Field Dispatch
Tony Collum of FLAIR | Matt Connarton Unleashed
Speaker 1: I love every single thing about that song. That is
Speaker 1: city Lights. That is the newest single single from Flair.
Speaker 1: I love it so much I can't even say single.
Speaker 1: You're on Matt condorton Unleashed and we've got so hopefully
Speaker 1: he's still there. Tony from the band I believe, has
Speaker 1: joined us via Microsoft Teams Tony, are you there?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I'm here. How you doing?
Speaker 1: Hey? How are you? Man? Is it just you or
Speaker 1: is anybody else with you?
Speaker 2: Just me today? Everyone else is working on a Saturday.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I completely understand. Welcome to the show. I
Speaker 1: love that song so much. By the way, we should
Speaker 1: mention too, you are the vocalist and how do you
Speaker 1: say your last name?
Speaker 2: Call him? It's like Gollum from Lord of the Call him.
Speaker 1: Okay, cool, cool, Hey, I love that song so much.
Speaker 1: We also played I think it was a couple of
Speaker 1: months ago now the time gets away from Me but
Speaker 1: run Away, which that was the first song of yours
Speaker 1: that we played. Another great track. But city Lights is amazing.
Speaker 1: That is so very catchy. Are you are you getting
Speaker 1: any traction with that at radio over there? I would
Speaker 1: imagine you are. If you're not, I'm sure it's coming.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we got an email recently saying that, like in
Speaker 3: the first week of it being released, it's been on
Speaker 3: about sixty different shows over here. So it's doing pretty
Speaker 3: good so far, you know, and Spotify streams will hoefully
Speaker 3: be catching up with that as well soon.
Speaker 1: Oh that's fantastic. Yeah, I'm not surprised because it's a
Speaker 1: very very strong track, very catchy. And then so, now
Speaker 1: is that from the EP, because you guys have an
Speaker 1: EP out right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, So this one's just a single. Our EP
Speaker 2: which came out a couple of months ago.
Speaker 3: Now that was that included our songs Runaway, Sackering and.
Speaker 1: Swan Gotcha, Gotcha? Okay, so those are on an EP. Now,
Speaker 1: so is city Lights going to be on? Are you
Speaker 1: working on another EP or is this going to remain
Speaker 1: a standalone single or do you even know yet?
Speaker 3: Well, we've got a couple of more studio sessions books
Speaker 3: in a couple of months where we'll get another couple
Speaker 3: of songs done and from there I will decide they
Speaker 3: will include this and another EP or if we want
Speaker 3: to maybe use those two and another one.
Speaker 2: So still be decided.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting, how you know, and this is this
Speaker 1: is truer than it's ever been. There's so many different
Speaker 1: ways to approach it now in terms of how you release,
Speaker 1: how you release music, whether you do a single, whether
Speaker 1: you do an EP or a full album, or you
Speaker 1: can release a series of singles that eventually become an
Speaker 1: EP or an album. It's there's a lot of different
Speaker 1: ways to do it now. And but this is such
Speaker 1: a song, a strong track. Now, who wrote Who wrote
Speaker 1: city Lights? Did you guys write it together or did
Speaker 1: you write it or what's the what's the process like
Speaker 1: in the band as far as songwriting, Well, for a lot.
Speaker 3: Of our songs, it kind of comes from us do
Speaker 3: in practice stations and just jamming together soil something kind
Speaker 3: of clicks and be all kind of getting a rhythm.
Speaker 3: But for this one particularly, it was actually I went
Speaker 3: to our bass player, Johnny's house and sort of just
Speaker 3: like a late night kind of songwriting session. The tubas
Speaker 3: kind of came up with the music in the lytics
Speaker 3: together mainly me lyrics and have music.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's it's got a it's got a great
Speaker 1: vibe and it really kind of I'm curious is it
Speaker 1: about This might be a silly question, but is it
Speaker 1: about any particular city. Uh. And part of why I
Speaker 1: ask that is I'm someone who and maybe this is
Speaker 1: part of why the song appeals to me so much.
Speaker 1: I love Jenny knows this about me. I love images
Speaker 1: of city skylines at night. I just And it is
Speaker 1: some are prettier than others, but it can really be
Speaker 1: any city. I just I love. I love looking at
Speaker 1: city skylines at night. I love you know, the city lights.
Speaker 1: Is Is there any particular city that you had in
Speaker 1: mind when you wrote this or is it? Am I
Speaker 1: am I thinking? Uh? Am? I getting too granular in
Speaker 1: terms of my analysis of the song.
