Blackbeltjonez meets a very modest musical perfectionist

Talking with Flevans it quickly becomes apparent that his new album ‘Unfabulous’ was less a labour of love and simply more like going through labour. An unnecessary illustration to accompany the metaphor would likely be a sweat-drenched Flevans sporting a green hospital gown, mopping his own brow whilst the doctor slaps the newborn’s arse and from it’s mouth emerges sounds that only its parent fails to recognize as delightful. Slightly odd and overly dramatic a scene it may be, but it makes sense when you learn that he re-wrote the album five times and with Buddhist-like restraint, defied himself to make any new music until ‘Unfabulous’ was complete. ‘Tubular Bells’ it isn’t, but was a padded cell at the local institute ever on the cards?

“It was a difficult album to finish because it took nearly three years to write so it was kind of painful. I spent a lot of time on it and made it as good as it can be, although I’ve genuinely got no idea how it’ll do.” Sitting in his studio surrounded by guitars, keyboards, mustard-coloured amps and computer technology that would unsettle Scotty aboard The Enterprise, it’s clear that the chap who released the sample-heavy ‘Make New Friends’ on Tru Thoughts nearly five years ago isn’t restricted to just noise-thievery and can actually play a bit too. “In fairness there’s probably live stuff on every one of the tracks on the album. I threw away about 2000 shitty junk-shop records before I moved house and for my music it’s been the best thing because I don’t have that to turn to [for samples]. Instinctively I’ve had to start writing new music”. Getting him to admit that ‘Unfabulous’ is his best work to date is evidently going to be a bit of a task. Flevans is a man on the inside looking inwards so-to-speak so his judgement of the album will forever remain harsh and he can probably recall the pluck, press and twiddle of every string, button and dial. Being the listener rather than the tortured musician, you realize that the range of imagination that’s gone into producing it is quite bewildering. It shifts effortlessly from hip hop and funk influences to dancefloor-jazz-parps (when you listen you’ll know what they are) without missing a beat.

So where did someone who had to steer himself away from being a “cheeky sample merchant” begin his musical evolution? The performance statistics from Suffolk coastal towns don’t make great reading. Lowestoft gifted us The Darkness… however, cast your ear northwards and ignore the sound of seagulls and teenagers humping behind hedges and you may hear echoes of the story of a disproportioned boy…

“Felixstowe is where I learned to play teen-angst rock akin to Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins, although it did all start before that, under the bedcovers with EMF at ten years old.”

Although relatively normal looking in appearance nowadays, a mildly uneven limb development became an advantage; “I actually played bass by chance because I had big hands – I was picked out and given a double bass and free lessons for 2 years. I hated it at the time it was obviously what gave me the experience”

There are sneaky touches of guitar-work scattered throughout ‘Unfabulous’ but it’s still hard to imagine him as the teenager tempted to London, lured from the delights of Felixstowe to play covers in a rock band.
“I was very young and thought that going to London to do gigs at the Mean Fiddler was cool,” although the subsequent violence that erupted with the band proved it to be an unwise descision.

“They used to go out and get pissed and fight each other and I’d stay in with my four track. The drummer used to hide the drumsticks from me so I couldn’t play on his drums – he was the same guy who pinned me against the wall for listening to DJ Shadow. Still, I did get to sing about being alone on the dole in Plumstead…”

As it turns out, playing Cinderella in South London did have it’s advantages and it was there that he started thinking about how to put whole songs together. Starting with hip-hop beats on a “shitty sampling mixer” and cheap 4-track, the eventual sounds that evolved from such humble crudness became the music that would get him his first record deal. On Tru Thoughts Flevans released three EPs and the aforementioned ‘Make New Friends’ album and DJed at The Big Chill as well as in Tokyo and New York. Snapped up by London based Jack2Phono after musical differences bought an amicable end to his relationship with Tru Thoughts, Flevans will be back on the road with a record bag and some clean socks and pants, DJing his way up and down the country to promote ‘Unfabulous’.

“I do play my own stuff when I DJ but it is still a bit unnerving when you’re out and hear someone else play one of your tunes – it’s not embarrassing but you sort of don’t know what to do with yourself.” So after ‘Unfabulous’ what sort of direction will the music take? “There is a lot of stuff that’s being made right now that’s still good to play out in clubs, but lots of that genre of music hasn’t evolved – it’s people like Bonobo and Fink who HAVE evolved. They’re the ones who are being successful now…”

Evolution has always been a tricky business and so the path to where he’s at has proved but what’s the next step? “Well the idea of doing music every day and being solely a musician isn’t totally appealing – I weirdly like the normality that a couple of days work gives me because it does seem to make me more excited and driven on the days off I do have although to be honest I’m rapidly approaching my limits without working with other musicians. Ideally I want to be able to play in a band with eight egomaniacs who’ll get really angry and smash guitars – and I’ll be the captain!”

Flevans ‘Unfabulous’ is out now on Jack2Phono

Make New Friends is available from http://www.etchshop.co.uk/

Fri 21st Sept – Flevans Launch party Big Chill House, London

Filed under: Interviews, Music by Flexmaster Nylon
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