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The Flobots and their Survival Story
Loading ...Your sound, especially in the first album, was a little underrated. You guys had a lot of different influences; I thought you were very creative with your sound. Now with Survival Story, you’ve already talked about how the sound has been taken to a whole other level. As far as the content, what are some of the issues that are being dealt with?
Jesse: Um, you know, that is really a better question for the lyricists. I mean, there is a certain amount of input that we all have with the lyrics, we certainly all have input into all the songs. But you know, there is a lot of different topics, I mean, one song, in particular, it’s called “Superhero,” was actually born out of um, the impulse of Andy to want to address the issue of gay marriage. And “Superhero” is a song that flows from that impulse. But like I said, there is some overtly political stuff, but there is also a lot of introspective stuff which is something that people are not used to hearing from us, but we are really proud of.
Andy: And each person kind of contributed different things. You know, like Jessie is really “rock” and “hip-hop” and stuff like that. So some of that stuff like “The Effect” and the other tracks are really aggressive and coming from Jessie. And like he said “Superhero” was based off real experiences. We’re trying to base it off real experiences that we’ve all experienced. You know real stories, not made-up stories. In terms of things we’ve experienced, “If I” another song that is on the record, Brer Rabbit and I were kind of messing around with that. It’s just about the everyday struggle, you know, sometimes all these bad things happen in your life or you go through all these hardships and we started thinking of it as not necessarily a bad thing but something that makes you stronger. You know, and that is kind of what that song is about. Experiences – which you are better off for. If you knew these experiences were going to happen to you, you would have tried to avoid them really badly. But, you know? But if those experiences would have not happened to you, you wouldn’t be the type of person that you are today.
Very true…
Andy: Very cool stuff. It’s all over the place.
So, it’s something that probably anyone can relate to. There is something in there for everyone.
Andy: Yep.
You know with Fight with Tools too, that was what made it popular was that everyone could relate to it, you know? And some of the things you addressed.
Jesse: Yeah, I think if you live life than there is something in it for you.
It’s funny that you mention that, but it does seem like from my perspective on the outside, that a lot of music is just so generic, and you know, I don’t want to knock any musicians but they seem to get to a point where they have this sound, they know that it works, and they do not necessarily expand themselves as much as they could.
Andy: They get comfortable.
Yeah, and I thank you guys for taking some risks…
Andy: It’s really hard, you know, with “Handlebars” being our breakout single, a lot of people were like, “Oh you did that Handlebars record.” Well, we think there were a lot of great songs on that record (not just Handlebars). And, uh, I know, making the album we do not want to ‘dumb it down.’ You know? The emcees are pretty smart, you know, they’re like the smartest people we know, and so, it’s definitely…when you listen to it, there is going to be a lot there for people to delve into and really sink their teeth into. And I think those are the kind of albums I hope you want to listen to all of the time.
Yeah, definitely…
Andy: Things like the first time you listen to it, you’re like, “What are they talking about?” You know. And you play it again and you say, “Oh, are they talking about this!?”
Those are my favorite songs, where you do not get everything the first time and it almost grows on you.
Andy: Those are the best songs. You feel it! You really do.
It seems like your relationship with Universal Republic is maybe a little different than the traditional artist. I mean, as far as when you were first signed, they re-released Fight with Tools, and not too much was tampered with it from the original to my understanding. And with the second album – it just seems like some labels are afraid of you touching this subject because they do not to offend these people. But they seem to be, from the outside, someone that is willing to work with you and allow you to do what you want?
Jesse: Yeah, Republic’s approach to this whole thing is very hands-off. We didn’t even really talk to anybody about what we were doing until, pretty much right before we were about to go in and record the record. We really had all the demos finished and even then, they were just like “Go do what you do.” And in the end, we came to them with a record that we wanted to put out and they put it out exactly how we made it with nothing changed. Yeah, they’ve never really expressed any kind of reservation about us touching certain issues. I think maybe at some point they said, don’t say something like “Don’t kill Jews,” or something (laughs). So we’re not going to say that.
Andy: (chuckles) Yeah.
I think that’s special that you can find someone that is willing to let you as an artist do what you want to do. And they’ll take care of the business side. So that’s cool.
Jesse: Yeah.
Shifting gears, Flobots.org, really cool site. It’s amazing, you’ll go on there, and you have groups from Kansas City, Nebraska, just all over…uh, California. Of course, Denver, and the Colorado area. Really cool what you guys have done there. I know you support a ton of different non-profits and community events. Are there any big plans for 2010?
Andy: I can answer that. Yeah the non-profit, started about three years ago. We’ve been a 5013c for maybe a year-and-a-half, maybe two years now. And really, you know, when it first started, originally we just started a non-profit for a place where bands and people could come and change the world. You know, we loved Rage Against the Machine, and they were so political and did all these concerts, but a lot of people would leave and just be angry and wouldn’t do anything. So we found people that were kind of inspired by our message and our songs and wanted to create a place for people, so they could go and actually plug in. So, that’s kind of the basic message behind “Fight with Tools” (located on Flobots.org). We actually started by doing music programs for the Denver Children’s Home and uh, when “Handlebars” broke, we developed it as a place for people to go.
Now, we’re scaling it back a little focusing a little more just on the Colorado community. We’re still doing some of the street teams, but we’re really just trying to focus on Colorado. That’s why we have the community center, music programs inside the Denver metro schools, and we’re doing things like the “White Flag Institute” where we train youth activists, youth students, whatever, they come in for a week and we train for the peace movement. You know, we try to do that and balance it with hooking people up with musicians. The tagline for the non-profit is “harnessing the power of music in people that we love.” And that’s what we’re doing.
Now as far as someone who may read this transcript and feel inspired and motivated, what kind of steps should they take to get involved?
Andy: Just go on Flobots.org and sign up. One thing we should say is that we know that people are struggling with the economy and the band helps out when they can, but the program really survives through grants, donations, and stuff so if they like what we are doing or want to support the kids, they just need to go to Flobots.org and they can make a donation. They can either do a current donation or something like $5 a month, um, and the littlest bit helps. So they can do that and can also find out about volunteer opportunities. Our new web site just launched, so there is tons of new information they can check out.
One more thing I wanted to tie in. There is so much going on in the news, so much to talk about, but Haiti has been a big thing with musicians jumping on board to help raise awareness and such. It’s great to see the movement, but would you like to see the music world doing more of these types of benefits, etc?
Jesse: I think bands have to be honest. I think they have to do what they think is right. I was watching a show the other day, and he (the host) thinks it’s silly for musicians to think they can change the world. And then you cut to someone who thinks the exact opposite. I think bands should be doing exactly what they think they should. There are a lot of bands out there that do a lot of work. And there are a lot of bands out there that don’t publicize it as much. There is a group called 3Oh!3 that has done tons of benefits lately, and that’s not necessarily the type of thing you would expect from them. But they are very generous people.
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