On Friday December 1st, Workman’s Club was filled with sounds of harmonious voices, deep bass guitar notes, and delicate guitar picking by London-based band Flyte. Childhood friends, Will Taylor and Nick Hill, started the band back in 2013. Together they have evoked vulnerable emotions involved with falling and out of love through their ambitious poetic arrangements. Their newest album, self-titled Flyte, was released in October receiving 5 stars from The Independent, and numerous other raving reviews. A departure from their last album, This Is Really Going To Hurt which was an album about hurt and heartbreak, while this new album is “surrounded by love,” as it delves into Taylor’s relationship with fellow singer-songwriter, Billie Marten. In chronological order of their relationship, it explores the magic of meeting somebody, having special connections, and the overall highs and lows of love. 

After their extensive four hour soundcheck, I got the opportunity to sit down with Taylor and Hill for an interview discussing their past albums, tour life, songwriting, collaborations, the role of social media in today’s music, and words of wisdom. 

 

AB: After cancellations, re-scheduling, and long tours, this marks your first concert headlining in Ireland. How does it feel to finally get here? 

 

WT: We have a funny relationship with Ireland because we always get on so well with our audience here from afar. Very similar to fans in America. There is a nice sort of dialogue between us and Ireland, I think, because of the style of music we play. It is organic music, it is songful, very lyrical with lots of harmony. That is an easy sell to Americans and the Irish, compared to the British, who can be more concerned with style and zeitgeist. I am generalising hughley here. It is funny, maybe it is down to the pandemic, or more to do with organisational issues, like visas and financial issues, but we have never properly been able to play in Ireland. We were quite trepidatious, so we booked small rooms because it is hard to know who will come. So it feels sort of like we are starting off again. But it is great to see that people are actually showing up! 

 

AB: Are there any Irish influences that come to mind? Because your music does have the folk country feeling with, as you mentioned, strong lyrics and harmonies. 

 

WT: It is almost like British music that is influenced by Irish music. Like 60s folk, John Martin and Nick Drake, have been strong musical influences for us and the wider musical community we are in. 

 

NH: It has permeated into mainstream folk music that is always underlying. 

 

WT: And of course Shane Macgowan who just sadly passed away. Thin Lizzy too.

 

NH: Oh ya. I was a big Thin Lizzy Fan growing up. Just solo.

 

WT: Just solo in harmony. 

 

AB: So now to talk about the new album, just released this October, self titled Flyte. This album is clearly about finding “that person.” It could be about falling in love, but it could also be about friendship. While the messages are clearly different from your last album, it still has the same tender vulnerability that kept your strong fan base while also expanding and gaining more listeners. How did the process differ? 

 

WT: There was definitely a positive shift. A healthy one. For instance, our first two records were laboured over a great deal more than this one. The first album is famously tumultus, under pressure, with high expectations. It took 6 weeks to record where we laboured over every detail. The second record, was another drawn out process working with many producers, agonising over every aspect. So, compared to those two things, this last one took a week to record. And all the labour was healthy labour because it was just me and Nick sitting with two acoustic guitars, no demoing, no computers, just by the window at a table, writing songs for 6 months straight. Doing it in a loud environment with clocks ticking and money draining, that is just not for us. So we put all the time into writing, so when it was time to record there was no stress. 

 

NH: And recording was an exciting time because it was the first time that these songs were going to be captured. It was thrilling. We had our friends in the musical community in London that came together and helped us. 

 

WT: And the themes of love and friendship that the album is about, are indicative of that setup that we had. We were surrounded by love-Surrounded by our friends and people we loved. And luckily they are brilliantly talented musicians. I can also enjoy listening to this record because it is not so much “mine and Nick’s baby,” it is everyone’s baby.

 

NH: We definitely tried less hard. And I think being relaxed makes better art.

 

AB: There are some collaborations on this album, Billie Marten on “Don’t Forget About Us,” and Laura Marling for “Tough Love.” How did those come about?

 

WT: With Laura, during lock down she expressed her enjoyment of our second record. She is an incredibly sweet human being, but she is quite private and illusive and does not do many collaborations. She is a part of the lucky generation that broke through at an earlier time and did not have to be accessible to everyone all the time in order to succeed. So, she can be just an album artist and be rare and be private. We originally did not think she would sing on that song, and we did not push too hard. But the song felt like a dialogue and we wanted to actualise it. Billie was already singing a song and Laura was just around the corner, so we thought – how about her? She came by, we recorded in about 30 minutes, she left, and we never saw her again.

