Interview with Fickle Friends.
Interviewed by: Sarah Evangelista
As a definition, a fickle friend is someone who changes their mind every minute, to the point where you don’t know what they might say or do next, but Fickle Friends are a Brighton based quartet who we can rely on to release incredibly catchy tunes.
We got the opportunity to chat with lead singer, Natti Shiner, via zoom, about their latest track “Cosmic Coming of Age”, a part of their upcoming project Weird Years: Part 2, to be released very soon.
Sarah: A great starting point these days, is how have you been with everything happening in the world right now?
Natti: It’s kind of like the classic levels of mourning. Do you know what I mean? It’s like anger, and lost, weeping, and then finally you get through it - to acceptance. I’m in acceptance at the moment {laughs}. I guess you can get used to anything, but it’s going to be weird transitioning back to our regular world if it ever does happen.
S: Definitely!
N: It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster, but I’m sure it also has been for the rest of the world.
S: Especially as an artist, because you can’t go on tour. Have you guys been playing any virtual shows lately?
N: Not lately. We did a couple during the summer, but we’ve been finishing our album at the moment. But hopefully getting back to playing live this summer.
S: I’ve been a fan of the band for years now, I don’t even know how I found your music, but I’m so glad I did.
N: {laughs}
S: Every one of your songs are so catchy, even the slow ones, so what’s your creative process like?
N: I mean there’s no rules really. Sometimes Jack has just started a little idea on a fun loop or something, sometimes I have a title for a song, or an idea for a concept or something. We kind of don’t solidify anything for a while, and just hum melodies for ages. You just know when you’ve got it, do you know what I mean? It just sounds right.
Natti Shiner
S: Yes!
N: We tend to kind of get a basis of a piece or a loop, and then come up with melodies to go over the top. Sometimes I think in writing sessions, when we come up with bad music in the end, it’s like we’ve forced ourselves to finish a song. But because it’s just Jack and I, when it gets exhausting or we’re not feeling it, we’ll just put a pin in it and we’ll start something new. Sometimes that’s what makes you realize what was wrong with the idea, or if you love or you hate it. Everything’s always in a development kind of stages.
S: Even your music, the lyrics are more sad than the beat. Do you guys do that intentionally?
N: {laughs} Yeah. Well I kind of don’t often write happy songs. Not because I’m not a happy person. You know like when you’re sad, and you kind of get a kick at wallowing in your sadness? I’m the kind of person who would be weeping over my journal and writing down everything I’m so angry and sad about - that’s why the songs happen. Very rarely when I’m super happy would I be like “oh my god, everything’s so great, I’m so happy”! {laughs} That’s the way it’s always been with songwriting. Also, because it’s like therapy to write things down and tell them into music. It kind of allows you to let go of things a bit more. There’s so many of our songs now, and looking back I can remember exactly how I was feeling when we wrote it.
S: I can imagine! “Not In The Mood” is one of your newest releases, I think it’s such a jam. It’s also the first single off of Weird Years: Part 2, so how are you feeling about starting this new “era”?
N: I’m feeling really good. There’s so much new music to come out and it’s so consistent now. Like there’s no long periods of time between songs, and I think that was the stress about going into a pandemic - how long until we could release music again, because we couldn’t work together, we couldn’t leave the house. With Season 2, it was done and dusted months ago, and loaded into the system ready to go. We’re just finishing the album now, which will come afterwards.
N: They’re all such fresh songs, it really is like a diary from last year - sort of like a time capsule of the pandemic, the hardships, and things we can celebrate.
S: And how different is Season 1 from Season 2? Is it the continuation of the same story, or a different one completely?
N: I guess it’s a little bit of a continuation. Season 2 is all very bubbly stuff, because it’s so recent. Where Season 1, some songs were from previous years. Whereas now, it’s this whole cosmic shift that we’ve been experiencing, and that’s kind of what all the songs represent. This whole idea of this cosmic coming of age, and life giving you these tests to become who you’re supposed to be. I think Season 1 was more like “ahh what the f*** is happening?!” {laughs}.
S: Amazing, I get that vibe and I love it. There will be a full length project after, right?
N: Yeah!
S: What can you tell us about that?
N: I could tell you that Jack is through those curtains and working on it now {laughs}. It’s going to have a few songs from both EPs, and also from “Pretty Great” era, which was when we were going to originally start the album campaign. There’s a lot of new music on the way, and we’ve been working really hard. I’m so excited for it, it’s more like acoustic and guitar driven - there’s a lot more indie/rock on there, as opposed to sugary pop anthems that we’ve done a lot. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some on there, but there’s also some epic rock moments {laughs}.
S: Amazing!
N: I just feel like we’ve been dying to play live so much, that we were like ‘let’s make music that we can really imagine ourselves rocking out to on stage’.
S: Can’t wait to hear it. You recently posted on Instagram, that their will be a new song coming soon. What can you tell us about that? Is it more of a sugary pop or indie rock anthem?
N: It’s in the middle, I’d say. It’s the lead single from Weird Years: Season 2, called “Cosmic Coming of Age”, actually {laughs}.
S: That’s genius.
N: It’s the perfect summery song for the whole album really. I really really love it, I’m excited. But it’s not really a pop bop. I did a zoom yesterday with a group of fans, and I played them the whole EP, and they were like ‘this is the ultimate song you play in your car when you’re driving down a beach somewhere’.
S: Amazing {laughs}. Describe your music as an animal.
N: A tiger.
S: Okay! Is there a reason why?
N: I don’t know, they look really cute in pictures, but they’re kind of ferocious.
S: That makes sense! {laughs}
N: Yeah! {laughs} A double edged sword.
S: And last question, do you have any favorite up and coming artists at the moment?
N: People always ask me this and I want to open my Spotify playlist {laughs}. Off the top of my head, I’m obsessed with Holly Humberstone, I really love this new British band called junodream, they’re awesome. It’s not up and coming, but the new SG Lewis record is my absolute jam. I’ve got this playlist called ‘2021 jams’ which is all of the best songs I have ever heard recently.