INTRODUCING: FRIENDLY FIRES
INTRO: LAURELENE CHAMBOVET, WORDS: MARISA BRICKMAN
IMAGES: MARIUS W. HANSEN

The first thing that drew me to Friendly Fires was their cover of Frankie Knuckles’ disco classic “Your Love”, which may or may not have been an intentional way to make nice with the new rave kids. My friend did a search on myspace for all the bands that covered that song and FF’s was one of our favorites.

I met the band for the first time at the ’SUP UK launch party last fall. It was their first-ever London show, which they also headlined. That night, Friendly Fires brought extra sound, lights, and their own smoke machine (as well as a banner that didn’t get put up) for added effect. The gig was packed. Everyone was dancing, the girls loved it, and the industry types who stuck around to see them almost all stayed until the end.

Friendly Fires make danceable pop music with sound effects, lyrical harmonies, keyboards and fist-pumping beats, but they’re not waving glowsticks around aimlessly.

Lolo did an interview for ’SUP that involved a cut-and-paste exercise at the Old Blue Last. We followed that up with this.

Your full name and what you play, please.
Ed G: My full name is Edward John Frederick Gibson and I play guitar, a melodica, a shaker and a Dustbuster. And I sing sometimes.
Ed M: Edward MacFarlane. I sing and play bass.
Jack: Jack Barnaby Savidge. Drums and high-pitched, lady vocals.

Who is single and who has girlfriends?
Ed G: Cut to the quick, eh? Ed Mac is quite the catch. Lock up your daughters when he’s on your patch. Jack’s got a cool lady, but he still provides a warming hug. And I have a sweetheart called Jess.
Ed M: I’m single. It’s alright!

Your music is fun, but are you fun? What do you do for fun?
Ed G: We’re so fun. Let me tell you. We go bowling, we play cricket, and we’ll have a lovely chat over a cup of tea and some cake. You name it. We’ll do it. I enjoy crabbing, myself.
Jack: I enjoy cooking, rollerblading, and DJing. I like dull sports like darts, snooker and cricket.
Ed M: Recently we’ve been getting the kite out because it’s been rather windy. Hours and hours of fun! But I’m usually getting drunk and laughing at Jack getting thrown out of the T-Bar, which he regularly does.

What kind of music do you guys like? Who would you say are some of your influences?
Ed G: I really like full, lush, lulling melodies like My Bloody Valentine or Do Make Say Think or Boards of Canada or Growing – melodies that can envelop you with a warm lovely glow. But when you go out and you want to dance, you need something that has a more frantic catchy rhythm like something on Kompakt or DFA. It would be great to squeeze them all into a pure ear juice to wake up to and go to sleep to.
Ed M: I’m fed up with all this boshing headache electro. I love Superpitcher and Michael Mayer because they combine banging beats with some really affecting melodies. I think we try and incorporate that into our music. The whole French Canadian scene is something I really admire as well, bands like Broken Social Scene, Gonzales, Feist and Mocky. I wish we had that family atmosphere here in England.
Jack: Right now I’m really liking Pavement, Tortoise, GY!BE, Boredoms, some cool old prog rock like King Crimson - the kind of stuff that I think today would get taken the piss out of for being too clever or pretentious. It seems like there’s been a great resurgence in boring, anti-intellectual, traditional indie rock like The View recently. More pretension in music, please! As far as the band is concerned, I suppose Prince and Talking Heads are two fairly obvious influences, but we mainly listen to the radio. You get to hear both the best and worst of all pop music on any commercial radio station. It’s always a good talking point.

What is the most stylish thing about Friendly Fires?
Ed G: Definitely Ed Mac. He’ll put on a fucking cushion cover and make Giorgio Armani shit his pants.
Jack: Yeah, I say Ed M. too, although I describe my own style as suburban bricolage. I pick up what is lying around my bedroom in the suburbs and wear it.
Ed M: Well, clothing-wise, I don’t think Ed and Jack really give a shit about fashion. I’m just into nice patterns or colors. I made a top from a pillowcase at a hotel we stayed at recently, and I’m into customizing things, such as my shoes with googley eyes and the like. But I don’t think I’m stylish. I think our music has a cool atmosphere to it. I think that’s more stylish than any of us.

Is Ed M trying to look like a girl these days on purpose?
Ed G: [Laughing] This is like school. Everyone I know agrees that in the Polaroids on our site, he looks like a pretty hot girl. If you’ve got it…
Jack: Before he has the operation he has to live like a girl for two years. After the hormones properly kick in it will be more convincing.
Ed M: I basically don’t want to spend money getting my haircut, when I could go out and get pissed with the little money I have! A girl cut my hair recently. I looked like a medieval prince for about two weeks. Those are the photos they’re talking about. Not good.

How did you like Lolo’s cut & paste exercise?
Ed G: It was great. Reminded me of having jokes at kidlet school again. I’ve still got the pen. It smells so good.
Ed M: It was fun! Freaked me out the amount of research she did via myspace! Myspace is the fear. I’m one of those twats with a private profile now.
Jack: I was too tired and drunk, and the only thing I could think to write on it was some Public Enemy lyrics I had been listening to that day. I don’t think I really did it justice.

Where would you say a lot of your influences come from?
Jack: Today you can never ask someone ‘What kind of music are you into?’ because no one will ever say ‘I like metal’ or ‘I’m into indie’. People mix the totally obscure with the completely accessible in forming their daily soundtracks. I think that attitude informs how we try and make music. Our influences are often pretty all over the place but we try and crowbar in as much as we can from the music we love, whether that be lush pop, soul, techno, or psychedelia. We try and fit these altogether and make it fun to dance to.

Why did you choose to cover Frankie Knuckles’ “Your Love”?
Ed G: We love the arpeggiated synth sound and Jamie Principal’s sexy-ass vocals. It sounded like the kind of song we wanted to be playing.
Ed M: We did a cover of “Good Life” too. I think that one was better. But “Your Love” sounded more accessible, I suppose. The bass line is mint, come on!
Jack: It’s just of the best pieces of music ever made. So tortured and emotional, but in a really glam and OTT way. Pure drama.

Where are you from and where do you all live now?
Ed G: I’m from St. Albans A&E Ward on the 18th September 1984. Right now I live with my rinsing middle sister Anna in a flat a stone’s throw from a place where you can get a battered Mars Bar for 50p. Amazing!
Ed M: I’m from St Albans. At the moment I’m split between there and Nottingham. There are more guns and girls in Nottingham though. I prefer it there.
Jack: Hatfield, a town in Hertfordshire.

Who would you like to work or play with this year?
Ed G: I’m hopefully getting down to the ATP Festival this year. That would be an amazing event to be a part of. Anywhere that people are going to dance is a fun place to work.
Ed M: I’d like to do some shows with Junior Boys. I really like their crooner style. Hot Chip would be nice! I’d like to get Mocky in the studio and write an amazing bass line with him, but I’m not sure if he’d be into us. Will this happen in 2007? Who knows?
Jack: Edward MacFarlane and Ed Gibson. Can’t really imagine working with anyone else. I’d love us to promote our own club night, and get who we want to play every month.

What has changed since you played your first London show?
Ed G: I’m going to be an uncle. I can’t wait. I had to keep it a secret, but now I’m unveiling it to the world.
Ed M: I’m poorer.
Jack: We now play things at a reasonable speed.

Have you guys found a UK label yet?
Ed M: Nah. There’s no rush.
Jack: Not yet.
Ed G: Please approach us at will. We’ll sign away whatever you want as long as the price is right.

Website: myspace.com/friendlyfires