May 21, 2025 • 19 mins
A Flock of Seagulls will be in concert June 7th at the Steel House in Omaha and I had a chacne to sit down with Mike Score! Take a listen!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, It's Lucy Chapman and thanks so much for joining
me for another episode of Here's More Podcasts. And this
time I'm talking to Mike's score a Flock of Seagulls.
He called into the studio a couple of days ago,
and here's what we talked about.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
This is Mike from a Flock of Sigo.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Hey, thanks for calling.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
You've got a show coming up in Omaha June seventh
at the Steelhouse with Bow Wow Wow and Annabella and
an emotion that is selling fast. And the reason I
bring it up, bring it up like that is because
I was just reading up about you. You're not just
kicking back and relaxing and retiring.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
You're selling out shows all over the place.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
We're having a good time with it. Yeah, you know,
we do a lot of shows. I mean, why join
the band if you're not going to do shows? You
know what I mean, what you're going to do? Just
sit there and show me your guitar in your bedroom
or something. Now you need to be out there playing.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Well, you got to practice, Yeah, you got to play somewhere.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
So yeah, no, I think that's that's so cool.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
In fact, I looked up I looked up your I
want to see how old you were, because I remember
so well listening to your music that I thought I
was just a kid. You were too, really like ten
years apart, you were just a baby when you started this.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah I'm still a baby about.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
So you've been at it for a long time.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
You know what I think. If you enjoy it, it
doesn't you know, your age makes no difference to me.
It's all the same. It feels like ten minutes ago
that I was in Liverpool, you know, rehearsing some of
the early stuff and making the out the first album
and stuff. And now it's forty years later, but I
still feel the same about it.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Tell me a little bit about those early years when
you came up with this idea that did everybody pay
attention to your hair before the music?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Not really? I mean we got out of Liverpool because
the scene in Liverpool was very dark, you know. We
called it the Raincoat Brigade. But we wanted to be
more of a well put us this less fashionable than
being in the rain coat gothic thing. You know. We
wanted to play some gothic, some heavy metal, some pop,
(02:23):
you know what I mean. We wanted to experiment a bit.
We spent a whole year just just rehearsing silly songs,
you know, That's how we started. And then we picked
out like ten or twelve and said these are the
songs that really we think we're going to make it. So,
you know, we took ourselves down to London and lived
in a van for a few days and managed to
(02:47):
hook up with some managers and they hooked us up
with a record company which was you know, Jive Zomba,
And within a year we had a huge, huge deal.
And we just looked at each other and said, what happened?
You know, wasn't it just last week we were rehearsing
and now we've got this huge deal and we're going
to America and everything. It was just like, now, it's
(03:11):
not really happening, you know, give it, give it two
weeks in, it'll all fall apart. It's been forty years
since we said that.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah, I'll just.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Say, and it never did. You're just doing great And
people love this. They love the show, they love the nostalgia,
but they love the new music too.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah. Well, you know that the most exciting part for
me of being in a band is you know, writing
new songs, because that's what keeps your brain active. We're
not just, We're not just how can I put it?
You know, reiterating, reiterating, So can you still hear me? Yes, yes, yep,
(03:52):
oh yeah, because I've got another call coming in somewhere,
and what it is. This is why, you know, if
anyone calls me, I don't answer because as soon as
I answer, somebody else goes. But but yeah, we don't
like to go around and just keep playing the hits,
you know, so we were constantly writing new material of course,
(04:12):
you know, the hits is what brings people into the show.
We hope they go away singing some of the new
stuff and going where can I get that new album?
And you know, to us, that's the most satisfying part.
You know, I love it when people sing Iran and
space Age. But when they when we go to a
show and we play one of our new songs like him,
(04:34):
and people sing it, well, like, how did they learn
that song so quickly? You know they must have gone
out found the album and come to see it great,
just like the old days.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
That's got to be absolutely so gratifying. So it's got
to make you really happy to know that it's you
weren't just oh that eighties band that had the weird hair.
