BARNABY WEIR of FLY MY PRETTIES: The Reciprocal Relationship between Music and the Environment
An Interview by Sarah Kidd.
Since their inception 13 years ago, Fly My Pretties have continued to push their boundaries and explore new themes whilst bringing together some of New Zealand’s most talented musicians. Last August the current 14 strong cast of FMP came together and played a series of sold out shows across Auckland and Wellington. Their latest album ‘String Theory’ released in November of last year is comprised of tracks recorded at those shows.
Speaking with co-founder of Fly My Pretties, Barnaby Weir, it is obvious that the excitement of bringing together these remarkable artists is still just as powerful as it was when FMP first started out.
“You know we’ve been lucky to kind of grow since that time in terms of the people that we have had in the band and doing those various albums. Having that variety is awesome you know, awesome talent and something different. So yeah I’m still excited by working with new people, like I didn’t know Miloux [Rebecca Melrose] from Auckland personally, I didn’t know Mo [Moana Ete – A Girl Named Mo], but we’ve become good friends over this musical project, so yeah I am sorta excited by what anyone can bring on a certain night, like, just out of nowhere!”
The concept behind String Theory is one of exploring the fabric of one’s existence through musical storytelling; the cast each bringing something very personal to the group. Unlike previous FMP collaborations, the artists wrote together over a four day period, with cornerstone FMP members Laughton Kora [Kora] and Nigel Patterson [The Black Seeds] assisting with the collaborations to achieve their finished state.
There is a strong female presence on this album, with artists Miloux, Bailey Wiley, A Girl Called Mo and Ria Hall all bringing a whole new element to the table, Weir explaining that it was definitely an integral part of the plan behind String Theory.
“It was definitely more of a deliberate decision; we wanted to add more female musicians to the balance of the group for sure. It’s always awesome, and we are just so blessed to be working with Ria, Bailey, Rebecca and Mo. So yeah it definitely was casually deliberate [laughs]. We’re all in this together aren’t we? But yeah very special and great to have that balance of perspective as well.”
Weir had previously stated that ‘String Theory’ was an “expansion” on what some would call the traditional sound of FMP, so did he believe that FMP was evolving, or growing organically from its own content?
“Yeah, it’s certainly an experiment, a controlled experiment and collaboration; it’s something where it changes all the time and with each album. With the focus, a different focus; so yeah there is a different sound to the album. I guess it’s a slightly more spacey kind of atmospheric approach and obviously there’s new younger talent that is there with the beats that they like and the band puts together a nice blend. It’s really easy for those different artists to come in and work with the band cause you know they’re just a great, great band and we can kinda all solve any kind of tone issue or make it way better than the demo. It’s a really comfortable musical environment to expand in the different sounds and yes it does change with the lineup every time. So yeah, that’s just an organic thing and totally on par/on point with String Theory in terms of music creating vibrations.
That’s an important thing that musicians do and something that we do a lot and so we’re just bringing that context in and so in that way it’s evolved. We’ve [each] had a story, with my Dad you know I wrote a story [with] that theme of water and purity, so it’s always just a bit of a different outlook or different theme, this time it just needed to be a bit more meaningful than just a feeling, a casual story, but you know it felt good.
I think that it’s like even in the current set that we’re doing with these gigs there’s definitely a good bunch of rock n roll tunes and some more country stuff. Even with Tiki’s strength [which] is quite 90’s prog, um I don’t know core metal something [laughs] which is awesome, so we can do anything you know? I don’t feel that there is a restriction now on any genre or any experiment; we just do anything. So it’s feeling good in terms of everyone’s stories and their songs. I’ve listened to the album for the first time since it was out properly; it still sounds really good and [I’m] happy with the recordings”.
When listening to the album, tracks such as the entrancing ‘This Life’ [Tiki Taane] and ‘Forever’ [Ria Hall] have obviously added a far deeper and more spiritual Maori element to the recording, something that Weir says happened naturally.
“It’s absolutely, organically, just beautiful having some Maori and different ways of seeing the world in the spiritual realm; things through the Maori perspective, it’s fantastic. It was purposeful by the artist but it wasn’t planned in by us or anything, it’s all a natural thing that I know is particularly rare and yeah they’re pretty proud of where they’re from and they have great understandings of where modern Maori are.”
But does Weir agree with the sentiments of many fans that the album overall appears to have a darker sound to it considering the subject matter?
“[It’s] a bit more intense, yeah sure. Dark is one way of describing it, you know it’s quite heavy but its peoples meaningful songs, its meaningful stories. Starting with that theme stirred up all those kinda things, what are we doing here and how do they feel, so there is a really cool range of stories expressed that articulate that opinion well. So yes it’s dark but it’s also kinda heavy and brooding I would say [with] intense feelings.”
The group is currently nearing the end of a six date tour throughout New Zealand, playing shows at some of the most picturesque outdoor venues the country has to offer. However the tour is not just about the music; FMP have also organised several environmental events in conjunction with Sustainable Coastlines, including the hugely successful clean-up of New Brighton beach in Christchurch which saw more than 60 volunteers remove 3000 litres of rubbish. Volunteers were offered free tickets to the show and [select] members of the String Theory cast worked alongside them. A clean-up is scheduled on the day of Fly My Pretties last show on Waiheke Island, with Little Oneroa Beach being the starting point; it’s an element of the tour that Weir is a huge supporter of.
“Yeah we are, and we’ve been supportive of them [SC] before, since day one I think. Sustainable Coastlines have just so many good initiative projects happening on lots of different levels. Sam Judd is a real force and there is some amazing, mind-blowing things [going on] with his new building in Auckland on the waterfront. It’s totally built from environmentally friendly reused resources. He’s doing amazing things with his team, so yeah we have been involved over the years and we are gonna go down to the beach and do a bit of stroll and bit of a clean-up. It’s a good way to try and help motivate and talk about it; it’s a good platform for it. We need to get onto these things now, we can’t just ignore this.”
So does Weir think that more music promoters or festival organisers should be concerned about the environmental aspect of events?
“I know the idea is out there, there is a lot of waste produced by massive parties [and] of course a lot of plastic. I’m sure there is always better ways to do things; I know that Newtown Festival tried to be zero waste which is a huge goal! It’s just good to encourage people to get involved and to support them and they can come and support us. It ties into a level of we’re all kind of connected to these things and we need to look after it [the environment] best we can and get involved. It’s not cool to just have full wastage you know? It’s not a cool look.”
So with the final show this weekend, we asked Weir where to now for Fly My Pretties?
“This [String Theory] is still really new, and we’ll just do these gigs. We are looking at a long term plan every year, every couple of years a bit of a plan [and] we’ll be working on that and eventually another project. But this album’s got good legs and good touring opportunities so we will see how that goes and refine it.”
Fly My Pretties will be performing the last show of their Summer Tour this Sunday 29th January at the stunning Cable Bay Vineyards on Waiheke Island. Tickets are still available from Civic Events and Ticketmaster, but be in quick as this show will sell out!
For more information on Sustainable Coastlines please visit sustainablecoastlines.org/.
You can purchase the Fly My Pretties album “String Theory” on CD at Mighty Ape NZ.
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