Brighton’s very own Frankie Furlow talk to SAM ROWLANDS about being played on BBC Radio Sussex, their slot at The Great Escape Festival and plans to record a new record.
How did you meet?
We met at BIMM. Satch and Oscar were in a folk band before, which they disbanded to begin Frankie Furlow with Will. Dave replaced our old bassist recently. We would have hired him on beard strength alone but it just so happens he’s a solid bassist and an all right guy.
Who inspires your sound?
Motown! We all love Motown! Soul artists like Sam Cook and Stevie Wonder. Bands like Kings of Leon and Foo Fighters. Singer-songwriters such as John Mayer and Bob Dylan and then a bit of old school hip hop for good measure. We’re all pretty eclectic in our tastes so we combine those influences to arrange the songs.
What do you think of Brighton’s music scene?
We love it. You can pretty much see a decent band of any genre any night of the week. It’s very inspiring and, although it’s oversubscribed, seeing great bands in Brighton pushes us to be better.
Where is your favourite place to play and go to gigs in Brighton?
There’s so much choice. We played The Haunt recently and that was an awesome venue. We like The Hope And Ruin for a smaller venue – we did our EP launch there and have headlined and supported at it a few times so it feels like an old stomping ground for us, and then The Old Market and Komedia are great to play too.
You were on the bill for The Great Escape festival. What was it like playing such a prestigious event?
The Great Escape is one of our favourite festivals to play. It’s still got a real rawness to it and you never know what’s gonna happen off the back of it. It was our third year playing and we hope to do many more.
Did you see any other bands while you were there?
Of course! The mighty MOK who we ended up supporting at The Haunt off the back of TGE. We ended up onstage jumping with Half Crown and discovered a new serious talent in Jye Whiteman.
You were played on BBC Radio Sussex this week. How did it feel to hear yourselves on the radio?
Haha, well we found out about that the night before at 9pm and were up at 6am to do it so it was all a bit of a blur. Totally random to find ourselves singing on a bridge to Wickes car park but stuff like that is a huge part of what we love about being in this band.
What is the highlight of your career so far?
Playing Glastonbury. Total cliche but it is just such a unique place. We also played a show in Manchester which we thought was gonna be small but turned out to be 800 people waving their phone lights in the air to our song Playing Dead, which was pretty special. To be honest, people coming up to us after gigs and telling us how our songs resonated with them is what it’s all about for us.
What is next for Frankie Furlow?
Probably a curry and a pint? We have Mudfest at the weekend, Glastonbury the week after and a packed-out summer after that including a new record. As long as people keep liking what we’re doing, we’re gonna keep doing it. We’re one of four bands who made the final to be the potential opening band on the main stage of Lakefest supporting Primal Scream so vote for us for that and that could be next too.
GET TO A GIG
The band’s next gig is at Together The People in Preston Park, Brighton, in September.
For more information, visit frankiefurlow.com; facebook.com/FrankieFurlow; twitter.com/furlowmusic; soundcloud.com/frankie-furlow.
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