: But like that's exactly like I.

5:08 Speaker 3: Couldn't stand being around people all this hustle and bustle.

5:11 Speaker 3: I want to just you know, get away, go somewhere

5:14 Speaker 3: quiet where I could be alone.

5:15 Speaker 1: Mm hmm hmm, Yeah, I can. I can relate to that.

5:19 Speaker 1: I think everybody, you know, I think that's uh, I

5:22 Speaker 1: think that's very very relatable. Do you find that, I

5:25 Speaker 1: mean just generally does does writing and performing music? Does

5:30 Speaker 1: that help you in terms of your own you know,

5:33 Speaker 1: whether you know you mentioned that at one point, you

5:35 Speaker 1: know you're feeling very anxious and whatnot? I mean, is

5:37 Speaker 1: that kind of because I always feel like creativity is

5:40 Speaker 1: the best therapy, right if you can, if you can

5:43 Speaker 1: take things that are bothering you and create something out

5:45 Speaker 1: of them, or if they spur you, or maybe it's

5:47 Speaker 1: not even maybe what you create has nothing to do

5:49 Speaker 1: with what's bothering you necessarily, but you're just creating something

5:52 Speaker 1: as a way of kind of getting through that, you know,

5:56 Speaker 1: the malaise or whatever it is.

5:59 Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely, Like I've always thought, it's a very therapeutic

6:02 Speaker 3: way of getting like how you're feeling out there, and

6:04 Speaker 3: like I find like reflection on sort of even past

6:08 Speaker 3: emotion is a good way, you know, even after a

6:10 Speaker 3: while finally you know, help yourself get to a root

6:13 Speaker 3: cause of it, just looking and within yourself. But even

6:15 Speaker 3: at the same time, if it's not, as you said,

6:18 Speaker 3: directly addressed and an issue you're haven't, it's a good

6:21 Speaker 3: distraction as well, I.

6:22 Speaker 1: Think, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Now, when you brought city Lights

6:26 Speaker 1: to the other guys, because you and and Johnny wrote this,

6:29 Speaker 1: did they were they into it immediately? Were they like, oh,

6:32 Speaker 1: this is this is a hit? Or what did what?

6:33 Speaker 1: Did they think?

6:35 Speaker 3: Well, Yeah, this is actually a song that we've been

6:38 Speaker 3: playing on stage for probably well over a year now. Okay,

6:41 Speaker 3: it's definitely we had tried to release it a couple

6:46 Speaker 3: of times before.

6:47 Speaker 1: Yeah, but we just felt.

6:49 Speaker 2: Like, you know, there's something missing from it.

6:51 Speaker 3: So it certainly took a lot of work to get

6:52 Speaker 3: to the version that you just played there.

6:55 Speaker 1: Yeah. The I'm curious about the production too, and I'm

6:59 Speaker 1: kind of a recording. There's there's some very there's a

7:03 Speaker 1: lot of nuance here. You know, it's not like you

7:05 Speaker 1: guys just went in obviously and just you know, you

7:07 Speaker 1: just play the track and and and you know, there's

7:10 Speaker 1: there's some production flourishes, shall we say, especially at the end.

7:13 Speaker 1: The way that it ends is so cool and it's

7:15 Speaker 1: very it's very sort of atmospheric, is it. And actually,

7:19 Speaker 1: now that I'm thinking about it, Runaway is kind of

7:21 Speaker 1: like that too. Have you been working with the same

7:24 Speaker 1: producer and recording engineers, uh this whole time or or

7:28 Speaker 1: is is it a I'm curious about your your approach

7:31 Speaker 1: in terms of recording these songs, because like I said,

7:34 Speaker 1: it's you know, you're not You're not just going into

7:36 Speaker 1: a studio and handing somebody a bunch of money and

7:38 Speaker 1: just recording and you know there's more going on there.

7:40 Speaker 1: The the production is is pretty sophisticated.

7:45 Speaker 2: Oh, I appreciate that, thank you.

7:46 Speaker 3: And we like to think that we found like some

7:48 Speaker 3: good producers over the years, but like Runaway and actually

7:53 Speaker 3: Aim recorded by two different people. But I think this

7:57 Speaker 3: a lot of these just the kind of sounds that

7:59 Speaker 3: we are trying capture right now. But I think that

8:02 Speaker 3: you know, we went to the producer over in Edinburgh

8:05 Speaker 3: for city Lights, and I think he was just like,

8:08 Speaker 3: it's a much lighter sort of vibe to run Away Runaways,

8:11 Speaker 3: I'd say, a bit darker, more mysterious kind of sounding.

8:14 Speaker 3: But I think like both like both producers were able

8:18 Speaker 3: to find the like the exact kind of tone that

8:21 Speaker 3: we were looking for.

