M E E T T H E
F L A S H I N G L I G H T S
Here is an interview conducted
by various fans of The Flashing
Lights. People sent in their questions, the band answered them
and the results are below! Enjoy!
Q: FLASHING LIGHTS, how
many licks does it take to get to the centre of a
tootsie roll brand tootsie
pop?
GAVEN: "1910" for the normal
man but with matt's powerful ricken-rock guitar licks the epicentre can
be penetrated in "12" bars.
(submitted
by BRIAN F)
Q: MATT, What direction
do you see your songwriting going in the future?
MATT: I'm hoping to
keep learning new methods and tricks for writing songs. The greatest
danger I face as a songwriter is staying the same. It's sad to see someone
trying to repeat themselves only to produce, lo and behold, a pale
imitation of themsleves. So. The moral of the story is that I'd better
get funky, now.
(submitted
by WILL)
Q: MATT, Are there any
plans to have any vinyl-only releases like singles or ep's, or releasing
the new album on vinyl?
MATT: No plans to speak
of. For our band, putting out vinyl is too expensive. Of course, we'd love
to have the vinyl for ourselves. In fact, that would be the main motivation
behind us making vinyl. That, however, would be a costly indulgence (Our
new cd would look soooo good if it were a record sleeve). 45's on the other
hand are fun. And I could see us putting a few those suckers out at some
point.
(submitted
by GRAHAM HALL)
Q: FLASHING LIGHTS, What's
the earliest time of day you're able to perform? (I hear Rik Emmett
refuses to do any public appearances before 1PM!) When are you flashing
at your peak?
GAVEN: When the sun has
reached it's zenith, i'm ready to think about playing at
3...... But i preform better
from the hours of midnight to six.
(submitted
by MANNY MOTO)
Q: MATT, Are you and Chris
Murphy really cousins? *just kidding!* Here's my real question(s). Are
you into the going overboard stuff a la Matt Good during live shows?...Do
you feel the need to do that to visually please your fans to go along with
the music?
MATT: To which overboard
types of things do you refer? The drama? The lighting? the costumes? I'm
into making a show memorable and special. It must be one of a kind. Oh
sure, our set list can be pretty static over a six week tour, but we never
make the same mistakes in the same places. Our talent is turning those
"mistakes" into "epiphanies". A more visual performence could be amazing,
but I've seen a lot of smaller bands, with limited budgets really screw
up their set with a bunch of half-assed slide projections of kitchy suburbia
and home movies shot by a drunk and jaded art school student.(He runs the
projector, too!) So I want to stay far away from that. When we eventually
design a visual show, it will all about Templars and Masons.
(submitted
by CHELSEA BOYACHEK)
Q: MATT, With a band as
classic-sounding as you guys, it's inevitable that you get compared to
the other "big"(?) classic-sounding Canadian band Sloan. (I admit, I do
it myself a lot.) However, it's obvious there are differences between the
two groups' music (as you guys meet Sloan's "Beatles" with your "Who",
so to speak). Do you find that to be a blessing (as in more Sloan fans
are likely to listen to you guys, and vice versa), or a curse?
MATT: It's good to be compared
to a great band. A lot of their fans,as you noted,
will have an affinity for
our take on rock and roll. We like to think of Sloan as an orange juice
and we're Italian soda pop. When someone compares us to Sloan, I understand
that they either lack the vocabulary to distinguish between our two bands,
or the person they are talking to does. For instance, I would say
that the Wallflowers are reminiscent of Bob Dylan. But I bet they would
be uncomfortable with that comparison. "We're not really into my
dad's music... we like Donovan though." (Fictional) Anyway, back to us.
Both our bands reinterpret the past and come to similar conclusions. I
hear, however, The Flashing lights are just a hair better at it.
(submitted
by GLEN)
BACK
TO THE START <<
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photo by nettie
+ jennie
The
Flashing Lights Brigade
MATT MURPHY - Vocals + Guitar
HENRI SANGALANG - Bass
GAVEN DIANDA - Organ
STEVE PITKIN - Drums
FOR THE PRESS BIO, CLICK
HERE.
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