Blazing squad

MUSIC:IN A CORRIDOR in New York's MTV building, Ed Macfarlane is taking a breather from filming in a nearby studio. Actually, for the Friendly Fires frontman taking a breather involves doing another interview. As the world beyond St Albans wakes up to what Macfarlane and friends are doing and decides to investigate further, there is little time for to do anything except go with the flow, writes JIM CARROLL

Macfarlane doesn’t appear too put out by this turn of events. A little tired perhaps, but he’s not complaining. After all, when Friendly Fires released the self-titled album last September, there were no ticker-tape parade for them and their vivacious, funky, radio-friendly disco-rock. The acclaim and attention came slowly, with word-of-mouth recommendations, an insatiably infectious live show, and radio finally copping on to those radio-friendly tracks.

“When the album was first released, we didn’t throw a lot of money into promoting it,” says Macfarlane. “It came out and, well, that was it, and then we started to tour and we haven’t really stopped.

“It has turned out to be a complete slow-burner of an album, which is a good thing and a bad thing. It’s good that we’re always on this constantly upwards trajectory, so it feels like we’re doing bigger and better things all the time. But it’s bad because people are still discovering us. So instead of getting the time to write a new record, we’re still touring the first one. That, though, is a good problem to have!”

Friendly Fires is the result of a decade-long flirtation by this bunch of old friends with various musical styles. When they were teens, Macfarlane says they were doing “cheesy covers” of Green Day before discovering bands like Fugazi and Mogwai. Macfarlane’s own eureka moment came via another native of St Albans, Hertfordshire – electronic music producer Chris Clark.

“Chris is the local hero in St Albans,” he says. “Me and my friends used to really look up to him because he was signed to Warp. He was the person who introduced me to electronic music and inspired me to start writing music on the computer.”

Such dabbling meant Macfarlane’s own first blush of releases were electronic ones. “I was really into combining lush beautiful melodies with really hard glitchy sounds and aggressive, odd drums.

“Part of me really wants to go back and delve more into that sound, but the band taking off means that has to stay on the sidelines for now. These days, I’m less into abstract stuff and more into danceable stuff.”

As thousands have learned in the last 12 months, the danceable stuff is what Friendly Fires do in spades. While Macfarlane and the other Fires are huge fans of underground house and techno (as various mix-tapes available on their MySpace site and the occasional DJing nixers show),­ their own material comes from a very funky pop seam.

Macfarlane attributes this to the music which first got him moonwalking as a kid.

“In terms of my musical taste with the band, I’ve gone full circle. I’ve gone back to the music I first listened to when I was a child, music like Michael Jackson, and realised that this funky, uplifting, poppy dance music is what I love the most. That’s the roots of our music. We’re all massive fans of perfect pop music, and Michael Jackson was always top of the list in that regard.”

In the band’s early days, there were few takers for what they were offering, which Macfarlane now believes was the making of the band.

“Getting knocked back was probably the best thing that happened to us because it made us really up our game and try to write to the best of our ability. We were under no pressure, so we could take as long as we could to build up a set we would be happy with. Some bands sign deals far too early and have to rush out a weak album, so I’m glad we could escape that.”

When it came to recording their debut album, the band borrowed techniques from electronic producers such as Clark.

“It was real low-budget stuff,” says Macfarlane of the experience. “We didn’t have the money to go into a proper studio and we couldn’t afford a full set of drum microphones, so we had to work with the minimal equipment that we had. It was people like Chris who showed us how to be able to record an album without spending a small fortune on it.”

He says this method of working concentrated their minds on what was really important. “I kind of really grew to like working that way because it puts pressure on you to focus on writing the song and not become caught up in the world of production. Sure, the studio is important, but the song is the most important aspect of all.”

Friendly Fires are one of the acts on the shortlist for next week’s Mercury Music Prize. This added attention has lifted their profile, helped to sell more albums, and introduced more people to their live show.

Macfarlane is cautious about what might happen on Tuesday night. “I wouldn’t want to say that I think we’ll win it because I’d probably jinx it. I’d be very happy if we did, though. We have a very strong album and it’s great that it made the list, especially because it’s been around for quite some time.

“We’re not one of these bands who have suddenly shot straight to the top. Our rise has been quite slow and steady, and I think people have got into us for the right reason, which is, of course, the music.”

• - Friendly Fires' debut album has been reissued with new single, Kiss of Life. They play a DJ set at Belfast's Stiff Kitten on September 26th