It won’t surprise you to know that I get contacted by a lot of bands about being Band of the Week. There are a lot of crap bands, quite a few good bands, and a few excellent bands. Occasionally however I hear a band that is so good I assume they have already been signed. To my great surprise — and delight as I now get to feature them — The Flaws aren’t.
Their sound is a beautiful updated mixture of ’80s bands like The Smiths, The Cure, and Echo and the Bunnymen. Frontman and primary lyricist Paul Finn has the enviable ability to strip away the everyday mundanities of life and articulate the longing and desire for more. Strong melodies enveloped in synth, glittering, jangly guitars, Finn’s rich, fervid vocals and intelligent witty lyrics make for a spellbinding experience.
And all of this is evident on their radiant, lush, nearly flawless - come on, I had to - debut album Achieving Vagueness (AV). The two singles “Sixteen” and “1981″ have both seen airplay in their native Ireland and I think it’s time the rest of the world woke up to the scintillating near-perfection of The Flaws and AV.
It is the album that should never have been made, after troubles with their former label, Sound Foundation (Polydor imprint, now bust). However this ambitious and confident foursome did whatever it took to make an album they completely believed in.
These struggles may have helped to ensure that AV is as mature and incandescent a debut as any I have ever heard. Recently frontman Finn agreed to give me some of his time to chat about his band and that fulgent debut album. Finn impressed me with his serious intent, humble intelligence, and dry, caustic wit.
Tell me how The Flaws became a band. Where did you get the name?
The Flaws were, at the start, four people who knew of each other through school. When college came knocking, some of us ended up living together and starting bring our acoustics to the bedsit we were living in at the time, and playing some Lennon covers.
The name came much later. Shane came up with the name. He liked the idea behind the name of The Kinks, so it has similar connotations as that name. The Flaws were, at the time, Stephen Finnegan on drums, Shane Malone on guitars, Dane McMahon on bass, and myself, Finn, on vocals and guitars.
Who are The Flaws now?
The same except we have a new drummer. Stephen left us a while back to pursue his own personal endeavours; our new drummer is called Colin Berrill.
You’re all so young. How long have you been a band?
The Flaws have been an official band for three years. We released our first EP, titled E.P., two years ago in July.
“Official”?
Well, we started taking our abilities and our inabilities seriously about three years ago.
Ah… before that you were just fuckin’ around?
Exactly.
We didn’t know what we where before three years ago. But then that changed, when one Derek Turner watched us sound check.
You have just released your debut full length album, Achieving Vagueness. Tell me about that.
The album was recorded partly with some funding from a record label we were once affiliated with — went by the name of Sound Foundation records. After we did the EP, we were sent into Grouse Lodge studios in Meath (County Meath, Ireland) — this was before the Editors or Bloc Party or Michael Jackson entered its doors. We did a demo over two days. We continued, over the course of a year, to record some more tracks… until we found ourselves without a label. Then we needed to beg, borrow, and steal all the money we could find in order to finish what we all believed was one hellishly good record.
So earlier this year, we entered a few other studios, in order to finish the tracks we had started a year previously. The record broke all our hearts trying to make it, it took so long.
Do you think that has affected the sound of the album?
No. I think we were lucky, it could have thrown the whole vibe we were trying to create but fortunately it sounds very fresh.
Yes it does. What about the name? Where did you get that?
The title existed before the album was recorded. We toyed with the idea of trying to give the title a mystique all of its own. Something people would question, its meaning and maybe give a life to it in a context we never even though about. Personally though, to me, it’s all I stand for.
So it’s intentionally vague?
It’s only as vague as you make it, Andrea. Its a catch-22 situation; if you achieve anything, you can’t be vague about yourself. And if you’re too vague you’ll never achieve.
Tell me about Derek Turner. Who is he and how did he help?
Before I knew Derek Turner [personally], I knew him by rep. He’s a very cool guy. Loves music, played in bands all his life, and has been through record wars and bidding when I was a baby. He runs a studio in Louth now and books bands into the local venue, The Spirit Store. He also does sound for most bands that play there. He’s a very quiet and understated man but when he likes something, you can’t shut him up.
He was doing sound for a band one night and he offered us the support slot. We arrived early and got into the sound check, we played a song and he mixed the sound. He fell in love with us there and then. The gig was canceled because no one showed up but we talked about doing a little bit of recording in his studio. He liked our vibe and what we were trying to do.
And that led somewhere?
The sessions went ahead and the result was E.P.. A 300-copy CD, very limited, he gave to some old friends, from back when he played in bands himself. Very soon afterwards things started happening. Derek was receiving calls from labels all over wanting to come to this little town and watch the band play at 12 in the morning. Polydor, Sony, Vertigo, and Parlophone were just some.
It was crazy for about six months. We signed a little deal with a Polydor imprint called Sound Foundation. It went okay for a while but in the end it didn’t work out for us. So we were left with a half-finished record, a bruised ego, and a lot of hype to live up to. This was last Christmas, eight months; it could all have fallen apart there and then.
Stephen left soon afterwards, for a normal life but the rest of us couldn’t see the last two years of our lives get wasted like this. Dane, Shane, and myself and Derek all had to pull together for support from each other, in a way we never had done before.
Do you think that has made you closer as a band?
Yes. When Colin joined, everything for all of us fell into place. On one hand, Stephen was my best friend since primary school but in many ways being in a band wasn’t right for him. And ultimately in our subconscious we never really felt like a proper band. When Colin joined, after the first few gigs, I told Derek how I felt, “Right now, these shows are the most fun I’ve ever had.” It seems that Colin has completed our line-up.
I have read your sound defined as pop-punk, post-punk and even power pop. What would you call it?
At the heart of it, we’re a pop band. We’re not punk. We’re more a new wave, indie type formula. We like love songs and death songs. We’re not po’-faced rockers, we don’t wear make-up, we’re not very stylish and our haircuts are cheap. Our sound is still finding its feet; it might be another record before there is a label to stick on us.
So with the release of Achieving Vagueness, do you feel poised for greatness?
I’m ambitious but I’m not arrogant. We can’t rest our laurels on one record. We need to do another and then another. Greatness? That’s a state of mind, we would love to see some of the world and if this record lets us see some of the world, well, I’d be happy with that.
If you would like to hear The Flaws’ glittering sounds you can visit their website or their MySpace space. Achieving Vagueness can be purchased from CDWorld.ie, HMV, and of course iTunes.
And below is the video for The Flaws’ first single “Sixteen”. Enjoy!
Leave a Reply