Well, we at the Flowerpot are getting rather used to having nice things said about the talent we showcase on a weekly basis…we’re not arrogant or anything, we just understand that we know what’s good and what’s not… So, we’re sort of better.
Here is a piece written on those kids who used to be Starfuckers, but are now the misspelled Pyramiddd. Like I said, good reviews are what we’re used too, but we never tire of hearing them…
Ahead of tonight’s performance by the hairy, effervescent Foxy Shazam, we decided we would corner them in a room and bark questions at them until we had the answers we desired. They broke. They broke hard. Here are the fruits of FB’s labour…
Hello lovely Foxy Shazam, we’re very excited about having you play at the Flowerpot on Friday, we’ve heard nothing but great things about your shows in London over the past couple of weeks. Have you been enjoying yourselves?
We’ve been having a blast! The city is gorgeous and the people are welcoming and open to new music, it’s been incredible.
What’s been the best show so far?
It’s hard to say because all of the shows have been so good, but the show that stands out right now is the show we did at the Barfly. Our good friend Justin was there and it was a very intimate setting with few people that, by the end of the show, turned into tons of people. A very fun night.
What’s been the highlight of your stay?
Getting lost in the tube stations late at night.
Sorry about the rubbish weather, despite that, have you enjoyed London? Seen the sights?
We love it! And we have seen some sights. We went and visited Big Ben and the London Bridge as well as checking out Parliament, Picadilly Circus and Camden Market and last but not least ABBEY ROAD!!!!!!!!! The city has such a romantic and classic air about it, it’s so hard not to fall in love with it while exploring. Such awesome food.
Can you describe your music to us in as few words as possible?
2001
We’ve heard rumours that, between you, you pull some pretty awesome shapes on stage, where do you get your inspiration from for these moves?
The encyclopedia 
Are you all foxy?
Only after we shower.
We’ve got the pleasure of hosting your last show, are you excited? Can we expect any surprises?
We’re so excited, but with our shows you just can’t expect.
If you could wish for one thing this Christmas, what would it be?
Snow.
When are you coming back to London?
Nothing is set in stone, but there’s talks that we’ll be back sometime in February. We want to come back as soon as possible.
Anything else you’d like to share with us?
If Foxy Shazam were an animal at the zoo, we would be the ones most likely to bite your head off with out even thinking about it!
Thank you Foxy Shazam, we can’t bloody wait for Tonight!
We can’t wait either. Don’t go dying on us!
Prepare for the glammed out, socks-off rock of this lot Thursday night. The guitars are loud, the band ooze sex appeal – something for boys and girls alike, I feel?!
Check out the video below for a taste of what to expect and a guide to the kind of outfits that one is expected to don for the night…
I woke up really late this morning…like summer holidays late. So, when it came to getting something up on Flowerblog, I figured that I would have to snatch some rubbish screen grab of a banjo left in a flower bed in Wiltshire and try make it in some way relevant to all you music enthusiasts…to my shocked and delighted surprise, it turns out that angelic songstress and radiant beauty Valentina shares that similar streak of fatigue and had newly arisen too. The misinformed, talentless music journalist would be quick to jump to Kate Nash-type comparisons, due to the lady in question being from London and sharing a love, with the aforementioned wench, for twinkling the keys…but Valentina is so much more. Here delicate loves songs, and classic musical accompaniment are more akin to Joanna Newsome than a flash in the pan pop star. We at Flowerpot are big fans, anyway. So, we talked briefly about our mutual appreciation of the hallowed snooze button before getting down to the more serious subjects of flowers, Spice Girls and shower gel to get to the raw facts of what this exceptional lady is all about…
I was just wondering when you got into playing music?
Valentina: Hmmmm….well I think that I always wrote songs…just silly stuff to begin with…and I kind of realised pretty early on that this was it really and didn’t really look into doing anything else…so I hope it works out ha!
What was your first song called?
Valentina: God, I can’t remember, but I can remember all of the melodies and stuff…it’s weird…probably something shit like “Perculiar Days”. I had a song called “I Hate You” too…that was funny!
Hate’s always funny – Who was that about?!
Valentina: Ha….I’m not sure…I’m sure I was trying to get at a certain person but it wasn’t actually about them.
Who was that?
Valentina: can’t say! but they have plenty songs about them…
How old are you now?
