Looking toward the future with the fab four-piece Fickle Friends...F yeah!
Ever-alliterative indie pop band Fickle Friends are back with another banger, affirmatively titled ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah’. Which makes us think of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, obviously, putting us on a positive tip before we’ve even pressed play. The verdict after a stream? That it’s yet another Certified Bop™ from the fourpiece, going all electro on us with spunky, punky guitars, grungy vocals and a mega chorus to boot. It’s a darker turn than usual, swapping eighties kitsch for tinnitus-inducing distortion.
“We spent the last year feeling a little lost. It was like being in limbo, constantly waiting for something to change,” says singer Natti Shiner, collectively reading all of our minds. “This song is a bit of an ARGHHH moment…we kinda thought, what the fuck, let’s just go crazy and explore the heavier side of our music. I think it’s like the musical equivalent of hitting a punch bag to release your frustations!”
Fittingly, it’s another knockout tune from them, lifted from upcoming album Are We Gonna Be Alright? (answer: no!) following a string of other earworms. Their first album, 2018’s You Are Someone Else, slinked its way into the Top 10, and there’s high hopes this LP will do the same, well evidenced by the tunes released so far. They’re also set to support it with a headline tour in January, heading from SWG3 to Thekla and everywhere in between.
We caught up with them to see what’s coming up in the near (and not so near) future…
Congratulations on the new single! How are you feeling about the release?
Thanks! Feeling pretty excited actually….feels like we wrote this song a lifetime ago and we are so pleased it’s finally out in the world! It was so fun to explore the heavier side of our music…it’s going to be epic to play on tour!
Can you explain the thought and inspiration behind ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah’?
We wrote it at a time where we felt a bit lost. We didn’t know what was going on with the album, the world, my relationship…pretty much everything. When I don’t have a goal to work towards my mind starts to run a little wild; my own thoughts can feel very overwhelming. YYY is the lyrical and music equivalent of going “aaarrrrghhhhhhh”…I think it was kinda helped along by the fact we had been listening to a lot of Bring Me The Horizon ha!
What do you envision the future of music to look like?
Gigs in space? I’d quite like social media to become uncool …even obsolete and something else takes over. Or we revert back to 90s era music industry (without the nasty tabloid stories).
What is one change you’d love to make to the industry?
*See above… Also….I would love to see artists paid more fairly/directly through streaming.
If you could collaborate with any musician in the future, who would it be and why?
ABBA. I’d like them to teach me the secrets of perfect pop songwriting.
Where would be your dream venue to play?
Red rocks!!!
Who are you betting on for future stardom?
Adele. Also Coach Party for realssss.
Where do you hope to be in the next year?
Winner of the Mercury Prize and written the lead single on the next Kylie album pls.
The next 5 years?
Co-wrote the next Bieber album (with ABBA) and it’s an album to end all albums. We buy a castle and throw monthly raves where we (FF) play our entire back catalogue and serve Mezcal margaritas only.
Press play on Fickle Friends’ ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah’ below now…
