Push to Fire: Alternative Music Webzine

Push to Fire Interview: The Flatliners
The Flatliners hail from Canada and are signed to Fat Wreck. The band's singer Chris Cresswell took some time out on their European tour with NOFX to answer Suzy's questions.

You just played Groezrock. I saw you last year at the festival and the reaction was amazing - I don't think I could get to your merch table at the end of it - so many people were buying t-shirts! How was this year's festival?
Groezrock reigns supreme as the best show of the year for our band, 2 years in a row. We're very glad they had us back.
What was the reaction like this year?
It was a blast. We played a bit later than we did last year (10:30 AM last year, yikes) and the tent was full which was awesome. Those kids in Belgium know how to have a good time too. They showed us lots of love and continued support, and that's the whole reason we play.

The Flatliners by Simon Harrison

How long have you been signed to Fat Wreck now and how did Fat Mike hear about you?
We signed to Fat in 2007 after meeting Melanie Kaye at a Lagwagon show, who was their Canadian rep living in Toronto. We got her some demoes of new songs at the time and she really liked them and told us she'd like to pass them along to Fat Mike. We were much obliged of course, but never really expected to hear back from the guy. He called us a week later asking to hear more songs. We recorded a bunch and sent them along and got another call from him saying he dug em. The rest is history, and we are forever grateful for Mike and the rest of the crew for their support in our band. It is truly an honour being a part of that family.
And speaking of Fat Mike...you've just started a European tour with punk legends NOFX. How's it going?
The tour is going great. We played in Belfast a few nights ago with NOFX at a 500 capacity club, which is definitely a rarity for those guys. It was definitely a big change from the rest of the tour. They're very generous and fucking rad, and have taken us out on tour time and time again, and every time its great. How could it be not be you know? The shows are great and we're touring with our heroes in countries that we never really thought we had a realistic chance of ever playing in. Our heads have certainly exploded.

How did it feel when you heard you'd be going out on tour with them?
Excited as fuck. Like every time.
Any interesting tour stories from this tour so far?
We slept at a friend's house in Dublin the other night after going to a nearby bar, and once we finally ended up at his place, I deemed the front hallway closet an appropriate place to sleep for the night. This tour has been a booze cruise of awesome shows with cool people. Other than that, last night we spent the 7-year anniversary of our first time playing together with our first ever time in Scotland. The show was awesome, and none of us could think of a cooler way to celebrate.
As well as being a fan of your music, I'm also a big fan of The Snips. What's the deal with you and them? Am I right in thinking you've been friends for a while?
The Snips are some of our best friends in the world. Their band is so incredible, and as people they just make life fun to live. They're one of my favourite bands too. Everyone should check em out!

Your songs vary in terms of their genre and tempo, some being more punk, others having a fast ska sound and some having a chilled reggae feel to them. Which genre do you enjoy playing most?
I enjoy playing all our songs because of the varied mix. We write different kinds of songs cause we all listen to an eclectic mix of music, and playing a fast song and following it up with a dubbed out one is a blast. And it can fuck with people's heads, which is always fun.
Which five bands would you cite as being main influences for the band?
That's always a tough one to answer with conviction, especially because guys like us have tastes that change over time. I will say that we're all obsessed Rocket From the Crypt and every other band John Reis has been in. The Clash are definitely another mutual obsession, like any punk rock band, much like RX Bandits and Kid Dynamite are. That's four bands we all like... and if I had to list a fifth I'd say Wilson Phillips. Wink.
Have you heard many of the ska/punk bands in the UK scene? If so, what do you think of them and who do you enjoy listening to most?
Hell yes. OK Pilot have become friends of ours after we played with them last year in Exeter and were all blown away. They're incredible. The Computers are great too. And The Clash are the greatest band ever, so the UK wins.

The Flatliners by Simon Harrison

Obviously being in a band touring you do a lot of flying around the world and have to pack for weeks in advance. Tell us three things that help you cope with the time you spend travelling and touring...
Well our guitars come with us everywhere we go. We usually pack more things to keep us distracted while on tour (like books, PSPs, stuff like that) than bare essentials like toothbrushes and things like that, but we get by. Finally, we all pack bottle openers.
Run us through a typical day on a Flatliners tour...
We usually will sleep in until the last possible moment, drive all day to the next show, load our shit inside and wait around until we play. We'll usually go explore the city we're in as well and try to meet some people from the area. Our pre-game ritual really just consists of drinking and relaxing, saving all of our drunken energy for when we hit the stage. If we have friends in town we'll likely stay with them, and if not we'll try to snoop out a place to sleep for the night. Sometimes it can feel like scheming, but that's probably just because there's a good chance we haven't showered in a while haha.
If you could go back to visit a city you've played on tour, but not had chance to explore, which city would you like to go to?
London. Last year we played in Camden for our first time, and drove all day (and hopped on a ferry of course) from Paris to get there so other than the club we played at and having a drink at Underworld, we really didn't see much of the city. But that's okay because we'll have two solid days to explore on this tour with NOFX.