Speaker 2: Oh no, no, I'm right there with you, man.
Speaker 3: It's well, it's definitely inspired by our hometown Glasgow and
Speaker 3: here in Scotland.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but a lot of it's really like.
Speaker 3: Just like general it's a lot of it's kind of
Speaker 3: about mental health as well, and you know, like try
Speaker 3: to get away from all that kind of stuff too,
Speaker 3: So that's sort of part of its generalized. But it's
Speaker 3: tefinitely a lot of inspiration from Glasgow too.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, And can you talk to me more about
Speaker 1: the mental health aspect of of what the song is about,
Speaker 1: because that's also something that we talk about a lot
Speaker 1: on this show. I'm a certified hypnotherapist, so I help
Speaker 1: people deal with some issues and and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: and I'm someone who I myself struggle with depression, so
Speaker 1: I know all too well how you know mental health,
Speaker 1: how how it affects so many people. And and maybe
Speaker 1: that's another thing that kind of subconsciously that I connect
Speaker 1: with with the song. But but can you can you
Speaker 1: kind of expand on that a little bit?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, Well, when I can write lyrics, I usually
Speaker 3: do it based on past experiences. I find it easier
Speaker 3: to reflect on them that way, and can I get
Speaker 3: you know, put words to it easier. So like the
Speaker 3: time of writing, I didn't feel this way, but like
Speaker 3: it reflects back on a time where I was feeling
Speaker 3: very anxious and not in the best place. And like
Speaker 3: at the time I wouldn't be able to come up
Speaker 3: with those kind of lytrics.
Speaker 2: But like that's exactly like I.
Speaker 3: Couldn't stand being around people all this hustle and bustle.
Speaker 3: I want to just you know, get away, go somewhere
Speaker 3: quiet where I could be alone.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm hmm, Yeah, I can. I can relate to that.
Speaker 1: I think everybody, you know, I think that's uh, I
Speaker 1: think that's very very relatable. Do you find that, I
Speaker 1: mean just generally does does writing and performing music? Does
Speaker 1: that help you in terms of your own you know,
Speaker 1: whether you know you mentioned that at one point, you
Speaker 1: know you're feeling very anxious and whatnot? I mean, is
Speaker 1: that kind of because I always feel like creativity is
Speaker 1: the best therapy, right if you can, if you can
Speaker 1: take things that are bothering you and create something out
Speaker 1: of them, or if they spur you, or maybe it's
Speaker 1: not even maybe what you create has nothing to do
Speaker 1: with what's bothering you necessarily, but you're just creating something
Speaker 1: as a way of kind of getting through that, you know,
Speaker 1: the malaise or whatever it is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely, Like I've always thought, it's a very therapeutic
Speaker 3: way of getting like how you're feeling out there, and
Speaker 3: like I find like reflection on sort of even past
Speaker 3: emotion is a good way, you know, even after a
Speaker 3: while finally you know, help yourself get to a root
Speaker 3: cause of it, just looking and within yourself. But even
Speaker 3: at the same time, if it's not, as you said,
Speaker 3: directly addressed and an issue you're haven't, it's a good
Speaker 3: distraction as well, I.
Speaker 1: Think, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Now, when you brought city Lights
Speaker 1: to the other guys, because you and and Johnny wrote this,
Speaker 1: did they were they into it immediately? Were they like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is this is a hit? Or what did what?
Speaker 1: Did they think?
Speaker 3: Well, Yeah, this is actually a song that we've been
Speaker 3: playing on stage for probably well over a year now. Okay,
Speaker 3: it's definitely we had tried to release it a couple
Speaker 3: of times before.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but we just felt.
Speaker 2: Like, you know, there's something missing from it.
Speaker 3: So it certainly took a lot of work to get
Speaker 3: to the version that you just played there.
Speaker 1: Yeah. The I'm curious about the production too, and I'm
Speaker 1: kind of a recording. There's there's some very there's a
Speaker 1: lot of nuance here. You know, it's not like you
Speaker 1: guys just went in obviously and just you know, you
Speaker 1: just play the track and and and you know, there's
Speaker 1: there's some production flourishes, shall we say, especially at the end.
Speaker 1: The way that it ends is so cool and it's
Speaker 1: very it's very sort of atmospheric, is it. And actually,
Speaker 1: now that I'm thinking about it, Runaway is kind of
Speaker 1: like that too. Have you been working with the same
Speaker 1: producer and recording engineers, uh this whole time or or
Speaker 1: is is it a I'm curious about your your approach
Speaker 1: in terms of recording these songs, because like I said,
Speaker 1: it's you know, you're not You're not just going into
Speaker 1: a studio and handing somebody a bunch of money and
Speaker 1: just recording and you know there's more going on there.
