I saw FLUMP supporting YNYS back in February this year where I described them as “a collision of youthful energy and wry humour”. Their woozy, tuneful, indie sound had a spark that I felt could take them a long way. With only two previous releases, ‘Thick Like Glue’ and ‘After Dark’, Sometimes But Not For Long is their first EP release. The band are Zakkiah Tippett on rhythm guitar and vocals, Will Cracknell on lead guitar and backing vocals, Gavin Jones on drums, and Dylan Clayton on bass.
The title track is an exuberant mid-tempo jangle of guitars, bass and drums that adds enough wistfulness into the mix to stop it being too saccharine. There’s great use of unison playing as well as enough stops and starts to allow the vocals to swoon over the top; all culminating in a send off with a fabulous low guitar melody and some joyous oohs and aahs.
‘Make It Make Sense’ opens with steel cable bass and has a menacing guitar line which pops up with horror film fairground queasiness throughout the song. The low rumble of the backing allows the laconic and staccato vocals to attack the gaps.
‘Lazy Susan’ is a tumbling upbeat collage of indie-disco, frenetic guitars stabs and lilting vocals, whereas the final track, ‘Wetwipe’, is a light and dark monster of a track which keeps returning to a warping riff that makes the ground feel unstable while the lighter passages let the tune flow over gentle chords and soft bass lines.
FLUMP have elements of The Housemartins or Postcard-era Orange Juice with a spikiness mixed in with the tuneful; they are smiling but through gritted teeth. It’s like the band know that nothing is okay, but it could be. I’m sure FLUMP will go from strength to strength and gather legions of fans as they release more music and play more cracking live sets like the one I saw.
I asked the band to tell Joyzine readers a bit more about themselves, and they kindly obliged.
How did you all meet and end up in a band?
- Zakk and Will met at college in Plymouth and formed a band called ‘Odd Dogs’. In mid-2024, having both moved to Bristol, they recruited the rhythm section Gavin and Dylan into the band, and it immediately clicked.
Where did the name FLUMP come from?
- Having outgrown the old name ‘Odd Dogs’ which sounded a bit like a dad’s blues band, a drunken discussion was held in the beer garden of The Hatchet Inn Bristol and the name FLUMP fell out.
Is there a venue or city that you’d especially love to play, and why?
- The Underground in Plymouth – one of the only grassroots music venues in Plymouth. Zakk and Will grew up listening to indie/punk bands there, so it would be great to go back to where it all started for them.
- Porters and Clwb Ifor Bach Cardiff – Dylan grew up in Cardiff and Gavin lived there for 2 years. These are the venues to play to get stuck into the Live music scene there and that’s where our sights are set next!
- RIP The moon Cardiff; that was somewhere that I (Gavin) really wanted to play.
- Manchester – Incredible live music scene there! It would be fun to head up north and be a small part of it sometime.
What is the strangest thing that’s ever happened to you at a gig?
- We threw Flumps (The marshmallow sweets) into the crowd at The Lanes… it didn’t go down so well with the sound guy who told us off through the talk back! (we did clear up every uneaten one afterwards)
- We had equipment troubles at a gig in Ashton Court Manor where Wills guitar cut out due to a broken jack – he had to sing his guitar solo. At the same time Zakk’s guitar broke and couldn’t stay in tune. Although we mostly brushed it off, we used up one of our 9 lives there… The guys learnt their lesson the hard way about having equipment that works!
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and what would you work on together?
- Zakk – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – to scream, smoke up and be a weirdo on the mic. Someone good to hang out with and get to know.
What are your influences and what bands around at the moment would you recommend to Joyzine readers?
- Zakk – The Strokes, particularly singer Julian Casablancas
- He taught Zakk vocal discipline and how to relax when singing. Zakk found his own voice by listening to and studying Julian Casablancas’ singing.
- Will – Wet Leg – love their energy, good pop lyrics and a guilty pleasure. He’s recently been very inspired by the guitar playing in their new album.
- Dylan – Blink 182 – it’s what got him into the bass.
- Gavin – Honeyglaze, their drummer Yuri Shibuichi in particular has exactly my favourite type of drumming style with excellent use of dynamics, and he really serves the songs. Highly recommend listening to their latest album Real Deal.
Also shout out to our favourite Bristol Bands (who we’ve gigged with and have also helped us out on our journey so far): Gavel, Les Joy, and The Pavilion (fab indie band who also have an EP coming out this month)
Song to listen to: Feist – Inside and out
What does the next 12 months hold for FLUMP?
• Build a larger supportive audience who consistently turn out for us, that would mean a lot to us. We’d love to grow the fanbase and have even more people singing our songs back to us and moshing at gigs!
• EP to have an impact – we don’t really know what we’re supposed to be doing or how we’re supposed to act; it’s all a big learning process. I’m happy that we’re putting ourselves out there and levelling up steadily.
• Release some more singles in the winter.
• Play a gig in Shredenhams, the skatepark built in the old Debenhams’ building. Can we pull it off?
• We’re realising how hard this all is (especially the social media side) but we’re really enjoying it. We’ve had some really fun and energetic gigs recently, so want to keep that train rolling.
You can catch FLUMP headlining at Mr Wolf’s in Bristol on Thursday 4 September with support from fellow Bristol band Paper Clouds. Tickets here
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Review by Paul F Cook
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