Interview w/ FLOGGING MOLLY supported by: TRICOLOR Skateboards
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Interview-Flogging Molly
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FLOGGING MOLLY was in the city this summer in an extremely hot day!! Flogging Molly is a band which Irish influence is very notable due that their singer is Irish. The funny thing about a FM concert is the fact that when they play is like a 2nd ST. Patrick´s day, when this band from LA plays a show in Vienna everyone is Irish including the guys who don´t have any english knowledge, but well they like to drink like an Irish man! This time I interviewed NATHEN MAXWELL bass player of this Guinness lovers group.
By: Miguel Guinness.
Why do you think that Flogging Molly´s music is so appealing to such a wide and different kind of public?
Nathen: I think it´s just the taste of quality music, we dont really associate ourselves to any scene. I come from a punk rock background and I will always be a punk rocker but as far as trying to fit in the mode of a punk rock band we dont care about it, Dave is from Dublin and he grew up listening to traditional Irish music
and we play a version of traditional Irish music and again we are not trying to fit in a traditional Irish music style, we dont care about that. We are more interested to play music that we truly love and being creative and writting real songs, so I think that just in itself has more potential to spend through the generations, there can be a metal head who just hears metal music but he likes Flogging Molly as well or others who just listen punk rock but they also like FM or even the ones who just listen folk music they like FM and I´m very happy for that.
There are a lot of conservative, close minded or very traditional Irish people. Have you ever had a problem because of the style you play?
Nathen: Absolutely!! We were actually in a pub in Ireland and the barman started to play a Flogging Molly record and as the song came on I dont remember the title now but as the song came in it was a cover song and starts as a traditional Irish song that you can sing along etc... and then kicks on what we do!! and a man a the bar sitting there drinking whisky was listen to the song and singing along suddenly the band kicks in and he got violently angry, "What is this shite?" and the bar tender says ah is the band of the guy sitting there and he wanted to fight me he thought that we destroyed or we shitted on his ancestors grave or something. So I think it was one of the greatest reactions ever, the guys was so angry of what we did to it(song) but yeah there are quite a lot of people who are traditionalists and dont like what we do and Im more than happy than that you cant please everybody.
When you hit the rehearsal room, Who is the one who brings the main ideas to create a song?
Nathen: In general it would be our singer Dave he is the leader of the band it´s his vision and he keeps us together but I would say that he is also fair in the aspect that if any of us have some ideas for a new song we work on them. we recorded 2 songs that I came with the idea of them, sometimes the other members do the same I mean is no one way the way we do it, but in general it´s Dave coming in with a song and maybe not the whole song just the chorus, an intro or the feeling which he feels confident to share it with us and then click!! the seven of us play and that´s FM.
In your life like a human being, how do you manage your time having Flogging Molly and your side project and the fact that you are always on tour?
Nathen: Well is difficult for my family back home, is difficult for me to be away from them I really miss my children and my wife when I´m working and this is all I have, you know? Music!! It is always I ever had and the way I feel that I´m doing my job to support my kids and to make sure that they will be taken care of, I have to work, I have to work my ass off and that´s what inspire me so I have to work, I have to provide for my kids because I have nothing else, no other way to support a family, I have no rich family, I have no real education and also in my soul there´s music so I have to give it out, I cant explain it other than that. It´s if I dont write all this songs I will probably snap, so I have to release this I have to share it to people, is like heels me.
Browsing in forums, websites etc... There were a few posts mentining that FM is co-owner of Sideonedummy, is that true??
Nathen: Just a rumour we dont own anything from Sideonedummy, we are good friends with them, we have been with them since the beginning. We were a big part of making the label grow and they have being a big part of FM as the band grow, it´s been a great relationship in the way that we always worked with Sideonedummy we respect it very much and we recommend it to other people. We dont have to stay together is not like we have a deal that we must stay together, we are together because we boh want to be together is like an interdependent relationship you know?. We are totally free to go to any other label anytime and they are totally free to say no thank you, we will not release your next record, so it keeps us together for the right reasons.
Tell us something about your last DVD.
Nathen: Well I´m a kid from Los Angeles so when it came like we could have the chance to play the greek theater, I was like really!! Oh my goodness that would be amazing!! Growing up in LA that´s like huge and we were like ok let´s play the big theater, then we said come on let´s document it because is like a big step in our career, so we got a film crew together to film and document the concert, well some weren´t so stoked with the idea but personally I pushed for it because as I said to play the greek teather being from LA is amazing.And I was so happy that it was filmed even for my private collection, I mean we won´t do it again we are not getting any younger.
How your life changed after being a local band in California to the moment where you are now?
Nathen: Well you know is being a slow progression slower as you can imagine to being this FM has been 14 years for me and we never really skipped steps to get success, we played the local scene in LA we played a pub every monday night for years and then we started touring we got a van you know we bought a van then we toured for 2 or 3 years in a van hardcore and then of that we were able to buy a bus. So we never skipped steps as I said for exmple in Vienna we played open air years ago but it was deconstruction tour, then we played all the time in small locations, now this time we will play a sold out open air show. So how my life changed? I don´t know I can´t answer that question, since I remember I dedicated my life to music, always playing music, always in a band, working, working, working and that hasn´t changed, as far as the money I do now?, I dont see any of it, I give it all to my kids to support my family. So inside I´m the same person maybe wiser than before, little more beat up, but this is what I do, this is what I like.
Nathan: Hahaha I´m sure that there are a lot of professionals who will answer you that, you know they are arguing with themselves about it, in my case I dont know man. If you see at the story of the planet the ice ages happened and some other bad things now if you ask if it´s man made? I will say yeah of course is man made and if I keep thiking of all the atrocities that we make I will just get depressed. We have to get closer with our planet, with ourselves like brothers, sisters I think we have to realize that we have to start a great beginning if not we will just go down.
Anything you would like to say?
Nathan: I wanna say to the people in Austria THANK YOU for the big support for so many years, we appreciate Austria a lot is the country where we got the biggest support outside of the US. So we will kep coming and make more party.
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