Cardiff based electro rockers Fjords are set to release the ace new double A-Side single “Strata Florida/Domino” on August 12th, available through iTunes and bandcamp.
The band, who are Sonny (Vocals,Guitar), Scott (Guitar), Gareth (Synths,Trumpet), Alex (Bass, Vocals) and Hannah (Drums), are winners of Best Band in the Unsigned Music Awards 2013, Best of British Unsigned and are one of the most exciting live bands on the circuit right now.
Fjords are musically unique, and are definitely ones to watch, I guarantee you will be hearing this bands name everywhere really soon.
We spoke to the band all about the new single and what the future holds for Fjords.
You have a new single, “Strata Florida/Domino” being released, where was it recorded and with who? Scott: Hi there. It was recorded at Faster Studios, it belongs to The Manics. We have recorded there before. The sessions were engineered by Loz Williams, who was a true gent, it was like he has taken his manners and composure from a Dickens novel. He was on the fucking ball the whole time we were there. The equipment in that studio is vintage quality. The desk is super massive and wooden and has come out of Rockfield. Apparently Queen’s Night at the Opera was recorded on it. Yes that means “Miss Miller let him go” ripped through that desk. The tone that desk had was killer. That went straight Into ProTools. Vintage and modern working together.
We mixed and produced it ourselves. Gaz was at the mixing controls, and Hannah and Scott produced it. We’re really pleased with how its turned out. We got the sound “we” wanted.
What’s the song about? Sonny – The Strata Florida title is Scott’s idea. I wasn’t sure what it was so looked it up and found reference to this old ruin in Mid Wales….got me thinking about standing there at night, thinking about being a ghost…not like in the conventional sense, more like a memory…like how a place can absorb memories and moments. Domino was inspired by the Lindy Wilson documentary on Roger Bushel. He masterminded the Great Escape…there’s no direct reference in the song but there’s a bit in there about how I imagined his frame of mind….nothing like the movie, it’s actually really dark, I can’t believe the things he witnessed and went through.
Scott: Strata Florida was at one time arguably the centre of Wales. It was the seat of welsh kings for many years and the Welsh “parliament” was there for a while. It’s pretty fucking important in Welsh history, yet no one knows about. It’s unbelievable. I just wanted to write a song about a place or time that had been so visceral and power yet in the present was ruined weak and forgotten.
How/when was it written? Sonny – For me Strata was a great experience… I missed a practice and the band presented a re-imagined idea….one of Scott’s. All I had to do was think of a tune and lyrics. Alex and I actually came up with two chorus ideas…we sang them at the same time and bang, it all worked!
Scott: when I first wrote this song it was more in the style of African Hi-Life. But that shit just didn’t fly with the other guys. So me and Gaz (keyboard player) spent some time reworking the foundations of it . We took it to the rest of the band and they just worked their magic. They are just great musicians so its just so easy to write songs. We write songs so quickly we are considering our first album to be a triple album. Just to fuck with people’s heads.
Fjords have a pretty unique sound, What are your main influences? Time and pressure….end of.
We’ve got a wide variety of influences. Each of us likes different sorts of music, and I think thats where we get our unique sound from.
We’ve been likened to numerous bands/artists like Talk talk, David Bowie, Joy Division, The Charlatans, Muse, Simple Minds, Talking Heads. None of which were intentional!
What will the rest of this year hold for you? Sonny: I’d love to get some more of our new material recorded.
Scott: Schmoozing and boozing. Gigs , gigs , gigs.
Photos by Owen Mathias – http://www.owenmathias.com