You guys have longevity and you're still out there and
you're still producing.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
And I love that.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Yeah. That, Like I said before, that's that's why you
get into a band, you know. You don't get into
a band and go, oh, we had a hit on Quittin.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
But some people have done that. I mean you've seen
that in the industry. You've watched people walk away.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yeah, but I don't understand why. I mean, you know,
it's it's being a musician, being in abandon It has
its ups and downs, you know, And the thing is
always look forward to the ups and forget the downs
because everything has ups and downs, you know. So to
us it's keep hold of the ups. You know, it
can only get better. If you're down, it can only
(05:40):
get better, and if you're up, try and make it
even better. Still.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
That's very positive.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I'm sorry, I'm having one of those days. Is like, well,
when you're down, yeah, you can still get more down,
trust me on that.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
No, I think there's always if you're down, there's always
something you can do, even if it have an ice
cream that's going to lift you up.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
You know, yes, I agree. I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
A lot of your fans want to know a little
bit more about you. I did a little bit, a
tiny bit of research. I didn't Graham norton you, So
you're not going to have any crazy thing that you
don't even remember happening.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
I cannot put me in the chair.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
I think I just made a verb out of his name.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah, but I know that you are kind of living
the dream living in Florida, living on the ocean. You're
playing sold out shows, and you come and hang out
with your wife, and you get to work on boats
and stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, everything everything I like, I've managed to be able
to do, you know. I mean, I don't like I
don't work on boats like I used to, But sometimes
I get that urge and I can go and work
on one of my boats or something. You know. Some
right now, I'm more into cars than boats, So I
have a few nice cars, you know that I can
drive around and to be inspired. I get like a
(07:00):
new sense or something, and I messed with it. A
song comes out and that just makes me real happy
because I think my core that's what I am. I'm
a songwriter, not really a musician.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
You know, and I think that that never goes away.
I'm not a songwriter, so I don't know for sure,
but I think when you get something that's absolutely in
your blood, that is just second nature to you, it's
not going away, and you gotta do something about it.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah. I mean, actually, a couple of weeks ago, I
you know, I took a few days off from messing
around in my studio and I went back in the
other day about three days ago, and I started playing
something and I went, what a load of rubbish, you know.
And then I went back a bit late to play
some more. What a load of rubbish? And then I
(07:48):
just thought, oh God, I hope I haven't lost the
little knack of finding a song, you know. And then
day before yesterday, I went in there and wrote three songs.
It just comes to you like that. It's I don't
think it's actually up to me where the song, whether
I write the song. I think the song was just
(08:09):
kind of fall out and they hit you and then
you go, oh, I've got this song. Now I can write,
you know, I can mess with and turn it into
my song.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Well, and as a songwriter, we hear a lot of
stories about how songs came to somebody in a dream
or they got one line and suddenly it became.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
A big deal.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
What is the craziest inspiration for a song that you wrote?
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I think you know, when when I Ran was written,
I wrote about a picture I saw. We were looking
for a record deal. We went to a little record
company in Liverpool, in England, and they had a picture
on the wall of a like a nineteen fifties flying
saucer and a guy and a woman running away from it,
(08:56):
you know, And I was like, wow, what a great picture.
So we went back to rehearse and that picture was
just stuck in my head. So I just started making
up lines about that picture. And this all happened within
I would say, you know, an hour from first seeing
the picture to having the lyrics to Iran. It was
(09:16):
an hour away. And before that we had no lyrics
to Iran at all.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Now that is a cool story.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Now.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
I know that we're all a little older these days.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
But how has the road changed as far as the
audience goes, How has the road changed from when Flock
of Eagles was out there playing their number one hit
at the time, Iran and change?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
And how has it changed.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
It's a bit calmer, but you know, we well, because
we're old, nobody can get up without breaking a leg. Yeah,
it's a bit calmer. People are a bit more respectful
of each other than you know, wanting to mush hit
something like that. Everybody knows the songs that hits and out,
(10:05):
so everybody sings along. So only on the new songs
are we trying to educate them to where we are now.
You know, they know the old songs, that's why they're
coming to see us. I hope the new songs are
nice surprise for them. And you know, we do see
people singing along with the new songs and that always
(10:26):
catches me out because I'm like, I don't understand how
they got those songs, because you know, everything's online these days.
