A Conversation with Flawes
A Conversation with Flawes
To have flaws is human nature. The trick is to know how to acknowledge them, and either accept those imperfections or work to do better.
Pop trio Flawes – singer Josh “JC” Carruthers, guitarist Freddie Edwards and drummer Josh “Huss” Hussey – understand this better than most. At first glance they’re a classic pop band, with a slick, uplifting sound designed to make you move. Listen a little closer, though, and you’ll hear the subtleties and nuance honed by years of graft that make them one of the UK’s most exciting new prospects
. The band hit the ground running in 2016, when their debut release, “Don’t Wait For Me”
With their upcoming second album, ‘One Step Back, Two Steps Forward’, Flawes offer a reintroduction of sorts after a disruptive few years. It’s a driving-with-the-top-down record, one that thrives on propulsive rhythms, yearning guitars and choruses that soar. Take the first single, album opener “Is It Any Wonder”. It bursts into life from the off, a thrilling blast of catharsis as JC bids farewell to a relationship. The song’s themes set the tone for the first “side” of the record, which is “all about the readjustment, the correction, the blip, the acceptance that no one is perfect and that taking a step back isn’t a bad thing. It looks back at previous relationships and situations and reflects – with the power of hindsight – how those situations were dealt with” says JC.
NSG: Good morning guys and how are you, what have you been doing today and how’s that going?
Freddie: Good morning! I started off today with a coffee and then went out for a run – it doesn’t get much better than that for me these days. That would have been my idea of a nightmare 5 years ago…
NSG: Where did you grow up and how did your music journey begin?
JC: Huss and I grew up in Huddersfield. We actually went to the same school and would often go to the same gigs as each other. We always played in separate bands through high school, Flawes was the first time we teamed up! We’d both been playing as session musicians for other more established artists but shared the desire to start an original project. We were recommended Freddie (who grew up in London) by a mutual friend and the rest is history!
NSG: We’ve just been listening to your new single “Tears Won’t Show” off your upcoming album ‘ONE STEP BACK, TWO STEPS FORWARDS‘ and wow! Absolutely love it! I get a bit of Imagine Dragons. Could tell us a bit more about the song and album?
Huss: Ahh thank you! Glad you guys like it. Tears Won’t Show is a really hard-hitting song, we wanted to make the production really punchy and dramatic to help to convey the emotion within the lyrics so it’s a bit of a heavier sound for Fawes but we’re glad it’s connecting with people. We’ve certainly been a little bolder throughout the record with our sound. Our Album ‘One Step Back, Two Steps Forward’ is a positive spin on the traditional ‘One step forward, two steps back‘. Flawes is a reminder to embrace your imperfections as they really do make you who you are. The title reflects our attitude towards most things in life: be positive through the tough times, and trust that things will get better. You often have to take a step backwards before things can improve. The songs we wrote for this body of work naturally seemed to fit into one of two categories – they either focused on past situations or on a more positive future, so the track listing pretty much wrote itself!
NSG: How do you write your songs and music? Do you have a specific process?
JC: We don’t like to put rules on the process! Sometimes I’ll have a pretty fleshed-out song idea with lyrics and melodies while other times a drum beat may inspire something. Freddie and Huss typically focus more on the music production side of things and I’ll always write lyrics. It’s important to us that the studio environment is super relaxed. We all need to feel comfortable enough to suggest an idea, even if it seems a little crazy at the time.
NSG: What do you think makes a good song?
Freddie: That’s a good question! A very tricky one to answer too. I think a good song always brings something different to the table, whether that’s an unexpected chord change or a lyric that really resonates with the listener. While music production plays a key role, I think that a good song will sound just as impressive when stripped back to an acoustic guitar and vocals – that’s an effective test! There is no mathematical formula and I think that’s why truly great songs are always rare and extra special when you stumble across one.
NSG: As a band and personally, who or what have been your influences?
