Interview: Flowerpot

Louisa Baker sings & plays guitar; Morgan Pearce plays bass and Ellie Daymond plays drums. They do this in Flowerpot a band that make a thoroughly modern rock racket that is quite difficult to pin down and more than the sum of their influences. Debut EP Broken Stiletto received good reviews last year, they’ve played a ton of headlining dates and support slots (including C J Wildheart at the Thekla) and are part way through a college tour. Oh and they’ve recorded a brand spanking new EP Place Your Bet, which they are previewing at the Lanes on Saturday 23rd April. They even managed find time to answer some questions for us:

How have the live dates been, you’ve been hitting the stage a lot – tell us about some of the highlights?

It’s been a blast – touring is so much fun – we get to spend lots of time together. The best bits are definitely playing the shows at each venue and the reaction of the audiences. It’s great to play so frequently and we really enjoy performing – it’s why we do what we do!

And tell us about some of the less savoury aspects…the lowlights?

The travelling between venues can be a bit of a grind, but that’s rock and roll for you. The foods pretty bad as well – on a healthy diet of kebabs and chips! We all miss some decent grub!

And what tour mischief and shenanigans have you been up to; anything you wish to share, confess or own up to?

We were all pretty chilled – nothing to report.

Who’s the biggest road animal and who takes the role of designated adult?

Ellie sleeps when she can (which is most of the time), Louisa does the driving so is the “adult” as we rely on her to get us where we need to be when we need to be there. Morgan is the in-house DJ in the car, the music has been very varied each time we set out.

What have the out of town crowds been like?

So far we have visited a bunch of universities and colleges in South Devon, Birmingham, Plymouth and Taunton. Plymouth Uni was a great show! It was held in the SU Bar with pool tables and good company. Once we started playing the reaction was amazing – we felt that the students understood what the music was about. It’s what we got into music for. The reaction from the other places we have played has been the same so I think were on the right course musically as it seems to go down well with everyone. We also recently visited Broadlands School just up the road, the only school we have visited on the tour so far. It was a bit manic at first as there were students of all ages there but we think they liked us though! The students wanted photos with us and ask us to sign posters. It was a great feeling that we had made such an impact on them!

So the new EP, where and when was it recorded?

We are currently working with a management and production company based in London to produce and record this new release. We managed to fit a week’s worth of recording around a bunch of performance dates during the middle of March and we are very happy with the result.

Did the songs come together fully formed or was there a lot of experimentation in the studio?

Once we had the songs in a good enough shape instrumentally, we had a preproduction session to work on the structure and instrumentation to make it the best product it could be. We individually experimented with different ideas like solos, tones as well as transitions to create the right vibe that we wanted whilst not deviating too much from our previous release as we wanted to ensure consistency with the music.

There’s an awful lot happening in this country – tax dodging, drastic changes to the welfare state and the divisive situation around immigration – ever felt the need to comment on big issues or are you happier writing about the politics of the individual? 

We’re a rock band, politics don’t really come into our inspiration, perhaps one day!

How do you feel about the older material now you have fresh material down on tape?

Broken Stiletto has become second nature to us now! They are still great songs and always get a great reaction from first time listeners! Comparing the two releases, Place Your Bet has definitely defined our sound a lot more with a heavy instrumental section with catchy vocal hooks. The grounding we have now with this release we are looking to build only upwards and onwards. We always reflect on the older songs and try and use it as inspiration for something new!

Two EPs are now in the public domain so can we expect an LP in due course?

After this release we are definitely going to continue to write and release new music in the near future. Not sure on of an LP just yet but it’s definitely something to consider.

What are your plans for the rest of 2016?

Our plans for the rest of the year stand with writing and continuing to demo new music. We are going to continue to try and tour and play outside of Bristol, looking to consistently expand our fan base outside the local area. We are constantly looking to improve ourselves with every release that we do musically and visually.