Rising Star FLYNN Tells Us About How Being Cheated on Inspired His New Single 'B-SIDE'
FLYNN has exceeded 40 million streams as a vocalist on Lost Frequencies’ ‘Recognise’, Flynn’s recent solo track ‘One Of Us’ ignited his solo career. It hit fifteen New Music Friday playlists worldwide, fired up Ireland’s airplay charts and instigated a new wave of attention.
Flynn’s momentum is now set to shift up another gear as he shares the follow-up ‘B-Side’. The song is enticingly both contemporary and classic: feelgood alt-pop beats and rhythms placing it firmly in 2020, while Flynn’s soulful vocal and some Stax-inspired brass give it a timeless quality.
Flynn wrote ‘B-Side’ with the track’s producers Toby Scott (Cashmere Cat, JC Stewart, Kaiser Chiefs) and Blair MacKichan (Sia, Lily Allen).
‘B-Side’ extends Flynn’s flair for expressing the intricacies of modern relationships, a vulnerable yet brave take on everything from infatuation to insecurity. Although he’s now signed to JIVE/SONY, the early stages of his career involved making sacrifices, battling to make ends meet and grinding away to earn any opportunity. It took him from Mullingar in County Westmeath, Ireland to a spell of working restaurants and busking in Bristol, which was interspersed with writing sessions in London. An early breakthrough came when a song he entered in a contest went viral, before coming to wider attention with the independently released tracks ‘Peace of Mind’, ‘Red Light’ and ‘My Gold’. The rapid progress he has made in the past year with Lost Frequencies track’s ‘Recognise’, and ‘You’ from their new EP, ‘One Of Us’, and now ‘B-Side’ shows that his dedication is paying off.
“B-Side” was about being cheated on, can you tell us a little more about the track?
Sure! I come from a small town, the type of place where no matter how private you keep your life, everyone still knows your business and how your love life is going, etc! I had a lot of friends that went through this sort of thing as well as experiencing it myself, writing this song was just a good way of stating the obvious and putting the small town rumours to rest in one way.
How did you stay motivated during the lockdown has this inspired any new songs?
I exercised quite a bit, picked up some new hobbies like reading and wrote loads of new music, so yeah being stuck in my bedroom for months on end has definitely inspired a few new tunes, maybe even some singles...
How has your music career evolved since starting out?
Like everyone – no real route you just have to follow each lead and believe in yourself and hope you’ll get there.
How would you describe your music at the moment?
Eclectic – open to all musical influences – saying something – real
What / who inspires you the most?
Old artists that have come and gone like Bill Withers and Amy Winehouse still inspire me to this day, my family, my home... I’m inspired by anything and anyone who urges me to make an effort to better myself I guess.
What are your plans for when the world gets back to normal?
Some live shows! I can’t wait to play gigs again. It’s been hard to get my head around the lack of live music and how it must be affecting everyone right now!
What are three songs you think FLYNN fans should be listening to?
I've had Holly Humberstone on repeat lately, she’s great!
Holly Humerstone - Drop Dead
Chris Stapleton - Tennessee whiskey
and of course, Flynn - B Side (haha)
Since LIVE performances are still not permitted, are you planning to do any remote performances e.g. live streams, etc?
Yeah, I really want to do this and I’m working out a way to make it work at the moment.
Which city/venue was your favorite to play?
Tomorrowland in Belgium was epic!
You posted about picking out a new guitar on social media recently, which guitar did you choose and why?
I went for a Martin in the end. I did try out quite a few different great guitars but the Martin just felt right to me.
On Mother’s Day, you posted a lovely picture of you playing piano with your mum, did she teach you to play and what are your main musical influences?
Ah yeah, I love that picture! That old piano was in my Nans house and I was obsessed with it as a kid! I’m still learning to play the piano properly though, I haven’t exactly mastered it yet! My Mam played a bit so she showed me a few chords but nothing major. My main influences would probably be from just growing up in a small town and overcoming all the little obstacles life presents along the way.
Which music video did you have the best experience making and why?
I haven’t made that many to be honest, I literally just released my first proper music video for a song that came out not so long ago called ‘’One of Us’’.
Shooting that one meant a lot to me because I got to shoot in some of my favourite locations around Ireland with my best mates. The song is all about home and that sense of belonging you get when you’re around family and friends. I really enjoyed the whole process.
What are you doing currently and what are your goals for the future?
I’ve just moved into my own place so that’s been taking up a lot of my time, furnishing and decorating a whole house on your own is hard work! I’m writing lots of new music and swimming every day because I moved down by the sea. I guess my future goals are to keep releasing music that I love and then just lots of gigs hopefully when live music is allowed to happen again of course.