It's not like people are bringing albums and stuff like that,
so they must get them online or Spotify or something
like that. And people people haven't changed. They still like
(10:48):
a song, they learn the lyrics. If you're playing that song,
they'll sing along with it. And that is, to me,
is a really gratifying moment, you know, especially with the
new songs, because you never really know how they're going
to be accepted. So when you see somebody singing along
with you, you're like, oh, there it is again. If
that gives you the little you know, shut it down
(11:08):
your spine.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
What are some of the influences when you were coming
up and starting a band. What was the music that
you listened to back in the early seventies the late
sixties that you were influenced by.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
I think I was more influenced by the sixties. The
seventies I wasn't that much into but in the early
eighties there were bands like Ultravox, you know, and Joey Division,
and that put the darker edge on things. But there
was also bands like say rock sett you know, that
(11:44):
used a lot of technology. And also I was a
huge Beetles fan and a huge Pink Floyd fan, and
I wanted to integrate some of that kind of sound
into what we were doing. So that's how we ended
up with synth and lead guitar, which you know, I
hated it when when bands made albums and it said,
(12:07):
no sense on this album, you know, since it's just
a tool, you know, I mean, it's just an instrument.
To think that you're going to sell an album, because
there's no sense on it. It's crazy to me they
should have went Everything we did on since is plain
to see. Everything we did on guitar is plain to see.
(12:27):
You know why, you high? Why would they hide the
fact that since exists crazy crazy stuff? But that's the
music business.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
How does it make you feel knowing that you were
not just a part a big part of a musical
movement with when punk was becoming the pop and electric
electric music, so you kind of were involved in all
of that, but you were also part of a fashion movement,
whether you wanted to be or not. The bright colors
(13:01):
and the crazy hairstyles that all the kids were wearing.
And I know that because this was my high school
and my junior high so you were part of a
fashion movement too.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Well. That all started in Liverpool. You know. We used
to go to the clubs in Liverpool and we were
a bunch of like fashionable young guys, you know what
I mean. So we wanted to stand out so all
the all the little gos girls would notice of them
stuff like that. So we did dress more colorful, We
did do our hair. I was a hairdresser, don't forget,
(13:35):
you know. So we had a line on fashion from
people coming in to get their hair styled and stuff.
So yeah, we used to go to the clubs like that.
A lot of girls used to say, I know, your
hair is fabulous, and you know all that kind of
the way you dress. Where do you get your clothes
and stuff like that. So we were fashionable and Liverpool
(13:59):
always had its own kind of leaning towards its own fashion,
you know, more than say Manchester or London. London is
it always seems to go for like the expensive suits
and stuff like that. You know, Liverpool, we rip up
a shirt and say that's fashion. We spike our hair up.
(14:20):
But anyway, we knew that when the band started to
be noticed a bit that we needed to be say
like David Bowie where he had a real, a real
look about him, you know, and even Alice Cooper, you know,
he was there was only one Alice Cooper. There was
only one David Bowie was only one human league you know,
had their own style. So in a way we wanted
(14:44):
to copy what they were doing, but not do what
they were doing. We're trying to find our own little
little road, you know. And I think we did that
because we were more we were on the sci fi
edge and so we wanted to be like dress up
like little Spice Cadets and be fashionable that way. But yeah,
(15:05):
definitely like Bowie and stuff like that definitely influence does
a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yeah, I think you're absolutely right, because when you look
at the at the different decades, you can see the
sixties and that was that was soul.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Full and.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Oh, I'm trying to think of what it the uh
oh gosh.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Folk.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
It was folk, yet it was also rock. And that's
that's what you think of when you think of the sixties.
You think of the seventies, and the first thing that
pops into your head is you think disco. Well, the
seventies wasn't all about disco, but that's the first thing
you think of. You think of the eighties, and you
don't think of immediately. You don't think of Journey and
Sticks and led Zeppelin or whatever. The first thing you
(15:50):
think of is Synth uh and Flock of Seagulls. And
I don't know why I was thinking it met at
work them too, but you think of all of those bands,
that's what you think of immediately when you think of
the eighties.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yep, I think I think they you know, all these
genres of music, they have their peak, you know what
I mean, Disco had its peak in the seventies, the
hippies and stuff in, the stuff in in the sixties.
Right the eighties was you know, because of since coming
in and finally being affordable technology, you know, bands start
(16:30):
to look a bit more technology wise and sound that way.
