Flat Party Talks Touring, Influences, The Band’s Inner Workings And Their Origin Story

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“It’s such a myth that there has to be tension to make good music”: We chat with Flat Party about their new EP and beginnings

Being tucked away in little old Cornwall I hadn’t heard of these city kids prior to this interview. I liked the name and that was my decision-making process done & dusted. Nevertheless, it was a significantly good decision.

Flat Party’s tasteful blend of sharp guitar riffs that boast a gritty shimmer are complimented by a vocal style where Mika meets Sting. ‘It’s All Been Done Before’ is Flat Party’s biggest-sounding release yet, with a darker musical edge compared to their older releases.           

Since dropping their debut single in late ‘22 this group of indie pop-rockers have performed alongside fellow talents like English Teacher, Opus Kink, King Nun, FEET and others.

Now, with this release, Flat Party are establishing themselves on the block with a refined take on their thoughtfully dramatic sound and they do not disappoint. Jack Lawther, self-proclaimed “chief shit chatter” of Flat Party chatted with me about the ep.

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First question: Is there a relationship between tracks on the EP?

Jack:  ‘Madonna‘, ‘It’s All Been Done Before‘ and ‘Shotgun‘ are probably the most commercial, that’s why we chose them as singles, but they’re not even that commercial. In comparison to the first EP, I think the main relationship is probably that this EP has a slightly different musical edge [whereas] the first EP was meant to be more accessible, straightforward indie rock.

Some tracks from the first EP were meant to be easy to digest and to get people interested. This new EP is a different side of us musically.

I figured Flat Party’s music is for people living wild & freely, figuring out who they are and their sexuality. Does that reflect a journey you’ve had as a songwriter?

Jack: I suppose some of the lyrics are autobiographical, but sometimes they embody other people, various people that I’ve known throughout my life up to this point. Just observing them and creating stories around them or telling true stories about them. Either way, it’s not necessarily a personal journey [the lyrics] depict.

There’s a line in ‘Shotgun‘ that goes, “I’m here because I’m lonely, not because I’m bored,” which calls back to ‘I’m Bored, Give Me Love’ you released last year. 

Jack: There’s definitely a recurring theme around boredom in our music. Both Rory and I come from pretty quiet towns—not terrible places to live, but just… boring. Growing up there definitely influenced the themes in our music. Although we avoid putting ‘Shotgun‘ next to ‘I’m Bored‘ in setlists because it’s too on the nose.

There’s a storyline connecting ‘Shotgun‘ and ‘Madonna‘ involving a character, inspired by Virgil from Dante’s Inferno in name but not so much in character. He’s trying to lead the protagonist to hell to answer for his social crimes, I guess.

‘It’s All Been Done Before‘ is more of a performance piece where we mimicked Top of the Pops and Old Grey Whistle Test… we even shot it on DV cam with the camera on a skateboard for panning shots.

[The video for] ‘Shotgun‘ is directed by our drummer Zander. He does a lot of videos, but ‘Shotgun‘ is set in the ‘offices of purgatory’, deciding where to send people… to hell or heaven or whatever. And, funnily enough, it featured a fellow who was in ‘Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey‘ which is pretty crazy!

Does everyone bring something extra to the band beyond music?

Jack: Definitely. Composition-wise it’s mostly me or me and Rory but everyone contributes, especially during rehearsals. We have a manager but we split the work evenly with things like social media. We dish out the work evenly and everyone fits into their roles. It’s quite Marxist (we chuckle) it’s a well-oiled machine!

We each have our own contributions to everything. Everyone keeps the machine turning. The machine always wins. 

What influences would you say have shaped Flat Party’s sound and what drives the band?

Jack: Well, Suede comes up a lot as a comparison, which I couldn’t deny because I grew up loving Suede. But I was in a post-punk band while studying in Bristol before [Flat Party], and after a while, I realised I just wanted to write melodic songs. I grew up on The Beatles, so I’ve always had this bone in my body that wanted to make a hook rather than something abrasive.

When we formed there was so much post-punk around. There was a bit of the indie pop or the nastily termed indie landfill vibe going on but there weren’t any legitimate good rock pop bands coming around.We thought, “Why not fill the gap for indie rock-pop?”. There’s a bit more now, like The Last Dinner Party, but there wasn’t much of that at the time.

You mentioned how the band had its beginnings at university. Were you all friends before the band started?

Jack: Yeah, we went to uni together except for our drummer, Zander, who’s a friend of Dylan [our guitarist] from culinary school. We didn’t form straight away as this unit from uni. It came through just knowing each other and we eventually came to this final form. 

Zander quit music and went to culinary school but quit because he hated it. Then we needed a drummer so we shipped him in and he turned out to be amazing! We’ve just gelled so much as a unit and we get on really well; which I think is the key thing that’s the most important.

You don’t want any tension. It’s such a myth that there has to be tension to make good music. We’ve recorded two EPs and if we were at odds we’d be miserable. You need to have each other’s backs for this to work.

You only started releasing music in 2022. Had you been gigging as a band before COVID?

Jack: No, we hadn’t been gigging as Flat Party. I was gigging with other bands but we got smothered by COVID before we could. I think we had one rehearsal with a completely different lineup when we were living in Bristol and within a month no one could go outside.

It wasn’t until we moved to London in 2021 that we started gigging. We had a lot of songs but hadn’t played them live.

Where are you most excited to play on tour?

Jack: Definitely Edinburgh. Every time we’ve played there it’s been amazing, especially at Sneaky Pete’s. We played there earlier this year with King Nun and it was a blast. Edinburgh has a great crowd for live music.

We toured before we’d even released anything, which a few industry ‘biz dev type’ folks told us was a bad idea, but it was good for experience. Some shows were tiny but it was a good way to cut our teeth really. Obviously, we had plenty of shows that were to five people or just the support bands. We didn’t make any money on it at all, but it was a great way to gain experience.

I’d never been on tour before, so it was great for me to experience that. I’m more hopeful this time because it’s a smaller tour and we’ve laid a bit more groundwork now. I’ve noticed since the start of the year that more people are coming to our gigs who actually like us.

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It’s a shame that Cornwall isn’t a leg of the tour, but you should be sure to check Flat Party out if you’re more fortunate than I am.  

You can catch Jack and his band of pop rockers celebrating the release on tour in November in Newcastle, Edinburgh, Manchester, Sheffield, Southampton, Bristol and London! Grab tickets on their Instagram, and you can bag yourself an ‘It’s All Been Done Before’ vinyl too.

Listen to ‘It’s All Been Done Before’ here:

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Catch Flat Party at the following:

Zerox, Newcastle – 19th November
Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh – 20th November
The Rat & Pigeon, Manchester – 22nd November
Hallamshire Hotel, Sheffield – 23rd November
Heartbreakers, Southampton – 24th November
The Louisiana, Bristol – 26th November
The Lexington, London – 27th November

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