Valentina: Getting old, 24…considering I thought I was gonna be famous when I was 16…it feels like i’ve been doing this a long time! But I think as you get older your perspectives change and you want it for different reasons…I just want to make music that I’m happy and fulfilled by and hope that somewhere along the way other people enjoy it too!
That’s a good enough reason I think…Just listening through to a couple of your songs now and you can really tell you’re into Joanna Newsome – what are your other influences?
Valentina: Ha, got completely obsessed with her for a while
I do that sometimes. It’s like when you go through stages of always eating the same dinner cos you really like it!! I do that with music…so at the moment it’s Fleetwood Mac, but I love joni Mitchell, Carole King, Kate Bush, Al Green, Bright Eyes…
What’s your favourite Fleetwood Mac song – I like Gypsy, but my mates were obsessed with The Chain in the summer?
Valentina: hmmm…can’t say, it’s too hard. Rumours is literally like a greatest hits album though. Fucking amazing.
It’s not shit…What is your favourite flower?
Valentina: probably a sunflower. Is that a big gay?!
Yep
Valentina: Good. What’s yours?
I’m big into Tulips and Lillies…
Valentina: Actually, I do love lillies
The death flower!
Valentina: Yeah!
Nothing could be more punk
Valentina: I think Daisies are pretty rock n roll I think myself
Yeah, I could agree with that…which era do you wish you’d been alive in?
Valentina: 60’s and 70’s, for sure.
What would you have done in those decades that’s different to what you’re doing now?
Valentina: I just think that there was so many changes happening and it just seemed like an exciting time…with a sense of being able to create something, a sound that had never been done before…I think I struggle with that a lot…the fact that whatever you do…in some way it will always be have been done/touched upon before in some way….Do you know what i mean? Or am i rambling?
Yeah, I know. Like everything is referencing everything else, right?
Valentina: yeah
Right, on a different note, you’ve got an EP coming out soon, right? Who are you releasing that on? Will it be strictly on vinyl?
Valentina: Yes, coming out beginning of next year….not sure release date yet. Think we’re gonna release it ourselves- me and managers, and it’ll be on iTunes, CD and, hopefully, limited 7” too.
Amazing – Do you collect records yourself?
Valentina: Not really I have to say….but my managers collection is absolutely ridiculous. You can’t actually move in his flat anymore! He’s a DJ!
What is your favourite album of all time? First one that comes in to your head – NO TAKE BACKS!
Valentina: Aaaah, I hate questions like this…I can’t…just one???
The first one that came into your head! If it’s East 17 then you’re not allowed to tell me something cooler!
Valentina: It’s so cliché, but “Blue” Joni Mitchell…OK, Spice Girls Spice
There we are! I knew it!
Valentina: But there are more, but you were mean and wouldn’t let me gather my thoughts
That’s the point…it’s like POP quiz!
Valentina: I’m shit at quizzes and exams…
Who is the meanest person you know?
Valentina: My brain is quite slow! Me haha ummmmm…
What makes you so mean?
Valentina: Bus drivers. Hate them. No, i’m not mean!
What would you describe yourself as?
Valentina: ummm…an extrointrovert, attempting to be positive with an underlying pessimism…and pretty nice, I like to think! You?
Handsome
Valentina: Big head
No no, I get told that all the time
Valentina: Yeah me too…definitely handsome haha
Can’t steal my words Valentina! Who are you favourite artists at the moment?
Valentina: i like vampire weekend…ummm Laura Marling to be honest I don’t actually listen to that much “artists at the moment” music..at the moment…like I said, I obsess, then i move on!
I didn’t mean like “Which current up to the minute, top of the pops, buzz band” do you listen to – only like what artists in the last year have released music that you’ve really got down too…
Valentina: Ha! Yeah probably the ones I said…really like Mumford and Sons too…Kwes, one of the producers I’ve been working with has some beautiful songs you should check out and a band called Wolfgang fronted by very talented guy called Max, who i’ve done somewriting with..
Ah ha, I shalll keep an inquisitive ear out for him. Funny you should say Mumford and Sons, as they’re doing something rather wonderful with us next month…What are you doing for the rest of your day?
Valentina: I have to have a shower and I have a meeting with a producer
What is your favourite shower gel?
Valentina: original source mint, it’s amazing.
Tingles…Are you a shower person or are you a re bath person?
Valentina: Both…they both have an equal place in my heart. You?
I’m a fan of showers myself. Don’t really like baths. They’re too intense
Valentina: haha! Exactly! You obviously don’t work hard enough
good bath after a long day…it’s a special thing.