Speaker 1: The the production is is pretty sophisticated.
Speaker 2: Oh, I appreciate that, thank you.
Speaker 3: And we like to think that we found like some
Speaker 3: good producers over the years, but like Runaway and actually
Speaker 3: Aim recorded by two different people. But I think this
Speaker 3: a lot of these just the kind of sounds that
Speaker 3: we are trying capture right now. But I think that
Speaker 3: you know, we went to the producer over in Edinburgh
Speaker 3: for city Lights, and I think he was just like,
Speaker 3: it's a much lighter sort of vibe to run Away Runaways,
Speaker 3: I'd say, a bit darker, more mysterious kind of sounding.
Speaker 3: But I think like both like both producers were able
Speaker 3: to find the like the exact kind of tone that
Speaker 3: we were looking for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, each song, yeah, no doubt, no doubt. By the way,
Speaker 1: so what's the situation in Glasgow as far as the
Speaker 1: music scene there. I would imagine there's a It seems
Speaker 1: like Glasgow is a city that we hear a lot about,
Speaker 1: at least in the US that we hear a lot
Speaker 1: about in the UK where there's a lot going on musically.
Speaker 1: I mean, is is that true? Is my perception true?
Speaker 1: Is is there a lot of really good, really good
Speaker 1: bands and solo artists in Glasgow?
Speaker 3: Absolutely every time that we play a gig, like, I'm
Speaker 3: always impressed by at least one of the other bands
Speaker 3: that we're playing with. There's so many talented urs over here,
Speaker 3: especially like the sort of like rock and in the
Speaker 3: scene that there's so many like cool venues like King
Speaker 3: Tuts is like a legend of the place here that's
Speaker 3: where Oasis were discovered and so like that's like it's
Speaker 3: almost like a mecca for like bands in Scotland to
Speaker 3: like come like to go and play there.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I can imagine. And then so what's what's
Speaker 1: the live situation? Like what's are you guys able to
Speaker 1: get out and tour? Do you play shows in your
Speaker 1: area or do you do you do you hit the road?
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 1: What's Obviously you know, we're in the time of year
Speaker 1: when this is when everybody wants to be out touring, right,
Speaker 1: how's that been for you guys?
Speaker 3: Well, although the first couple of years we were like
Speaker 3: we're stuck in the mud, like we were only getting
Speaker 3: Glasgow shows, which was great because, like I said, the
Speaker 3: music scene in Glasgow is amazing. But I'd say about
Speaker 3: a year ago, we've you know, we've ventured down south,
Speaker 3: we went to England, We've done you know, Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Birmingham,
Speaker 3: a few other places, Newcastle as well, and we've still
Speaker 3: got a lot more booked for the rest of this
Speaker 3: year and finally starting to get some festivals in two
Speaker 3: so good.
Speaker 2: It's been a sating time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, festivals are definitely where it's at in terms of
Speaker 1: getting exposure and and and building a fan base in
Speaker 1: terms of your your your live presentation. So that's that's great,
Speaker 1: that's really good to hear. That's when you guys play
Speaker 1: out by the way, So if you're doing a set,
Speaker 1: you know, in a club or that type of situation,
Speaker 1: do you mix in some covers or maybe you have
Speaker 1: a backlog of originals that you haven't covered, I mean
Speaker 1: that you haven't recorded yet. But I mean, what do
Speaker 1: you guys do do any covers or do you stick
Speaker 1: to originals or what do you do?
Speaker 3: We mainly stick to originals just because, like mainly the
Speaker 3: kind of circuit that we play it is like mainly
Speaker 3: ticketed events where people are just like looking at here
Speaker 3: sort of original music. But because that we kind of
Speaker 3: have kind of more zone than on a specific sound now,
Speaker 3: so we did have to kind of throw out a
Speaker 3: lot of our older songs. So we do throw in
Speaker 3: a couple of cover he didn't then, but mainly, like
Speaker 3: it's actually, if we're not doing a handline show, we're
Speaker 3: just supporting someone and we've got half an hour, we
Speaker 3: only really want to do our own songs.
Speaker 1: Sure, no, that makes sense, That makes sense absolutely if
Speaker 1: you've got an open for anybody, uh really any any
Speaker 1: sort of national or international touring acts yet going through
Speaker 1: your area?
Speaker 2: Not yet, but what's trying. Yeah no, that's a dream.