8:22 Speaker 1: Yeah, each song, yeah, no doubt, no doubt. By the way,

8:26 Speaker 1: so what's the situation in Glasgow as far as the

8:29 Speaker 1: music scene there. I would imagine there's a It seems

8:31 Speaker 1: like Glasgow is a city that we hear a lot about,

8:34 Speaker 1: at least in the US that we hear a lot

8:36 Speaker 1: about in the UK where there's a lot going on musically.

8:40 Speaker 1: I mean, is is that true? Is my perception true?

8:42 Speaker 1: Is is there a lot of really good, really good

8:45 Speaker 1: bands and solo artists in Glasgow?

8:48 Speaker 3: Absolutely every time that we play a gig, like, I'm

8:52 Speaker 3: always impressed by at least one of the other bands

8:54 Speaker 3: that we're playing with. There's so many talented urs over here,

8:57 Speaker 3: especially like the sort of like rock and in the

8:59 Speaker 3: scene that there's so many like cool venues like King

9:02 Speaker 3: Tuts is like a legend of the place here that's

9:04 Speaker 3: where Oasis were discovered and so like that's like it's

9:08 Speaker 3: almost like a mecca for like bands in Scotland to

9:11 Speaker 3: like come like to go and play there.

9:14 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I can imagine. And then so what's what's

9:19 Speaker 1: the live situation? Like what's are you guys able to

9:22 Speaker 1: get out and tour? Do you play shows in your

9:24 Speaker 1: area or do you do you do you hit the road?

9:27 Speaker 2: What?

9:27 Speaker 1: What's Obviously you know, we're in the time of year

9:29 Speaker 1: when this is when everybody wants to be out touring, right,

9:32 Speaker 1: how's that been for you guys?

9:35 Speaker 3: Well, although the first couple of years we were like

9:37 Speaker 3: we're stuck in the mud, like we were only getting

9:40 Speaker 3: Glasgow shows, which was great because, like I said, the

9:42 Speaker 3: music scene in Glasgow is amazing. But I'd say about

9:46 Speaker 3: a year ago, we've you know, we've ventured down south,

9:48 Speaker 3: we went to England, We've done you know, Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Birmingham,

9:54 Speaker 3: a few other places, Newcastle as well, and we've still

9:58 Speaker 3: got a lot more booked for the rest of this

9:59 Speaker 3: year and finally starting to get some festivals in two

10:03 Speaker 3: so good.

10:05 Speaker 2: It's been a sating time.

10:06 Speaker 1: Yeah, festivals are definitely where it's at in terms of

10:09 Speaker 1: getting exposure and and and building a fan base in

10:12 Speaker 1: terms of your your your live presentation. So that's that's great,

10:16 Speaker 1: that's really good to hear. That's when you guys play

10:19 Speaker 1: out by the way, So if you're doing a set,

10:21 Speaker 1: you know, in a club or that type of situation,

10:23 Speaker 1: do you mix in some covers or maybe you have

10:27 Speaker 1: a backlog of originals that you haven't covered, I mean

10:30 Speaker 1: that you haven't recorded yet. But I mean, what do

10:33 Speaker 1: you guys do do any covers or do you stick

10:34 Speaker 1: to originals or what do you do?

10:37 Speaker 3: We mainly stick to originals just because, like mainly the

10:41 Speaker 3: kind of circuit that we play it is like mainly

10:43 Speaker 3: ticketed events where people are just like looking at here

10:46 Speaker 3: sort of original music. But because that we kind of

10:49 Speaker 3: have kind of more zone than on a specific sound now,

10:52 Speaker 3: so we did have to kind of throw out a

10:54 Speaker 3: lot of our older songs. So we do throw in

10:56 Speaker 3: a couple of cover he didn't then, but mainly, like

10:59 Speaker 3: it's actually, if we're not doing a handline show, we're

11:02 Speaker 3: just supporting someone and we've got half an hour, we

11:03 Speaker 3: only really want to do our own songs.

11:06 Speaker 1: Sure, no, that makes sense, That makes sense absolutely if

11:09 Speaker 1: you've got an open for anybody, uh really any any

11:13 Speaker 1: sort of national or international touring acts yet going through

11:17 Speaker 1: your area?

11:19 Speaker 2: Not yet, but what's trying. Yeah no, that's a dream.

11:23 Speaker 3: Yeah no, it's gonna I want to, you know, go

11:25 Speaker 3: and you know, like go out and travel somewhere in

11:28 Speaker 3: Europe and beyond, and you're like going a proper tour.

11:31 Speaker 2: That would be great.

11:32 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, no, I think it's gonna happen for you.

11:34 Speaker 1: I mean, you guys are you're definitely going in the

11:35 Speaker 1: right direction. So and uh, like I said, these are

11:38 Speaker 1: such great songs, and you know, keep putting out great

11:40 Speaker 1: music and keep doing what you're doing, and I you'll

11:42 Speaker 1: you'll definitely continue to progress. I have no doubt about that.