Any body that has the audacity to publicly claim that they fuck stars is alright in my book. Fucking stars is what making music is all about. Just ask that cunt Pete Wentz. What is better than fucking stars? Pyramids! That’s right, pyramids! I’m not saying to fuck them, I’m not some sort of Totten Carmoon philanderer, I’m just saying that pyramids are awesome…or rather, excuse me, Pyramiddd are awesome. The space rock-fucking, game boy gnarling, pop kids from Portland are playing in the Flowerpot tonight and promise to rip head off you Atari and spray multi-coloured electricity into your wind-torn eyes. So, if that sounds appealing, you know where we are!
So, what’s up kids? Enjoying yourselves? Good. Flowerblog was lucky enough to grab some chin wag time with the super, fantastic Superfantastics. They’re rolling in to K town on wednesday to play one of the few gigs they’ve got in the UK. Exploding with colour, crashing cymbals and bittersweet pop melodies, The Superfantastics sound a little like Death Cab for Cutie if they’d spent a little more time having fun and a little less time listening to Ben Gibbard’s ever so depressing anecdotes. Matthew MacDonald was kind enough to fire some answers across to spice up some of my innane chatter, and now I have produced this wonderful text document for your delectation. Sufferinsukkatash it’s the Superfantastics!!
Hello! Sorry, I feel as though I have to be super enthusiastic with the Superfantastics! How did you guys get together?
One day we were both at a frisbee game with mutual friends, and Steph mentioned that she’d like to learn how to play the drums. I offered to teach her, and took along my guitar so she would have something to play along with. I would bring in half-finished songs and we’d polish them off with beats she was learning.
I think that your sound is quite distinctly Canadian, what are your main influences?
I’m quite influenced by the Nova Scotian pop bands of the mid-90s. While a lot of the world was tuned into the Seattle grunge bands of the 90s, our east coast city of Halifax was exploding with bands like Sloan, The Super Friendz, The Inbreds and Eric’s Trip, making waves in Canada and abroad. Their sound left a fingerprint on me which carries through to my songwriting and our sound.
Your name is pretty great – what makes you The Superfantastics?
Sound engineers will say that our two and a half minute sound-check time makes us super-fantastic.
Is this the first time you guys have been to the UK?
Yes, and hopefully not the last. London has been absolutely wonderful thus far.
Oh really? Welcome guys! What sort of things have you been told to expect?
Strongbow on tap. In Canada, Strongbow is very rare and expensive. In London, that is not the case. My only expectations from Britian are those things that I have learned from the British TV/culture that have made their way to Canada. These include: Thomas the Tank Engine (w/ Ringo & Carlin), Chronicles of Narnia TV series from the 80s, Coronation St., The Secret Garden, Hugh Grant, The Mighty Boosh, The Office, Peep Show, the british parts of Tintin, Spatz, Postman Pat, A Clockwork Orange and the Queen’s Christmas message.
What is the most superfantastic thing you can think of?
Hanging out at The Flowerpot on a Wednesday night.
Right on! See you tomorrow!
OK, it might be a bit early to be getting excited about Christmas, but is it too early to be getting excited about the Flowerpot Christmas-Based Quiz, huh? huh? Well, maybe, but I just wanted to give you all the opportunity to give yourself a helpful and public reminder about the knowledge tickler of the year via the wonders of social networking… Once you’ve RSVP’d there’s no excuse, you have to be there. Or, alternatively, I’ll hunt you down like some sort of homocidal reindeer and forcefeed you candy cains and epic Christmas fables. Fact.
Here is a review of the well-received performance by Swedish indie crooners, Mono Stereo, last night at Flowerpot. It’s the best thing ever when informed people say nice things about things that happen in our beloved ‘Pot, as it shows how right we get things…and it saves me having to think of more things to say in it’s favour. All round win.
I heard today that rising stars, The Drums, are releasing their new single ‘I Felt Stupid’ on November 23rd, and it got me to thinking – didn’t The Flowerpot give them their first UK show? Oh yeah, yeah we did. It seems like the Brooklyn poppers are now the talk of every music mag and fan blog the length of the indie world, so we sit quite smug, safe in the knowledge that we were right there, on point, to provide Kentish Town with yet another preview of what’s to come.
This isn’t the single itself, but it’s my personal favourite of the songs they performed on the night. Any band that has bopping back-up singers in matching dresses is surely destined for the big time, non?
