Band Of The Week #183 - Fickle Friends
This week’s Band of the Week is Brighton based band Fickle Friends - who have just released their second album ‘Are We Gonna Be Alright?’. Having already teased us with a series of bold and accomplished tracks. Those songs have already picked up international attention from the UK to Japan, as well as over 8 million streams plus key airplay at Radio 1 and 6 Music - suggesting that the new record could follow their 2018 debut album into the Top 10. They took a moment to talk to us about how the album came together.
Hey Fickle Friends, how are you? So your album is out now - how does it feel to have it out there in the world?
Ahhhhh we are great!!! It feels so good to have this album finally out in the world. We have had to be very patient haha. Seems MENTAL that its 4 years on from our debut…but I guess we have been pretty prolific in between ;)
It is called ‘Are We Gonna Be Alright?’ - what is the meaning behind that? And how does it differ from your first album?
Are We Gonna Be Alright? was the name of a very old song that was on the maybe pile for this record. We then proceeded to write 2 other songs of the same name…all completely different too. It just felt like a really good album title and perfectly summed up how we felt writing this album. The constant question of whether we as a band could survive these mad times….whether our mental health could take it…whether there would be an audience to come back to. But I like to think it’s a hopeful question. I think that’s what we are trying to say with each song at least.
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from the creative process?
We wrote and recorded the whole thing ourselves at the lagoon house in Shoreham. Jack had a 6 month let on this amazing house by the beach and it was the perfect setting for making an album. There was a lot of jumping in the ice cold swimming pool and watching sunsets on the jetty. There was also many games of pool whilst listening to the radio station run out of the green door store…it’s name escapes me but they play some TUNES. All in all a magical experience peppered with sessions with some friends and many late night DIY video shoots.
What are the key themes and influences on the album?
Key themes of this album… I think most of all it’s the pursuit of happiness, the importance of friendship, recognising unhealthy situations and knowing when to prioritise yourself, and as always…love - the good, the bad and the ugly. We took a lot of influence from 90s rock on this album…and Prince….lots of Prince.
Do you have a favorite lyric on the album? If so, which one and why?
Oooh favourite lyric let me see…probably this from Won’t Hurt Myself…”and everyday’s like Halloween but I just wanna leave the party”. Either that or I love the line “the smile on my face is your work of art” from GLOW.
You are kicking off a tour this week to help celebrate the album’s release. What can we expect from it? And what challenges have you faced planning it with the ever changing Covid-19 restrictions?
Yeh we can’t quite believe this tour is happening…it may have made sense to push it back again but we always planned to breath life into this album on tour and that’s what we are doing the week of release. We have a super vibey show planned…old and new FF in equal measure and a couple of surprises up our sleeves. Covid has taken so much away from everyone…at some point you just gotta take a stand and not let it get you down. These shows are going ahead no matter what and it’s going to be a dream to share AWGBA with whoever makes it haha.
