Mandy Nolan
Australia’s favourite disco duo Flight Facilities are playing this Sunday at the Beach Hotel for Sunday Safari. So what goes with these brothers in spin?
It’s been a huge year for Flight Facilities. What has been your personal highlight? The most recent tour was a pretty surprising indicator of how far our music is spreading. It’s not exactly a one-off event, but there was real consistency throughout nearly every show on the trip. We played some of the same venues we were playing two years ago but this time they were full or they were there to see us and not the act we were supporting. The most recent release, Clair De Lune, featuring Christine Hoberg, was also a special highlight. A very different song for us but a really positive reaction.
Your latest single Clair De Lune is a big change of direction. It’s a lot deeper and more ambient than anything you’ve released in the past. Were you nervous to step away from the disco sound Flight Facilities was becoming synonymous for? We’ve always had it in our plan to make music of all kinds. We’re quite comfortable making 120bpm vocal-housey numbers, but you get a proper representation of your own abilities when you step outside your comfort zone. A few of our next releases are definitely in some other genres but others are true to our previous work. It tends to be whatever we’re feeling in the studio and whatever gets finished first.
Given the success of Clair De Lune, can fans expect to hear a lot more dreamy soundscapes in the future? Maybe. We don’t have any in the works at the moment but it’s bound to happen. That song took over a year to finish so we’re probably not going to rush into another just yet but the response to Clair De Lune has encouraged us to revisit the style.
Any chance of a debut LP in 2013 or beyond? A compilation is more likely. We’re happy releasing singles at the moment. Our system for that isn’t broken yet and it’s the newest, and seemingly most effective, way of releasing songs. We might wait until we have 10 or so singles out, then release them all on one format. We probably wouldn’t dare call it an album though.
2012 has seen you tour both the US and Europe extensively. Now halfway through an Australian tour, how do you find Australian crowds stake up in comparison? We have the home-crowd advantage in Australia. We forgot that we have such a loyal following here. The USA crowds are crazy. They’re in a period of music where a lot of kids are happy to go to a venue and listen to anything. Europe has such a deep DJ culture that you can’t sneak much past them. They tend to know every song played, even before release. Having played a few Australian shows since returning, we’ve been amazed at the turnout. It’s been a year since we played here, and we we’re more than pleasantly surprised at the turnout. It’s easy to assume you’ve been forgotten when you don’t play somewhere for so long. This definitely hasn’t been the case. Australians have memories like elephants.
At the recent Harbourlife Festival in Sydney you had three vocalists perform during your set. Is this something you’re striving to include in all your shows? We actually managed to have four. Elizabeth Rose came and sang a brand-new song that will be out some time next year. Eventually we’d love to work towards a show where our vocalists can come and put a face on the name. It adds another element to the show. We’re trying to attain a full stage setup, graphics, the whole lot. Perhaps over the next few years, people will see the natural evolution. It’s definitely in the blueprint.
Your songs are always about impossible love stories. Why is this? We put that down to the vocalists. They’re responsible for a big part of the content (sometimes all). It’s a common subject to write about but it’s never intentional. It helps that it’s a universal subject. We have one or two songs coming up in the future about other subjects – but in saying that we have a few more love stories too. We think we might be hopelessly drawn to love-struck vocalists.
You work where others have fun. What’s your way to have fun? We usually have fun while we’re at ‘work’, but sometimes all we want to do at the end of a tour is avoid music, clubs or the studio. It’s nice to get home and watch movies, hang out with our friends or even just appreciate the silence.
Do you have any surprises in store for Safari fans? It wouldn’t be a surprise if we told you.
Sunday 23 December at the Beach Hotel.
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