11:47 Speaker 1: By the way, where does the name Flair come from?

11:51 Speaker 2: So it's a funny story. It's actually nowhere needs excited.

11:55 Speaker 3: It's from the video game in FIFA, okay, And it's

11:59 Speaker 3: basically it's like it was basically one of the one

12:01 Speaker 3: of the traits that you can put on, like your

12:03 Speaker 3: creative players, is called flair, and it just means like

12:07 Speaker 3: they're a bit more skillful, a bit more flashy.

12:09 Speaker 1: Oh okay, Oh that's cool.

12:12 Speaker 2: It was actually that's the story.

12:14 Speaker 3: I've been told that it was actually already called flair

12:17 Speaker 3: before I joined the band.

12:18 Speaker 1: So oh okay, well if that's what you were told,

12:22 Speaker 1: I mean it sounds like that's the official story. So

12:24 Speaker 1: that's cool. Good deal. So where should people, Tony? Where

12:30 Speaker 1: should people go online to keep up with everything that

12:32 Speaker 1: you guys were doing. Where's the best place for people

12:34 Speaker 1: to go? Because you've got a lot of great stuff happening.

12:37 Speaker 3: So mainly we use Instagram right now, which are handled

12:42 Speaker 3: for that is at flair band, and then we use

12:46 Speaker 3: Twitter as well, that's at flair Band zero one four

12:49 Speaker 3: one as well, And those are kind of the main

12:51 Speaker 3: two social medias that we're using right now to kind

12:54 Speaker 3: of like, you know, get out, like where we're going

12:55 Speaker 3: to be playing, what songs are coming out all that stuff.

12:57 Speaker 1: Yeah, but and do you have any any idea when

13:00 Speaker 1: the next single is gonna be out or I don't

13:02 Speaker 1: know if you've started have you started working on the

13:04 Speaker 1: next one yet, or I know you're focused on city Lights.

13:06 Speaker 2: But yeah, so once we're kind of done today alas,

13:10 Speaker 2: we do have.

13:12 Speaker 3: Either October or November that we're going in for two

13:15 Speaker 3: more recordings, and we're gonna be looking to release them,

13:18 Speaker 3: you know, as soon as possible. Ones we've recorded them,

13:20 Speaker 3: so definitely by the end of the year we'll have

13:22 Speaker 3: two more songs.

13:23 Speaker 1: Oh fantastic. Well, we look forward to doing that, We

13:26 Speaker 1: look forward to hearing that, rather, I should say, and

13:27 Speaker 1: we look forward to playing those so fantastic. So I

13:30 Speaker 1: think what we're gonna do, Tony is we will end

13:32 Speaker 1: the segment with I'm gonna play Runaway, which is another

13:35 Speaker 1: great track and then I'm gonna cheat a little bit.

13:37 Speaker 1: I'm gonna play Runaway, but then I'm also gonna play

13:39 Speaker 1: city Lights one more time because I love that song

13:41 Speaker 1: so much and selfishly I want to hear it. And plus,

13:44 Speaker 1: you know how radio works. I mean, there's there's people

13:46 Speaker 1: who didn't hear the start of the show who are

13:48 Speaker 1: just joining the show now so then they'll be able

13:50 Speaker 1: to hear it. But I that song is so addictive.

13:52 Speaker 1: It's one of those songs. It's you know, like a

13:54 Speaker 1: lot of people, I wake up with a song in

13:56 Speaker 1: my brain every morning, like as soon as my eyes

13:59 Speaker 1: pop open, as soon as I even start to wake up,

14:01 Speaker 1: there's something playing in my head. So I have this

14:04 Speaker 1: little playlist in my brain, and that's one of the

14:06 Speaker 1: songs that the first time I heard it. For several

14:09 Speaker 1: days after hearing it the first time, that's one of

14:12 Speaker 1: the songs that was stuck in my head when I

14:14 Speaker 1: would wake up in the morning, I would hear that.

14:16 Speaker 1: It's just so catchy, it's absolutely infectious. So after Runaway,

14:19 Speaker 1: I'm going to play that one more time as well.

14:21 Speaker 1: But we will definitely do this again in the future, because,

14:25 Speaker 1: like I said, you guys are on a very positive

14:27 Speaker 1: trajectory and happy to you know, we're happy to support

14:30 Speaker 1: you here on the American side anyway that we can.

14:32 Speaker 1: So Tony, we will let you go and I'm going

14:35 Speaker 1: to hit that track. But thank you so much for

14:37 Speaker 1: joining us today, and we'll talk again soon. I'm sure

14:41 Speaker 1: no prov look forward to it.

14:42 Speaker 2: Thanks so much for having me.

14:43 Speaker 1: All right, Tony, you got it. Thank you, take care,

14:45 Speaker 1: bye bye, bye bye. All right, wonderful. That was Tony

14:49 Speaker 1: column from the band Flair