Flow Machines

Manchester band Flow Machines describe their sound as experimental/electro/pop and have recently released their new single Any Other Day.

With an album release set for the new year, we caught up with Flow Machines to find out more.

For those who haven’t discovered Flow Machines yet, what have they been missing?

Someone emailed in the other day to say thank you for one of the free downloads. They said Flow Machines is like a secret club – if you’re in on it, you’re mysteriously sent videos and MP3s from time to time. We basically just make pop music and give it to people who want to hear pop music. As formula’s go, it’s pretty simple.

Who would you cite as your main influences as a band?

We’re probably more influenced by certain machines than by specific bands. The Oberheim DMX drum machine is the current favourite. We used it on a remix we did for Cornershop earlier this year, and it features on the new album too. It’s great that certain drum machines now have iconic status. You still hear Roland TR-808 and TR-909 machines every day on the radio.

You’ve recently released your new single ‘Any Other Day’, how do you feel the song has been received?

Relatively well – a lot of work goes into each track so it’s pleasing to get positive feedback. It has a great video which helps. Releasing music via the internet makes it a very long game though. People will still be discovering this track and its video 12 months from now.

What was the writing process behind your latest single?

Well they’re normally written in the shower or whilst doing the washing up, then it’s a case of downloading them from your brain into the computer. The aim with the production of Any Other Day was for it to be an electronic ballad with strings, with a dubstep undercurrent. Part way through it switches to a completely different melody in a different key. No idea where that came from, but it livens things up a bit.

Your album is set for release on 14th January, what can we expect from this?

There’s basically 10 electronic pop songs, a bit of a mixture of styles, nice strings on some tracks, some thoughtful lyrics here and there. The title track, Hi-Res, is six minutes long, has a single-note hook, and ends with a two-minute analogue synth jam.

You recently released your music video to go with your new single release, how much say do you have in the video process?

We like to let the video guys do their thing really. This one was directed by Stuart Ramsay and he brought a really good experienced team with him. The end result speaks for itself. It’s brilliantly shot and edited, and completely fits the track.

You offer fans a free download via your website, do you believe offering tracks for free is important in the changing music industry?

It’s the only way if you’re up and coming and want to share your music to a lot of people quickly. We’re offering the new single and album on a ‘pay what you want’ basis. It’s great that music is so easily available, but it’s expensive to make well produced records, videos, remixes and so on. If you like an independent artist you have to pay for their records when you get chance if you want them to keep making music.

You remixed Cornershop and The Lost Cavalry earlier this year, do you have plans for any other collaborations?

We’re releasing a couple of additional remixes of Any Other Day called The Helsinki Mixes. They’ve been put together by the Finnish dance producers, Erkka Lempiainen and Alex Nieminen. Erkka has been successful as Michael Cassette and Komytea. Alex is one half of Stop Modernists, who recently released a New Order cover featuring Chris Lowe of Pet Shop Boys on lead vocals. Their remixes take Any Other Day into dancefloor territory.

To find out more about Flow Machines, visit the band’s website flowmachines.com.

You can also download their EP by paying what you want now!