The Story Behind The Music: In Conversation With Fletchr Fletchr
- Lara Walsh
- 6 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Following the announcement of their upcoming EP, ‘On The Island We Call Home’, Fletchr Fletchr are reaching for new heights. Blending heartfelt songwriting and a distinct sonic identity, the band’s new release is highly anticipated. It arrives at a pivotal time – a political climate fuelled by alienation – proving that the quintessential British feeling is characterised by shared experience. An ode to their Cornish home, the EP captures an environment of connection and collaboration, the brainchild of four different stories coming together.
Fletchr Fletchr is carving out their own path in the music scene. From opening for Imagine Dragons, to playing the Isle of Wight Festival this summer, they are moving between increasingly large audiences and their familiar, intimate gigs. With a UK tour coming up in September, they have overcome the many challenges of live performances, even delivering an emotional acoustic set due to technical difficulties. STRAND sat down with Rohan and Adam, founding members of Fletchr Fletchr, to discuss the whirlwind that has been the last year, and what is coming next.
You often describe yourselves as brothers. How did you come to be as a group?
Adam: We met in school when we were 16 years old – we both wanted to be solo artists, and then we went off to university. I dropped out of university, Rohan stayed, but he had a lot of free time. Then we both broke up with our girlfriends at the same time and started writing together. The first song we made together was ‘From Home’, and we looked at each other after that and were like, ‘okay, that's pretty good.’ We later on produced ‘Limitations’, which is on our second EP, and we were like, ‘oh, well, this kind of works.’ We just kept on going from there.
Rohan: We kept going, and Adam moved into the family home so we could carry on once university finished. My dad passed away, and we had to run the pub together, and I think we just became brothers throughout that time.
As your band has grown, how has your music-making process evolved?
Rohan: It’s become more collaborative. We know more about the studios and how they work now, but we are still applying what we learnt in Adam's bedroom into those bigger rooms.
Adam: I think we're still writing the same messages and staying very much from the heart and from our experiences at the time. It’s still the same old Fletchr Fletchr.
At the end of ‘Passenger’, a single on your upcoming EP, there is a sample of bird calls. What is the significance behind this?
Adam: When we wrote that song, we were in Cornwall. It was a weirdly hot February day surrounded by these big, open glass doors. We were doing Rohan’s vocal takes, and the seagulls were super loud. Whilst listening, we just decided the seagulls sounded pretty cool, so they just stayed in. In producing all of our music, I love to get the sounds of where you are. I feel like we go to loads of random places, so it's nice to take a bit of the area that you're in and put it in the song as a timestamp. It was a very happy accident, to be honest.
Is there a lot of Cornish influence in your music?
Rohan: We’re both from small towns, and we can share that same experience: that we grew up in different places, but it is very much the same. You can feel in Cornwall now; it's building more and more there. I've grown a big love for Cornwall, and it's nice to be able to say that we're a Cornish band and go around all of England spreading the word of Cornwall.
Do you guys have a favourite stage you've played so far?
Adam: This year, especially, has been pretty mental. Our dream venue was the Roundhouse in Camden. Anytime anyone asked ‘where do you want to play?’, it was always the Roundhouse, and we got to play that with the band Keanu Reeves.
Rohan: For me it was The Isle of Wight stage, even though the power went down. It just made it even more of a moment. Playing acoustically with the crowd just felt like it was meant to happen.
Adam: We won a competition to play that stage, and we were on at one o'clock on the Saturday afternoon. It was probably one of our favourite shows ever because it was the one that started it a bit more. To go back and headline that stage was something very special.
You guys have had a huge year. You played the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last summer, Isle of Wight this summer, and you have a UK tour coming up. How do you approach live performances, and what do you see the biggest challenges to be?
Rohan: Things going wrong. You just have to be prepared for a string snapping, a jack lead not working, the trailer setting on fire – anything can happen. You just have to keep the morale high. The show is for the audience – it doesn’t matter what has gone on around it.
Adam: Yeah, we have a pretty bad track record of things going wrong. It's been a common theme in our lives ever since we started playing. I feel like we're quite used to it now, but there are still bumps in the road.
Rohan: To show how much it goes wrong - most bands are probably bringing around 2 jack leads each… we have a bag of 50 jack leads just in case.
How were the nerves before a show as large as the Spurs stadium?
Adam: They were actually really different. Obviously it’s absolutely terrifying with us all running around in the dressing room, not knowing where to put our energy into. Once you step on that stage, it all goes. For me, the smaller, intimate gigs were a lot more nerve-wracking.
Rohan: I'm always a little bit nervous until I step on stage.
How did you come up with your new EP title, ‘On The Island We Call Home’?
Rohan: Dealing with what's going on in England, and how we feel upset with how it's been with the government at the moment.
Adam: I think writing about things that people can relate to. It's quite British – everyone can feel what we were feeling, hopefully.
Are there any major influences on your latest music?
Rohan: Well, we're in America, and we've been writing a little bit. I think The Bleachers crept in a little bit.
Adam: It's nice to be in a band where all four members are quite involved because everyone's got so many different styles. It’s cool to be able to grab everything from everyone's inspirations and put them into our music. I feel like our main inspirations are what our dads listened to – The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Animals.
Finally, what is the journey you would like to take people on in your new EP?
Rohan: It’s following our story as brothers. The first EP has a lot of optimism in there – we were annoyed about working in the pub. Now this one's tackling more personal issues, and our personal perception of the country and the world. It's gonna lead nicely into the album, where we can close off that story.
Listen to Fletchr Fletchr on Spotify, Apple Music, and Souncloud
You can pre-save their new EP - ‘On The Island We Call Home’, being released on the 21st of August - here.
Edited by Daria Slikker, Editor-in-Chief
