Local alt/pop rockers FLOSSY launch their highly anticipated new single Being Alone this Friday, August 30 at Lucy’s Love Shack. CAITLIN NORRIS spoke to sisters Lauren and Sinead O’Hara and drummer Charlie Smith about their evolving sound, what we can look forward to on the night and their upcoming appearance at BIGSOUND next month.
It’s been a massive couple of weeks for you guys! Being Alone was premiered on triple j and has continued to gain more attention, and you were one of the first bands to be featured for Bob Gordon’s Bird Talk. How are you feeling?
SINEAD: Feeling really good! It’s been a little bit hectic and there’s a lot to organise but we’re so lucky to have amazing management helping us push things along. Being Alone being premiered on triple j was a big highlight, and we’ve had great feedback about the song and the video clip too. The Bird Talk was really cool! It was nice to talk in length about how we formed the band and what our processes were and are. It kind of makes you reflect on your time over the past few years and it’s a nice feeling to see that we have made some good progress and we’re really proud of what we’ve achieved so far.
What does it feel like to see Being Alone doing so well?
CHARLIE: It’s a great feeling! I only just joined the band a few months ago and this was the very first song we worked on together. The uplifting feel of the song represents how uplifted we felt while working on it. It came together pretty easily while writing and was then a quick turn around to record it. So to then have it premiered on triple j with a fun music video premiered by Pilerats as well it was an exciting first few months of jumping on the FLOSSY train.
Sonically, Being Alone has a little more of a pop sensibility than some of your previous songs. Was that a conscious decision or more of a natural evolution?
LAUREN: A little bit of both. Our earlier songs definitely steered more towards grunge rock and that was a conscious decision as that’s what we were listening to at that time. Being Alone is a lot more pop driven, and it was a song where we didn’t enforce any genre rules or restrictions. We wrote what came naturally to us, and this song was the product. We have taken a slight turn in our sonic direction, but we still want to maintain a certain attitude within our songs. We care about the messages in these songs, and aim to project them in a specific light because of that.
Who were you listening to when you wrote Being Alone?
LAUREN: More recently Sinead and I have been taking influence from bands like Moaning Lisa, The Beths and CLEWS. Charlie is also a big fan of WAAX, who we love and were lucky enough to support last year at their Perth show. The Breeders always have an underlining influence. Anything with powerful femme attitude and cool harmonies, really!
Has your writing process changed over the years?
SINEAD: I would say it has evolved. When we started the band we were writing full songs on our own and bringing them to each other pretty much nearly finished. Now we still write lyrics independently for the most part, but we’ve started writing the music together from scratch a lot more often. It’s been really nice to collaborate and it’s only made our songs stronger.
Let’s talk a little about your upcoming launch. It must be exciting to be celebrating a release that’s already done so well.
CHARLIE: We’re launching with great local company, Tether and Moth, with the Love Junkies DJ’s. It’s an exciting time because it’s nice little warm up before we jet off to BIGSOUND on the following Monday. The show is also our first opportunity to debut some new tunes we’ve been writing recently, and maybe a sneaky wholesome cover will make its way into the set.
Speaking of BIGSOUND…are we excited?
SINEAD: Of course we’re excited! It’s such a great opportunity to meet a bunch of people and bands and to perform to industry from the Eastern States who may not have seen us live before. It’s also really nerve wracking because of that, but we’re just going to go and have a great time and do what we love doing as best as we can. We’ve heard it’s really fast paced and there’s a lot of parties so we’re going to have to be on our best behaviour (laughs).
What’s next for FLOSSY?
LAUREN: There are many more new songs in the works so we’re jumping back in the studio when we get back from Brisbane. We’ve got plans for another single release, and potentially more shows over east, but we don’t want to give away too much just yet.