 

AB: You mentioned it took only about a week to record this album. Did you feel satisfied when you were done? Or do you think now “I wish we changed that,” or “we should have done this instead?”

 

WT: You always always think that about a record. But not this one.

 

NH: Normally when you do a record, it is awful until it gets mixed. There is usually a really long time between finishing and the mixing and you just think to yourself, “I hate it I hate it. We are going to have to re- do it all.” But this time it was really easy.

 

WT: Maybe because it was recorded on tape and recorded live. There was not a choice about mixing because it is all printed all together on one tape. We also did not care as much, so we are able to continue enjoying it.

 

AB: This album received high praise and amazing reviews. Does this add any pressure or a feeling that you “peaked?”

 

NH: No. What felt nice about this album is that it felt so repeatable. It feels like we can make music like this in a sustainable way forever. 

 

AB: What is it like playing this record live with a full band?

 

WT: It is much easier than the last. It is easier to adapt because there is less stuff happening. Older songs like “Cathy come home” and “Faithless” feel like a magic trick. They are a funny little dance. But now songs like “Defender” and “Even on Bad Days” can be played with just an acoustic guitar or with a looser improvisational four piece style band. It is just a mixture of everything now.

 

AB: Many artists use performance for more cathartic reasons especially with sorrowful and more emotional songs, and there is a big connection with you and your audience. So what does performing these songs and performance in general mean to you? 

 

WT: That is what is so important about getting in front of an audience. It reminds you, in the modern age of releasing music, what it is actually about. People will try to convince you that numbers are very important; data, streaming, stats. We can be in our heads trying to make sure everything is exactly how we want it to be, but being on stage, looking out into the audience, you can see they are all present. People are not putting their phones out that much – they are just there. They have associations with certain songs that can take them to particular times and people in their life. It is so healthy, especially when creating music, that it is music that reaches people in a way that goes beyond the bullshit. 

 

AB: Talking about the modern age of music, how do you navigate social media? You now have a presence on Tiktok and have also started posting behind the scenes videos on YouTube, documenting the recording of the album. How did that come about and will it continue?

 

WT: I think it is ok as long as it is about music and not about what we ate that morning. For people who don’t know how music works, they think it is just magic. The series of documentaries is nice because the videos can show the process.

 

NH: It is still a bit like magic. 

 

WT: Of course. Always like magic. And for Tiktok, as long as it is what we are doing anyway, singing and performing, except now it is just in front of a camera for Tiktok, it does not promise anything. I think when you start learning dance routines and chasing hashtags, that breaks the fourth wall and shatters the illusion. 

 

AB: There are also videos of fans recording themselves singing covers and doing duets to your songs. How does it feel to see those videos?

 

NH: It is very moving. 

 

WT: Ya, I don’t know what to do with that stuff. It is daily at the moment. Waves of covers everyday. It has never been so regular. Maybe it is becoming more of a culture to pick up guitars and learn to play new songs. Especially with songs like “Defender,” it is a tricky song to play. That is Matt Field – over there – that plays it

 

Matt Field (from the other side of the room): I can’t even play it. 

 

WT: “Speech Bubble” is one that has reached people in many ways; people coming out of a breakup, going into a new relationship, or a new friendship. It covers everyone’s needs which is really cool. But this is all anecdotal – who knows what is going on with people. And going back to not caring, I think the more you do you, the more you do everyone else.

 

AB: This article is for students and young musicians, what is a final message that you want to share. Any words of wisdom?

 

NH: Haha, I think you should answer that. 

WT: Well just to reiterate what we sort of said in a way, but you need to lean into who you are and what you want, in terms of your own truth, the experiences you are having, and also the kind of music you want to listen to. You then serve the people who might listen to your music, how you would serve yourself. That is a really obvious and easy thing to say and it is said by so many people, but it is worth reiterating. That is really the number one when it comes to creating your own stuff. And second of all, don’t be on your phone so much. I am telling that to myself as well. Just try to be as still and present as you can be at all times with what it is you’re feeling. The moment you do that, things rise to the surface and you start to create.

 

WORDS: Aoife Bane