Speaker 3: Yeah no, it's gonna I want to, you know, go
Speaker 3: and you know, like go out and travel somewhere in
Speaker 3: Europe and beyond, and you're like going a proper tour.
Speaker 2: That would be great.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, no, I think it's gonna happen for you.
Speaker 1: I mean, you guys are you're definitely going in the
Speaker 1: right direction. So and uh, like I said, these are
Speaker 1: such great songs, and you know, keep putting out great
Speaker 1: music and keep doing what you're doing, and I you'll
Speaker 1: you'll definitely continue to progress. I have no doubt about that.
Speaker 1: By the way, where does the name Flair come from?
Speaker 2: So it's a funny story. It's actually nowhere needs excited.
Speaker 3: It's from the video game in FIFA, okay, And it's
Speaker 3: basically it's like it was basically one of the one
Speaker 3: of the traits that you can put on, like your
Speaker 3: creative players, is called flair, and it just means like
Speaker 3: they're a bit more skillful, a bit more flashy.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, Oh that's cool.
Speaker 2: It was actually that's the story.
Speaker 3: I've been told that it was actually already called flair
Speaker 3: before I joined the band.
Speaker 1: So oh okay, well if that's what you were told,
Speaker 1: I mean it sounds like that's the official story. So
Speaker 1: that's cool. Good deal. So where should people, Tony? Where
Speaker 1: should people go online to keep up with everything that
Speaker 1: you guys were doing. Where's the best place for people
Speaker 1: to go? Because you've got a lot of great stuff happening.
Speaker 3: So mainly we use Instagram right now, which are handled
Speaker 3: for that is at flair band, and then we use
Speaker 3: Twitter as well, that's at flair Band zero one four
Speaker 3: one as well, And those are kind of the main
Speaker 3: two social medias that we're using right now to kind
Speaker 3: of like, you know, get out, like where we're going
Speaker 3: to be playing, what songs are coming out all that stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but and do you have any any idea when
Speaker 1: the next single is gonna be out or I don't
Speaker 1: know if you've started have you started working on the
Speaker 1: next one yet, or I know you're focused on city Lights.
Speaker 2: But yeah, so once we're kind of done today alas,
Speaker 2: we do have.
Speaker 3: Either October or November that we're going in for two
Speaker 3: more recordings, and we're gonna be looking to release them,
Speaker 3: you know, as soon as possible. Ones we've recorded them,
Speaker 3: so definitely by the end of the year we'll have
Speaker 3: two more songs.
Speaker 1: Oh fantastic. Well, we look forward to doing that, We
Speaker 1: look forward to hearing that, rather, I should say, and
Speaker 1: we look forward to playing those so fantastic. So I
Speaker 1: think what we're gonna do, Tony is we will end
Speaker 1: the segment with I'm gonna play Runaway, which is another
Speaker 1: great track and then I'm gonna cheat a little bit.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna play Runaway, but then I'm also gonna play
Speaker 1: city Lights one more time because I love that song
Speaker 1: so much and selfishly I want to hear it. And plus,
Speaker 1: you know how radio works. I mean, there's there's people
Speaker 1: who didn't hear the start of the show who are
Speaker 1: just joining the show now so then they'll be able
Speaker 1: to hear it. But I that song is so addictive.
Speaker 1: It's one of those songs. It's you know, like a
Speaker 1: lot of people, I wake up with a song in
Speaker 1: my brain every morning, like as soon as my eyes
Speaker 1: pop open, as soon as I even start to wake up,
Speaker 1: there's something playing in my head. So I have this
Speaker 1: little playlist in my brain, and that's one of the
Speaker 1: songs that the first time I heard it. For several
Speaker 1: days after hearing it the first time, that's one of
Speaker 1: the songs that was stuck in my head when I
Speaker 1: would wake up in the morning, I would hear that.
Speaker 1: It's just so catchy, it's absolutely infectious. So after Runaway,
Speaker 1: I'm going to play that one more time as well.
Speaker 1: But we will definitely do this again in the future, because,
Speaker 1: like I said, you guys are on a very positive
Speaker 1: trajectory and happy to you know, we're happy to support
Speaker 1: you here on the American side anyway that we can.
Speaker 1: So Tony, we will let you go and I'm going
Speaker 1: to hit that track. But thank you so much for
Speaker 1: joining us today, and we'll talk again soon. I'm sure
Speaker 1: no prov look forward to it.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1: All right, Tony, you got it. Thank you, take care,
Speaker 1: bye bye, bye bye. All right, wonderful. That was Tony
Speaker 1: column from the band Flair
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