VP You are well known for your onstage antics what is your usual performance style?
FF: I don’t tend to plan it I treat every day as just an escape. It’s a performance for me but I don’t plan it as choreographed stuff. I see the opportunity within things and with every live show every gig is going to be slightly different and I just feed off the audience I go from there really and make some wild jumps.
VP You fling yourself about quite a bit don’t you? and is there some injury involved?
FF: Yes I get injured quite a lot! (laughs) They are not that bad, there is control in the chaos I trained to be an actor from a young age and one of the main things I latched onto was a physical movement in theatre. I did Bio mechanics which involves putting your body in all sorts of awkward positions. So that has played a massive part in my performance on stage.
VP Is it a bit like yoga then?
FF: You put your body through intense periods of awkward statures and you have to hold it so you feel uncomfortable so that later when you hold a pose that most people would consider being very uncomfortable you feel comfortable if that makes any sense?
VP That sounds like bloody torture!
FF: It’s demanding on the body but it is amazing. I do go mental and loose my shit I get lost in the moment.
VP Where does the band name ‘Satyr Play’ come from?
FF: It was a play for the god Dionysus god of love and wine. It was a play that was vulgar with really over the top theatrics and over the top outfits and shenanigans. When I heard about it I thought that is one of the coolest things I ever heard. People would drink a lot of wine watching these things and just have a good time.
VP You thought ‘That’s me I’ll have some of that!’
FF: Yes and I wanted to create our own world. We can take this band to a bigger level and I will really be able to explore that and go a bit wild.
VP Yes so you plan is to go wilder for the stage show
FF: It’s already theatrical within what we do performance-wise but it’s going to to get more theatrical yes. VP So are you quite a young band then how long have you been going?
‘Satyr play’ has been a thing for six years. Though we are a new band in terms of the fact that we had a rejig two years ago. It was then that we really got into it and started to be taken more seriously as a band. Finally, the hard work was paying off so I would say about two years.
VP Right so did you put any stuff out with the other line up?
FF: The only one left is a song called ‘Mother’s Love’ which is our most popular online song. It is quite a naively written song that haunts me.
VP So this is ‘Satyr Play’ the clean sweep new version?
FF: Everything else apart from ‘Mother’s Love’ was the new line up.
VP Who are your Rock and Roll heroes?
FF: That’s a tough question as there is five of us in the band it’s not just about me. Off the top of my head I think for Jamie the lead guitarist it’s Jimi Hendrix he worships him. For Juan it’s probably Nick Valensi from ‘The Strokes’ if I get this wrong they can all shout at me later. After that, I have no clue and I will quit while I am ahead. For me I think it’s more about performance for me I don’t consider myself necessarily a singer. More of a frontman. So I take my influence more from actors than singers I think so, for example, the new ‘Joker’ film with Joquin Phonex it was an inspiration for me as a frontman as I loved the weirdness of his movement. For music it’s Matt Shultz from ‘Cage the Elephant’ He’s just so good. I just kind of do what I do and everyone thought it was a bit odd at first and then I found ‘Cage the Elephant’ and I realised I wasn’t the only one doing it. I thought amazing this guy is a legend.
VP Your singing voice reminds me a little bit of Nick Cave crossed with someone else that I can’t put my finger on.
FF: I have never listened to Nick Cave but I know he has a deep voice. I get compared to the lead singer of ‘The Strokes’ a lot.
VP You develop your own style over time and you don’t really think about where it comes from.
FF: You will hear different areas in my voice with each song as it’s a performance. In the new single ‘Future’ I have very much performed the vocal take so it doesn’t sound the same as the vocal take on our previous single ‘Honest Man’ you can still hear it’s me. I just chose to sing it a different way on a different day.
VP Who are your style icons? Where do you get your clothes and jewellery from?
FF: That’s a nice question. Style icons? This is tough because I wear a lot of women’s clothes. I think 70% of my wardrobe is women’s clothes.
VP Do you go down to ‘New Look’
FF: Most of my stuff is ‘Top Shop’ we recently collaborated with ‘Nasty Gal’ which is an American women’s clothing brand.
The thing is I want to break down the stereotypes, as long as you are comfortable wear what you like. Who cares if it’s labelled ‘Women’s’ if it fits me better, then I look better, I feel better so I don’t worry about it.
VP I think that’s interesting that you have a female clothing line that used you for their campaign. The girls are seeing you and thinking ‘Oh great I like him then they think ‘I like his style.’