Then in the nineties or they went into like dark
rock against but then in the two thousands and it
seems to be more poppy again. And I think each
each time there's a new generation, you know, they like
(16:53):
to push the old generation away and say, oh, that's
your thing. We have our own thing, you know. So
I think that's how it goes on. But doesn't mean
those bands are no good anymore. They just stopped being
at the very peak, you know, and you drop down
a couple of steps, and people still come and see you. Oh,
absolutely like your songs. And you know, in the end,
(17:13):
this room for everybody in this in the in the
rock and roll world.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
You know, one hundred I one hundred percent agree with that.
And I see bands I go to concerts from from
the sixties up because I do love all of that music.
I was just kind of thinking, I appreciate what you did.
I appreciate what other bands from that era did. Flock
of Seagulls, it was one of the things that you
(17:38):
think of immediately when you think of the eighties, and
I appreciate that because that's the music I grew up with.
And I love that you're still here and you're still
doing it, and I'm super super stoked about it.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Tell us what we can expect at the show.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
You can expect. You know, we're pretty good at at
playing our own songs, you know what I mean. Yeah,
everything on that side of it is going to be good.
We play new stuff, we play old stuff. Some of
the stuff is slightly rearranged. So it's more of a
(18:13):
case of if we're enjoying it, I think the crowd
will enjoying it. And if the crowd are enjoying it,
it comes back to words again on stage, so it
kind of winds up and by the end of the show,
you know, we have a lot of people dancing and
singing along with the big hits and stuff like that,
so it's just a really good time, you know, good
(18:35):
night out kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
I'm super excited about it. That's June seventh at the Steelhouse.
Tickets are selling, so you got to get them. If
you're gonna go, you gotta get them because you don't
want to be shut out of this block of eagles.
Bow Wow Wow is going to open up for you
and Annabel and an Emotion.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
It's gonna be a great show. It's exciting.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah, it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Well, Mike, I appreciate your time. I know I've taken
a little more than a little more than we had,
so I appreciate you hanging with me because it's been
such a fun conversation. Can't wait to see at June seventh.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
All right, Well, make sure you're there and everybody else
you come along too, because it's gonna be a good time.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
I'm gonna bring them all. I'm gonna bring everybody with me.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Okay. Well you thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
You have a great day, are you too? Thanks a lot,
Bye bye, bye bye
Hi, It's Lucy Chapman and thanks so much for joining
me for another episode of Here's More Podcasts. And this
time I'm talking to Mike's score a Flock of Seagulls.
He called into the studio a couple of days ago,
and here's what we talked about.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
This is Mike from a Flock of Sigo.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Hey, thanks for calling.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
You've got a show coming up in Omaha June seventh
at the Steelhouse with Bow Wow Wow and Annabella and
an emotion that is selling fast. And the reason I
bring it up, bring it up like that is because
I was just reading up about you. You're not just
kicking back and relaxing and retiring.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
You're selling out shows all over the place.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
We're having a good time with it. Yeah, you know,
we do a lot of shows. I mean, why join
the band if you're not going to do shows? You
know what I mean, what you're going to do? Just
sit there and show me your guitar in your bedroom
or something. Now you need to be out there playing.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Well, you got to practice, Yeah, you got to play somewhere.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
So yeah, no, I think that's that's so cool.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
In fact, I looked up I looked up your I
want to see how old you were, because I remember
so well listening to your music that I thought I
was just a kid. You were too, really like ten
years apart, you were just a baby when you started this.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah I'm still a baby about.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
So you've been at it for a long time.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
You know what I think. If you enjoy it, it
doesn't you know, your age makes no difference to me.
It's all the same. It feels like ten minutes ago
that I was in Liverpool, you know, rehearsing some of
the early stuff and making the out the first album
and stuff. And now it's forty years later, but I
still feel the same about it.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Tell me a little bit about those early years when
you came up with this idea that did everybody pay
attention to your hair before the music?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Not really? I mean we got out of Liverpool because
the scene in Liverpool was very dark, you know. We
called it the Raincoat Brigade. But we wanted to be
more of a well put us this less fashionable than
being in the rain coat gothic thing. You know. We
wanted to play some gothic, some heavy metal, some pop,
(02:23):
you know what I mean. We wanted to experiment a bit.
