Nearing the end of their biggest UK headline run yet,

FICKLE FRIENDS are sitting backstage sipping wine

before playing The Forum in Tunbridge Wells, the
penultimate gig to their soon-to-be sold out Heaven
show in London.

INTERVIEW

BY ELOISE BULMER

Its pretty mental muses singer Natti Shiner on the

bands success- its kind of terrifying adds keyboardplayer Jack Wilson, and its not hard to understand why
theyd be feeling overwhelmed at their steep upwards
trajectory. Forming in Brighton in 2013, the band hit the
touring circuit hard, playing 26 festivals in 2015 and 31
in 2015 whilst making waves in the blogosphere with
their singles. Now in 2016 after signing to Polydor, the
band are recording their debut album with Mike Crossey
(THE 1975, WOLF ALICE) in Los Angeles. Were about
70% there, weve still got a couple more big things to
write on it explains Natti on the albums current progress.
Although flying out to LA to record an album sounds like
a dream, the constant back and forth can be exhausting
and time consuming. Sometimes were like, wouldnt
it be nice if we could just hop on a train to London. It
gets knackering laughs Natti, however its the heat that
gets to them when theyre out there. After a few days
its just too much laments Jack on the weather situation,
however its hard to imagine such intense heat whilst in
the middle of a UK tour in December, he adds.

Although the band are stationed in LA

when in America, their most recently
released single 'Brooklyn', has a very
New York name. "It's nothing about
Brooklyn really" begins Natti, "it's the
name of an Apple loop or something,
but I actually thought it was quite a
nice idea to use as a metaphor for
feeling anxious and a bit
weird and not feeling familiar
with that feeling and treating
it as a foreign place." The
video for the single definitely
encapsulates that feeling,
with the band lounging and
performing in a slightly surreal
setting. "We had a lot of fun
doing the Brooklyn video
because it was our house that
we were staying in in LA, it was
chilled, it was filmed in a pool, we got
quite drunk, we ended up at this like
Mexican restaurant eating tacos until 2
in the morning." says Natti, laughing
at the memory.

Until then, playing the new songs live

is on Fickle Friends' agenda. "There's
a song called 'Bite' which has been
going down well" Natti considers of
the new tracks they've been testing out
on the tour. "It's always a little scary to
gauge what fans think" she continues,
but the band needn't worry as tonight
the audience easily fall in love
with the new tracks, especially
'Hello Hello' which easily
gets heads bobbing to the
infectious melody.

It's
always a
little scary
on to the new year,
to gauge Moving
the band don't have any plans
in stone yet, but fondly
what fans set
remember playing a gig one
"It's an easy way to get
think year.
everyone together" mentions
Jack, "although we were really drunk"
he adds. It's definitely been a big year
for Fickle Friends, and 2017 is set to
be even bigger for the band.
WEB

Their past two singles have both

followed a neon theme with their
music videos and artwork. "We didn't
want to go too neon with everything
just because it's used so much at the
moment and then you find yourself
being compared, or people saying 'oh
look they copied the aesthetic of so and
so.'" Time will tell if the band stick to
the neon theme with their next singles,
which are due out between now and
when the album is released. When
will the album be released? "Probably
summer", states Natti, and it's easy to
imagine the band unleashing an album
full of summery pop gems at that time.

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