Thanks to Steve C for organising this interview and to Chris Cresswell for taking the time to answer Suzy's questions. Photos by Simon Harrison (taken at the band's show with NOFX in Leeds on 29th April 2009). For more on the band and the latest info on forthcoming tour dates: http://www.myspace.com/theflatlinerstoronto

Push to Fire Interview: The Flatliners The Flatliners hail from Canada and are signed to Fat Wreck. The band's singer Chris Cresswell took some time out on their European tour with NOFX to answer Suzy's questions.
You just played Groezrock. I saw you last year at the festival and the reaction was amazing - I don't think I could get to your merch table at the end of it - so many people were buying t-shirts! How was this year's festival? Groezrock reigns supreme as the best show of the year for our band, 2 years in a row. We're very glad they had us back. What was the reaction like this year? It was a blast. We played a bit later than we did last year (10:30 AM last year, yikes) and the tent was full which was awesome. Those kids in Belgium know how to have a good time too. They showed us lots of love and continued support, and that's the whole reason we play.
How long have you been signed to Fat Wreck now and how did Fat Mike hear about you? We signed to Fat in 2007 after meeting Melanie Kaye at a Lagwagon show, who was their Canadian rep living in Toronto. We got her some demoes of new songs at the time and she really liked them and told us she'd like to pass them along to Fat Mike. We were much obliged of course, but never really expected to hear back from the guy. He called us a week later asking to hear more songs. We recorded a bunch and sent them along and got another call from him saying he dug em. The rest is history, and we are forever grateful for Mike and the rest of the crew for their support in our band. It is truly an honour being a part of that family. And speaking of Fat Mike...you've just started a European tour with punk legends NOFX. How's it going? The tour is going great. We played in Belfast a few nights ago with NOFX at a 500 capacity club, which is definitely a rarity for those guys. It was definitely a big change from the rest of the tour. They're very generous and fucking rad, and have taken us out on tour time and time again, and every time its great. How could it be not be you know? The shows are great and we're touring with our heroes in countries that we never really thought we had a realistic chance of ever playing in. Our heads have certainly exploded.
How did it feel when you heard you'd be going out on tour with them? Excited as fuck. Like every time. Any interesting tour stories from this tour so far? We slept at a friend's house in Dublin the other night after going to a nearby bar, and once we finally ended up at his place, I deemed the front hallway closet an appropriate place to sleep for the night. This tour has been a booze cruise of awesome shows with cool people. Other than that, last night we spent the 7-year anniversary of our first time playing together with our first ever time in Scotland. The show was awesome, and none of us could think of a cooler way to celebrate. As well as being a fan of your music, I'm also a big fan of The Snips. What's the deal with you and them? Am I right in thinking you've been friends for a while? The Snips are some of our best friends in the world. Their band is so incredible, and as people they just make life fun to live. They're one of my favourite bands too. Everyone should check em out!
Your songs vary in terms of their genre and tempo, some being more punk, others having a fast ska sound and some having a chilled reggae feel to them. Which genre do you enjoy playing most? I enjoy playing all our songs because of the varied mix. We write different kinds of songs cause we all listen to an eclectic mix of music, and playing a fast song and following it up with a dubbed out one is a blast. And it can fuck with people's heads, which is always fun. Which five bands would you cite as being main influences for the band? That's always a tough one to answer with conviction, especially because guys like us have tastes that change over time. I will say that we're all obsessed Rocket From the Crypt and every other band John Reis has been in. The Clash are definitely another mutual obsession, like any punk rock band, much like RX Bandits and Kid Dynamite are. That's four bands we all like... and if I had to list a fifth I'd say Wilson Phillips. Wink. Have you heard many of the ska/punk bands in the UK scene? If so, what do you think of them and who do you enjoy listening to most? Hell yes. OK Pilot have become friends of ours after we played with them last year in Exeter and were all blown away. They're incredible. The Computers are great too. And The Clash are the greatest band ever, so the UK wins.
Obviously being in a band touring you do a lot of flying around the world and have to pack for weeks in advance. Tell us three things that help you cope with the time you spend travelling and touring... Well our guitars come with us everywhere we go. We usually pack more things to keep us distracted while on tour (like books, PSPs, stuff like that) than bare essentials like toothbrushes and things like that, but we get by. Finally, we all pack bottle openers. Run us through a typical day on a Flatliners tour... We usually will sleep in until the last possible moment, drive all day to the next show, load our shit inside and wait around until we play. We'll usually go explore the city we're in as well and try to meet some people from the area. Our pre-game ritual really just consists of drinking and relaxing, saving all of our drunken energy for when we hit the stage. If we have friends in town we'll likely stay with them, and if not we'll try to snoop out a place to sleep for the night. Sometimes it can feel like scheming, but that's probably just because there's a good chance we haven't showered in a while haha. If you could go back to visit a city you've played on tour, but not had chance to explore, which city would you like to go to? London. Last year we played in Camden for our first time, and drove all day (and hopped on a ferry of course) from Paris to get there so other than the club we played at and having a drink at Underworld, we really didn't see much of the city. But that's okay because we'll have two solid days to explore on this tour with NOFX.
Thanks to Steve C for organising this interview and to Chris Cresswell for taking the time to answer Suzy's questions. Photos by Simon Harrison (taken at the band's show with NOFX in Leeds on 29th April 2009). For more on the band and the latest info on forthcoming tour dates: http://www.myspace.com/theflatlinerstoronto