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The Internet has mostly been about people who
had something to say or something to sell. Now,
the third wave has arrived, and its name is music.
One survey projects a 5-fold increase in music sales
on the Internet, from 6 million in 1998 to 33 million
in 2003.
This
month, *spark-online interviews Flight, a British
group that is part of this new wave of musicians
who are plugging their amps straight into the Internet.
We talked with Bill Davies, the group’s bass player
and lyricist.
What
is Flight’s background?
The group started in back in 1982. We were, and
still are influenced by the people we listened to
back then: Ultravox, Gary Numan, Punk and Joy Division.We
started out as a typical bedroom band, y’know the
sort: One guitar with 4 strings only and no idea
what to do or how to sound. All we knew was that
we had to do something other than sit back and watch
others. We all met after I went to college with
Dave Algeo (the singer) and he was already in a
dying band called EFEX with Paul Jones. We got together,
and it just clicked. I know that sounds like a cliche,
but it is a fact. We are all first and foremost
the best of friends. . . .That is the essence of
Flight, that is the essence of us as people. I love
the two of them as friends, as brothers, no matter
what may happen. To understand this is to begin
to understand Flight.
Where
would you like to be musically in 1 year? 5 years?
That’s the $64,000 question isn’t it? Who knows
where we will be, but we will still be the same
people we always have been. We will still be friends.
Musically, I would like people to recognize that
we have a talent for what we do. I don’t want (and
never have wanted) pots of money, fame and the “sickness”
that goes with it. I just want Flight to be recognized
and respected. I want people to buy our records
- sure, to say anything else is to deny why you
get involved in rock n roll in the first place.
But I want recognition of this band as musicians
and people above “celebrity”. . . .I would like
people to understand what we tried to say about
ourselves and the world in general. To make people
think is my goal, not to purely take people’s money
.
Which
is more satisfying: writing lyrics, finding the
notes to go with the words, or making the track
in the studio?
For me, as a lyricist the lyrics are more important.
They usually come first actually. Certainly most
of “Thoughts Trapped Inside” was written that way.
So far, “5 Days In Astrakhan” has been totally about
lyrics first. Moods and emotions, certainly within
my private life at present, have maybe dictated
this to some degree. But if a good tune comes along
during the writing process we will start from that
point. We have no structure in that sense. We write
always as the mood and the circumstances dictate.
To me, that is what makes our music real, alive
and certainly 100% honest. You may not like what
is in there - but you can’t take it away from us
or call it false. Studio wise - we have our own
studio (Shabby Road) and so we have no time constraints
other than what we impose ourselves. No rules, no
pressure.
You
sing a lot about the darker side of life - why is
this?
That, to be honest mainly stems from our experiences
on this earth. Life is not what you always think
it is. There is fear and loathing and hatred and
pain and misery. There is a whole spectrum of emotion
that tend to be generally ignored. I see things
everyday and I think - why? Life is not just TV
and game shows and happy smiling faces. For every
“white” there is a “black.” I think we tend to focus
on the black better than the white.
There’s
a new survey out that says MP3 has surpassed sex
as the most popular search word on the Internet.
What does that say to you about the future role
of the Internet in the music business? How has the
Internet affected the business side of being a musician?
Flight: I do not see music as a “business” first
and foremost, so I can’t comment on the business
aspect to much. To me it is about conveying emotions,
seeing what I see and saying what I feel. As for
MP3 being typed more than “sex” - there are some
strange people out there (laughs). Seriously, MP3
has done a lot to promote unsigned bands and to
push the boundaries of musical appreciation further
than 90% of record companies ever will. I have respect
for them. They do what they do, making some profit
along the way I am sure, but they do it with their
hearts in the right place. The Internet has a big
role to play in the future of music. It is a tool
for worldwide communication and so it will and should,
help bands to be heard all over the globe. There
are a number of Internet Radio Stations that are
springing up - we are currently on the play list
of Pogo Radio in Denver, USA. These people are trying
to break the stranglehold of wishy-washy pop music
by playing more “cutting edge” stuff . . . .More
importantly though is to use it as a vehicle for
understanding different people and cultures. If
through music on the Internet a greater understanding
can be reached then I am 100% behind it. Record
companies are now using it to scout for bands and
that is good. The danger is if bands loose the art
of “playing live” through just using technology.
I still believe there is nothing better than a good
night out watching a great live band. We still have
to keep sight of the fundamentals of rock n roll
in the midst of this stunning revolution taking
place.
How did Flight’s web site evolve? All it takes
is one look at the web site to see that there is
a lot going on and it is not just the music.
The
web-site was something we have thought about for
a long time now. It is all the brainchild and hard
work of Paul, who has spent many a night and day
in pursuit of perfection. We wanted somewhere that
maybe is a “starting point” for trying to understand
what it is we are all about. We also wanted a place
to let our thoughts and ideas that don’t for some
reason manifest themselves as songs take shape.
I guess the thoughts you don’t express in song are
equally as valid as the thoughts you do express.
It is a place for us also to show that we are not
just people who play music. We are creative individuals
in other areas as well. We wanted to inform and
hopefully entertain at the same time. Naturally,
there is the “advertising” aspect of it all: y’know,
the self promotion of our music, and hopefully people
will listen and then buy the records etc.
If
there was just one thing about Flight that you would
like our readers to remember, what is it?
That we as a band have something to say and will
say it. We are an honest band who wear our hearts
on our sleeves because you have to give in order
to receive. We give of our emotions, we give of
our feelings - all we ask is you give some time
and listen to what we have to say. If you don’t
like it or don’t agree - that is your prerogative.
If you do like it then that also is your prerogative
- and we thank you for it (laughs). To all the people
who have taken an interest, who have bought the
album or helped along the way - You know who you
are and we thank you all. If music is nothing without
musicians - it is even less without people prepared
to listen.
Flight
is:
David
Algeo (voice and percussion)
Bill
Davies (bass player and lyricist)
Paul
F. Jones (guitar, and keyboard)
Visit
Flight’s web site at: http://www.btinternet.com/~flight.site/index.htm
G.J.
Lau toils deep in the bowels of the Washington
bureaucracy. A long-time observer of American politics
and mores, he now edits his own e-zine Singleminded,
which can be found at : http://www.singmind.com/singleminded/
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