We spent a whole year just just rehearsing silly songs,
you know, That's how we started. And then we picked
out like ten or twelve and said these are the
songs that really we think we're going to make it. So,
you know, we took ourselves down to London and lived
in a van for a few days and managed to
(02:47):
hook up with some managers and they hooked us up
with a record company which was you know, Jive Zomba,
And within a year we had a huge, huge deal.
And we just looked at each other and said, what happened?
You know, wasn't it just last week we were rehearsing
and now we've got this huge deal and we're going
to America and everything. It was just like, now, it's
(03:11):
not really happening, you know, give it, give it two
weeks in, it'll all fall apart. It's been forty years
since we said that.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah, I'll just.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Say, and it never did. You're just doing great And
people love this. They love the show, they love the nostalgia,
but they love the new music too.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah. Well, you know that the most exciting part for
me of being in a band is you know, writing
new songs, because that's what keeps your brain active. We're
not just, We're not just how can I put it?
You know, reiterating, reiterating, So can you still hear me? Yes, yes, yep,
(03:52):
oh yeah, because I've got another call coming in somewhere,
and what it is. This is why, you know, if
anyone calls me, I don't answer because as soon as
I answer, somebody else goes. But but yeah, we don't
like to go around and just keep playing the hits,
you know, so we were constantly writing new material of course,
(04:12):
you know, the hits is what brings people into the show.
We hope they go away singing some of the new
stuff and going where can I get that new album?
And you know, to us, that's the most satisfying part.
You know, I love it when people sing Iran and
space Age. But when they when we go to a
show and we play one of our new songs like him,
(04:34):
and people sing it, well, like, how did they learn
that song so quickly? You know they must have gone
out found the album and come to see it great,
just like the old days.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
That's got to be absolutely so gratifying. So it's got
to make you really happy to know that it's you
weren't just oh that eighties band that had the weird hair.
You guys have longevity and you're still out there and
you're still producing.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
And I love that.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Yeah. That, Like I said before, that's that's why you
get into a band, you know. You don't get into
a band and go, oh, we had a hit on Quittin.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
But some people have done that. I mean you've seen
that in the industry. You've watched people walk away.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yeah, but I don't understand why. I mean, you know,
it's it's being a musician, being in abandon It has
its ups and downs, you know, And the thing is
always look forward to the ups and forget the downs
because everything has ups and downs, you know. So to
us it's keep hold of the ups. You know, it
can only get better. If you're down, it can only
(05:40):
get better, and if you're up, try and make it
even better. Still.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
That's very positive.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I'm sorry, I'm having one of those days. Is like, well,
when you're down, yeah, you can still get more down,
trust me on that.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
No, I think there's always if you're down, there's always
something you can do, even if it have an ice
cream that's going to lift you up.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
You know, yes, I agree. I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
A lot of your fans want to know a little
bit more about you. I did a little bit, a
tiny bit of research. I didn't Graham norton you, So
you're not going to have any crazy thing that you
don't even remember happening.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
I cannot put me in the chair.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
I think I just made a verb out of his name.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah, but I know that you are kind of living
the dream living in Florida, living on the ocean. You're
playing sold out shows, and you come and hang out
with your wife, and you get to work on boats
and stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, everything everything I like, I've managed to be able
to do, you know. I mean, I don't like I
don't work on boats like I used to, But sometimes
I get that urge and I can go and work
on one of my boats or something. You know. Some
right now, I'm more into cars than boats, So I
have a few nice cars, you know that I can
drive around and to be inspired. I get like a
(07:00):
new sense or something, and I messed with it. A
song comes out and that just makes me real happy
because I think my core that's what I am. I'm
a songwriter, not really a musician.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
You know, and I think that that never goes away.
I'm not a songwriter, so I don't know for sure,
but I think when you get something that's absolutely in
your blood, that is just second nature to you, it's
not going away, and you gotta do something about it.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah. I mean, actually, a couple of weeks ago, I
you know, I took a few days off from messing
around in my studio and I went back in the
other day about three days ago, and I started playing
something and I went, what a load of rubbish, you know.
And then I went back a bit late to play
some more. What a load of rubbish? And then I
(07:48):
just thought, oh God, I hope I haven't lost the
little knack of finding a song, you know. And then
day before yesterday, I went in there and wrote three songs.