Huss: We all have very different musical backgrounds and tastes in music. I think that’s worked in our favour for writing and creating, we draw inspiration from so many angles when we’re in the studio. Personally, I grew up listening to everything from Prince to Fall Out Boy to Blink 182 (or basically anything that Travis barker did, I mean c’mon) Freddie loves a vast variety of music from Springsteen to Machine Gun Kelly, and JC’s taste spans from Coldplay to Radiohead to Billie Eilish. But when we’re in the studio we listen to so many different styles of music together and learn from each other as much as we can, I think that’s really important to stay open and creative.
NSG: If you’d not been in a band, what other careers do you think you’d have done?
JC: Well, before Flawes I was a tennis coach at a club in London. I used to love teaching and being outdoors all day on the court… so perhaps in another life, I would have been in the player’s box at Wimbledon coaching an up-and-comer against Roger Federer (or maybe I’d have been playing Roger myself) who knows!
NSG: How do you feel the music industry has changed, if at all since the pandemic? Did you feel any kind of impact?
Freddie: The music industry definitely leans on social media a whole lot more than it used to and I wouldn’t be surprised if the pandemic played a part in that given the amount of time we all had to sit and scroll! Musicians are expected to market themselves online in ways that the last generation wasn’t. That can be really fun but also a little overwhelming at times. There was also an obvious impact on live gigs. We’d planned our first tour of the US but sadly had to postpone. Hopefully, we’ll be out there before long! Watch this space…
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NSG: If you could sit down with three people from history, past or present, who would they be and why?
JC: Ooh that’s a tricky one! I think I’d go with Chris Martin as he’s been a big inspiration of mine, Louix Theroux to help provide some of those questions the average person is scared to ask and Roger Federer! We could talk about how I beat him at Wimbledon in my alternative life… (Question 7)
NSG: You have recently started a podcast called ‘Meet At The Hotel Bar’, in which you host a relaxed conversation with a variety of special guests from the music world, with the discussion focused on all of those larger-than-life “what happens on tour stays on tour” tales that every artist promises to keep a secret… So far you have featured Chris Wolstenholme of Muse and Woody of Bastille, next you will be joined by Ella Eyre for the next episode which premieres on March 13th. This sounds so much fun, please tell us more and what’s the craziest story you’ve been told so far?
Huss: Ohh we’ve had so many good ones so far, we basically spent the whole podcast cry-laughing at the answers. ‘Meet At The Hotel Bar‘ is a concept we’ve talked about for years. It’s where the night begins and ends whenever you’re out on tour, so we thought it’d be interesting to hear some stories from some of the biggest artists in the world and see what touring tales their hotel bar experience has to offer. We’ve had some amazing stories in series 1, from The Strokes trashing hotel lobbies, to how to get Kylie‘s phone number, to Banana museums and private jetting with U2’s Bono… it’s impossible to pick a favourite but been very eye-opening so far haha
NSG: We’re a Liverpool-based publication so I have to ask, do you have any plans on playing here anytime soon?
Freddie: We’d love to get up to Liverpool! The three of us have a soft spot for that city. We’re currently figuring out dates for later in the year and will do our best to hit it up! and when we do we’ll make sure we stop by The Zanzibar for a beer!
NSG: What is the rest of 2023 looking like for you guys?
JC: We’re so excited for our album ‘One Step Back, Two Steps Forward‘ to be released, it’s out on June 9th! So we’re really looking forward to that, and also to be out on the road touring these new songs to all our lovely fans a little later in the year, so keep an eye on flawes.com for all our up-and-coming dates as they will be announced on there.
NSG: Thank you so much for your time. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Flawes: Thanks to you guys for having us, it’s been a pleasure to chat with you! Just keep an eye out for some more hilarious podcast episodes on @meetathehotelbar and keep enjoying Flawes! hope to catch you guys at a show soon! JC, Freddie & Huss x
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