Matt Friedberger is sitting in room 217 in a Texan hotel consoling his sister, Eleanor, who’s too sick to do the interview. They’re tired - and so they should be, as they’re just nearing the end of one mighty ‘road trip’. “It’s just me and Eleanor and our buddy who plays drums driving a van all over the US. We’ve no rock and roll tour bus or anything like that. But when we get to the UK, it’s going to be complete luxury coz there will be people helping us drive”. This really is DIY stuff, and that’s how The Fiery Furnaces have got so far, well that and a wee bit of luck.
“We’re very, very lucky, the way it’s turned out”. Matt is referring to their association with Rough Trade, who released their demo as an album, almost as soon as the siblings had posted it off, “we had to come up with the money to record our demo, so we borrowed money and did 16 tracks. I mean we were really lazy about it. A friend told me Rough Trade were looking for some new bands, so we just posted it off and, well, yeah, we’re lucky”.
It’s not all luck though, there’s how the music sounds as well, “um, a mix of 50’s washboard blues and tambourines of bad 60’s pop and third rate Tears For Fears stuff I guess”. Along with that, The Fiery Furnaces possess an eccentricity that would put The White Stripes to shame, “to be eccentric is a necessity. We need to do that because we don’t have a ‘rock and roll message’. So many other records are just dull, so we try to be playful”.
Matt had been in more bands than he’d care to mention before finally forming one with his sister (“I was in loads of bad bands with lots of bad experiences”). He was living in New York when Eleanor returned to the Big Apple after travelling around Europe. She brought back with her, a whole range of travel log lyrics she had written and the seeds of The Fiery Furnaces were sown, “when we were younger, I prompted her to play” explains Matt, “and then as I got older, she encouraged me, she’s been keen and supportive. This is her first band, so it’s still fresh for her”.
I sense a good deal of brotherly love… “well, of course we drive each other crazy. But you expect that. At least in a band with your sister you know that’s going to happen, which is not as bad as fighting when you’re in a band with friends or just other people”.
The Fiery Furnaces first taste of European touring came when they supported Hot Hot Heat (I’m not joking). Franz Ferdinand completed the bill. “We were playing in front of a bunch of 16-year-olds who were just staring at us it was really funny. And we shared a tour bus with Franz Ferdinand, which was pretty unpleasant – cramped and smelly”. Matt then goes on an amusing tangent of anecdotes involving the tour, “I mean, there’s a lot of stuff that I remember that they (Franz Ferdinand) wouldn’t want me to say (giggles). But, what was really funny was, every night, Steve from Hot Hot Heat would get up to sing ‘Take Me Out’ with Franz Ferdinand, and he thought it was great, but Franz Ferdinand didn’t. They were never very pleased with that”.
Gossiping about that tour left aside, Matt talks about their own gigs some more, “I mean we’re just lucky to play music for people. People are coming and not booing. They’re not throwing things at us, which is good. I still can’t believe people take time out of their schedules to come see us, I really appreciate that”.
So, The Fiery Furnaces, they’re not The White Stripes, their sound is mental, but great, and if you want some good gossip on Franz Ferdinand, you know where to go.