It just comes to you like that. It's I don't
think it's actually up to me where the song, whether
I write the song. I think the song was just
(08:09):
kind of fall out and they hit you and then
you go, oh, I've got this song. Now I can write,
you know, I can mess with and turn it into
my song.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Well, and as a songwriter, we hear a lot of
stories about how songs came to somebody in a dream
or they got one line and suddenly it became.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
A big deal.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
What is the craziest inspiration for a song that you wrote?
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I think you know, when when I Ran was written,
I wrote about a picture I saw. We were looking
for a record deal. We went to a little record
company in Liverpool, in England, and they had a picture
on the wall of a like a nineteen fifties flying
saucer and a guy and a woman running away from it,
(08:56):
you know, And I was like, wow, what a great picture.
So we went back to rehearse and that picture was
just stuck in my head. So I just started making
up lines about that picture. And this all happened within
I would say, you know, an hour from first seeing
the picture to having the lyrics to Iran. It was
(09:16):
an hour away. And before that we had no lyrics
to Iran at all.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Now that is a cool story.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Now.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
I know that we're all a little older these days.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
But how has the road changed as far as the
audience goes, How has the road changed from when Flock
of Eagles was out there playing their number one hit
at the time, Iran and change?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
And how has it changed.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
It's a bit calmer, but you know, we well, because
we're old, nobody can get up without breaking a leg. Yeah,
it's a bit calmer. People are a bit more respectful
of each other than you know, wanting to mush hit
something like that. Everybody knows the songs that hits and out,
(10:05):
so everybody sings along. So only on the new songs
are we trying to educate them to where we are now.
You know, they know the old songs, that's why they're
coming to see us. I hope the new songs are
nice surprise for them. And you know, we do see
people singing along with the new songs and that always
(10:26):
catches me out because I'm like, I don't understand how
they got those songs, because you know, everything's online these days.
It's not like people are bringing albums and stuff like that,
so they must get them online or Spotify or something
like that. And people people haven't changed. They still like
(10:48):
a song, they learn the lyrics. If you're playing that song,
they'll sing along with it. And that is, to me,
is a really gratifying moment, you know, especially with the
new songs, because you never really know how they're going
to be accepted. So when you see somebody singing along
with you, you're like, oh, there it is again. If
that gives you the little you know, shut it down
(11:08):
your spine.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
What are some of the influences when you were coming
up and starting a band. What was the music that
you listened to back in the early seventies the late
sixties that you were influenced by.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
I think I was more influenced by the sixties. The
seventies I wasn't that much into but in the early
eighties there were bands like Ultravox, you know, and Joey Division,
and that put the darker edge on things. But there
was also bands like say rock sett you know, that
(11:44):
used a lot of technology. And also I was a
huge Beetles fan and a huge Pink Floyd fan, and
I wanted to integrate some of that kind of sound
into what we were doing. So that's how we ended
up with synth and lead guitar, which you know, I
hated it when when bands made albums and it said,
(12:07):
no sense on this album, you know, since it's just
a tool, you know, I mean, it's just an instrument.
To think that you're going to sell an album, because
there's no sense on it. It's crazy to me they
should have went Everything we did on since is plain
to see. Everything we did on guitar is plain to see.
(12:27):
You know why, you high? Why would they hide the
fact that since exists crazy crazy stuff? But that's the
music business.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
How does it make you feel knowing that you were
not just a part a big part of a musical
movement with when punk was becoming the pop and electric
electric music, so you kind of were involved in all
of that, but you were also part of a fashion movement,
whether you wanted to be or not. The bright colors
(13:01):
and the crazy hairstyles that all the kids were wearing.
And I know that because this was my high school
and my junior high so you were part of a
fashion movement too.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Well. That all started in Liverpool. You know. We used
to go to the clubs in Liverpool and we were
a bunch of like fashionable young guys, you know what
I mean. So we wanted to stand out so all
the all the little gos girls would notice of them
stuff like that. So we did dress more colorful, We
did do our hair. I was a hairdresser, don't forget,
(13:35):
you know. So we had a line on fashion from
people coming in to get their hair styled and stuff.
So yeah, we used to go to the clubs like that.
