Interview with The Flaws about their return and their Whelan’s gig

Ahead of their gig at Whelan’s, our Louise Tighe caught up with Paul Mallon, The Flaws’ bass player.

Louise: Welcome back, guys! You have been away for the past four years. How does it feel to be back?
Paul: It’s great to be back. We’ve put so much effort into the album for the last year. It’s been nice to finally get that over the finish line and actually play the songs live and see people’s reaction before the album comes out. It’s unbelievable that it’s been 4 years since our last album (Constant Adventure).

Louise: During your break what have you been up to?
Paul: When we finished touring “Constant Adventure”, I think everybody needed an open ended break from the band. There were a lot of miles on the clock at that stage, so we took the time to consider our options really. About a year and a half ago we regrouped with no real plan as to what we were doing or what direction we were heading. We just kept our heads down and began working on tunes for our own enjoyment more than anything else. When we hit a certain number of songs, an album became inevitable ha ha. We more or less fell into the process.

Louise: In April you completed your forthcoming third album “Springtime for The Flaws’, when can we hope to get a hold of it?
Paul: I’d imagine it will be February before the album is released with perhaps one more single in the meantime. So it’ll be 5 years!

Louise: The title “Springtime for The Flaws” was that decided on due to ‘Springtime’ being related to rebirth or new beginnings?
Paul: Not particularly. We probably should’ve come up with that! It’s a subtle reference to the stage show ‘The Producers’. That’s all I’ll say!

Louise: Do you feel your sound/style has changed or evolved since your last album “Constant Adventure” in 2010?
Paul: I would think it has naturally. Not to any drastic degree but I think with “Springtime” we’re perhaps being more direct than “Constant Adventure”. I also think that there are a few tunes on the album that people would perhaps not expect from The Flaws. I think we’re more assured in our ideas than we were maybe 4 years ago.

Louise: Where has your inspiration for this album come from and what can people expect from it?
Paul: I think we just wanted to be creative again for a concentrated period. As for any high concept or specific inspiration, I don’t think we’ve ever been that kind of band. Playing live is great, but sometimes it can also be a little deflating. We just began working on songs and because we enjoyed it so much, we just kept going! I think one of the reasons we enjoyed writing the album so much is that we really had no constraints or obligations with the band at that time. We had as much time as we liked.

Louise: You will be launching your first release from the album ‘Animals’ in Whelan’s on the 4^th of September, are you looking forward to it?
Paul: We can’t wait! Whelan’s has always been one of our favourite venues and they have always been good to us. It’s a special place really. It’s never really lost the aura of being the center of music in the capital.

Louise: What can we expect from the gig?
Paul: We’re not sure what to expect! It’s been a while for us! We’ll be playing a mix of old and songs from the new album so it’ll be a new experience for everybody!

Louise: What’s the idea behind the single “Animals”?
Paul: Lyrically you would have to ask Paul (Finn, Vocals). Musically i think as the song evolved it developed a more ‘anthemic’ quality. I think we kept trying to make it bigger and bigger before realising that sometimes less is more. We’re really happy with it.

Louise: The video connected to ‘Animals’ is a little ambiguous but with a recurring theme of the movement of time or the emphasis on light (lamp/sunset) were these conscious decisions?
Paul: I think the light bulbs has been a constant theme with the band since Achieving Vagueness. But no i don’t think we consciously tried to show the passing of time. Our grey hairs do that on their own!

Louise: Do you feel a video is important to document the journey of a band?
Paul: I think they can be a nice little snapshot of where we all were at that specific time. But i don’t think we think about them in that way. Everyone is always more or less concerned about the same things every time we do a video. ‘Do i really look that fat?’ ha ha. I think everyone usually ends up on a diet for about 24 hours after we first see it.

Louise: How can people keep up with all your news etc.?
Paul: All the usual ways. Twitter, Facebook and theflaws.com. Simple!

Thanks guys, best of luck with the album. May see you at the gig in September.

The Flaws are playing Whelan’s on September 4th.

Interview by Louise Tighe