Interview: Flaxxies

Radio BurgerFuel: It’s been almost a year since you dropped the Sunstruck EP. Was that kind of the start of the next stage for Flaxxies?

Nick Tait: Yeah, we've had quite a bit of momentum since we put out ‘Sunstruck’ in August last year, which was our kind of like our debut. We’ve put out EP's before, but it was the first time we were working with a proper producer with Tiki Taane. So to move to the beat of someone else's drum was pretty interesting. It was an adjustment. But yeah, Tiki’s pretty chill and we got out a pretty wicked record that we're proud of.

Fast forward to last summer and we played a bunch of shows around the country that was really, really cool, had heaps of fun at those, and actually started to notice more people showing up knowing who we are, which is amazing. And now we’ve got a new track out called ‘Blister’.

RBF: You been growing up together as a group of mates, and now you’re also having to think about adult things and life starts happening. Does it get harder to manage?

Nick: Yeah, 100%. When we were fresh out of high school, it was the first time we were on our own schedules at uni and stuff. So we could really do what we want, which was awesome. But as people get more responsibilities with their own lives, it gets a little bit more difficult. But the trick with anything – any business, any friendship – is just communication and getting onto things in advance.

I guess we kind run the middle ground between the two of those. Like if you wanna go away for a month, let the boys know. Ideally a year before so we don't book anything cause as you know with music stuff and festivals you're often booking 8-9 months out or more.

RBF: It seems like you’re becoming pros at this music game, does it feel like that to you?

Nick: For the first three years we were self-managed, just doing everything ourselves. We didn't want to lose all that when we got a manager. We still wanted that growth from us figuring things out and coming to terms of how it works ourselves.

So, Matt (Flaxxies manager) has been really good at explaining his decisions with us, letting us handle some of the more inconsequential stuff and allowing us to continue learning the trade essentially. But as things start to get bigger and the stress levels get higher, it’s actually good to have someone who knows what they're doing, who you can trust to guide you and keep a firm hand on the rudder.

As artists, I think it’s important to be able to take a step back, fill your own cups with whatever, and just focus on the number one goal which is to write great music and be able to play it well.

RBF: So I want to go back to Blister because it sounds a bit different to the usual Flaxxies. Is that something you’ve been wanting to do for a while?

Nick: Well the song itself has actually existed for about three years. We've always been really into writing different types of music and just experimenting, you know, not being too constrained. I think this was the first time we refrained from having a four/four drum beat really loud and actually just keeping the main rhythm part on an acoustic. That was really just to nail the sentiment of the song, which is about being a little bit lost in life. It's very introspective and mulling over a lot of self-doubting thoughts and trying to come to terms with being confused and lost. Which I guess at this age, it’s what a lot of people are, right?

So we dialled it back a little bit and it was really tricky. It went through about three or four different versions over the last 2 years before we finally sort of got it down this year. And I think it's quite a full sounding record, despite how bare it is compared to some of our other songs.

RBF: Did you record it with Tiki as well?

Nick: No, we recorded that ourselves over at The Lab in Mount Eden with Ollie Harmer. It's really fun to get in there. And it was actually our sort of secret 6th member, Ryan, who mixed that one up. He does all of our demo production, he runs our monitoring systems for gigs. So he's like our side of stage hand, but he's really into all his engineering and the technical side of music as well as just being a close mate of ours.

RBF: And now the song is out, you’re following it up with a winter tour too?

Nick: Yeah, we’re coming to the end of our practice cycle, getting our set up to speed for this month. We're heading around the North Island to Wellington, Ohakune, and Auckland over two weekends. It’s one show less than we did last year but I'm hoping these ones will be bigger shows!

After Wellington, the next night we’re up to Turoa Lodge in Ohakune, which will be interesting for us. We haven't played a ski resort before so that'll be cool. I'm actually originally from Waiouru, just around the corner so it’s a bit like bringing it home for me.

And then the night after our show at Double Whammy in Auckland, we’re supporting Th’ Dudes at a one of Powerstation gig. So, we'll have to really behave ourselves, especially those who are singing. We feel quite honoured to have gained that slot, because Th’ Dudes supposedly had already done their last ever tour so really just doing it because they love it at this point. That'll be really wicked to hopefully get up and show them that their trade isn't dying.

RBF: And would it be safe to assume that there’s more music on the way too?

Nick: I think I'm allowed to say this. We've got another three singles that we're sitting on now. One will be coming out around the time we're on tour, maybe. And then we've got another couple for over summer. So there'll be a bit of fresh Flaxxies content for everyone to get their laughing gear around over that period.

RBF: Are they different sounds again like ‘Blister’, or more traditional Flaxxies?

Nick: They're quite diverse. We've got one which is quite similar to some of the Sunstruck stuff, maybe a little bit rockier. We've got one real bouncy reggae song, and then another one, which I won't say anything about yet because I don't want to spoil it.

And we'll do be another long form release next year. 100%. This will be the first year in our time as a band, actually, that we haven't put out an EP. Since 2020, we've done an EP a year essentially, plus a few singles either side of them.

Benji's away doing his OE at the moment, so this year we thought, OK, we'll sit back, give all the boys a bit of time off at the start of the year. Get everyone fresh, start building a new set, get a couple of singles and then really, really hunker down for what hopefully next year will be a huge jump in sort of quality and maturity of music.