A lot of girls used to say, I know, your
hair is fabulous, and you know all that kind of
the way you dress. Where do you get your clothes
and stuff like that. So we were fashionable and Liverpool
(13:59):
always had its own kind of leaning towards its own fashion,
you know, more than say Manchester or London. London is
it always seems to go for like the expensive suits
and stuff like that. You know, Liverpool, we rip up
a shirt and say that's fashion. We spike our hair up.
(14:20):
But anyway, we knew that when the band started to
be noticed a bit that we needed to be say
like David Bowie where he had a real, a real
look about him, you know, and even Alice Cooper, you know,
he was there was only one Alice Cooper. There was
only one David Bowie was only one human league you know,
had their own style. So in a way we wanted
(14:44):
to copy what they were doing, but not do what
they were doing. We're trying to find our own little
little road, you know. And I think we did that
because we were more we were on the sci fi
edge and so we wanted to be like dress up
like little Spice Cadets and be fashionable that way. But yeah,
(15:05):
definitely like Bowie and stuff like that definitely influence does
a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yeah, I think you're absolutely right, because when you look
at the at the different decades, you can see the
sixties and that was that was soul.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Full and.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Oh, I'm trying to think of what it the uh
oh gosh.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Folk.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
It was folk, yet it was also rock. And that's
that's what you think of when you think of the sixties.
You think of the seventies, and the first thing that
pops into your head is you think disco. Well, the
seventies wasn't all about disco, but that's the first thing
you think of. You think of the eighties, and you
don't think of immediately. You don't think of Journey and
Sticks and led Zeppelin or whatever. The first thing you
(15:50):
think of is Synth uh and Flock of Seagulls. And
I don't know why I was thinking it met at
work them too, but you think of all of those bands,
that's what you think of immediately when you think of
the eighties.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yep, I think I think they you know, all these
genres of music, they have their peak, you know what
I mean, Disco had its peak in the seventies, the
hippies and stuff in, the stuff in in the sixties.
Right the eighties was you know, because of since coming
in and finally being affordable technology, you know, bands start
(16:30):
to look a bit more technology wise and sound that way.
Then in the nineties or they went into like dark
rock against but then in the two thousands and it
seems to be more poppy again. And I think each
each time there's a new generation, you know, they like
(16:53):
to push the old generation away and say, oh, that's
your thing. We have our own thing, you know. So
I think that's how it goes on. But doesn't mean
those bands are no good anymore. They just stopped being
at the very peak, you know, and you drop down
a couple of steps, and people still come and see you. Oh,
absolutely like your songs. And you know, in the end,
(17:13):
this room for everybody in this in the in the
rock and roll world.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
You know, one hundred I one hundred percent agree with that.
And I see bands I go to concerts from from
the sixties up because I do love all of that music.
I was just kind of thinking, I appreciate what you did.
I appreciate what other bands from that era did. Flock
of Seagulls, it was one of the things that you
(17:38):
think of immediately when you think of the eighties, and
I appreciate that because that's the music I grew up with.
And I love that you're still here and you're still
doing it, and I'm super super stoked about it.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Tell us what we can expect at the show.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
You can expect. You know, we're pretty good at at
playing our own songs, you know what I mean. Yeah,
everything on that side of it is going to be good.
We play new stuff, we play old stuff. Some of
the stuff is slightly rearranged. So it's more of a
(18:13):
case of if we're enjoying it, I think the crowd
will enjoying it. And if the crowd are enjoying it,
it comes back to words again on stage, so it
kind of winds up and by the end of the show,
you know, we have a lot of people dancing and
singing along with the big hits and stuff like that,
so it's just a really good time, you know, good
(18:35):
night out kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
I'm super excited about it. That's June seventh at the Steelhouse.
Tickets are selling, so you got to get them. If
you're gonna go, you gotta get them because you don't
want to be shut out of this block of eagles.
Bow Wow Wow is going to open up for you
and Annabel and an Emotion.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
It's gonna be a great show. It's exciting.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah, it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Well, Mike, I appreciate your time. I know I've taken
a little more than a little more than we had,
so I appreciate you hanging with me because it's been
such a fun conversation. Can't wait to see at June seventh.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
All right, Well, make sure you're there and everybody else
you come along too, because it's gonna be a good time.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
I'm gonna bring them all. I'm gonna bring everybody with me.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Okay. Well you thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
You have a great day, are you too? Thanks a lot,
Bye bye, bye bye
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