The Francis Flute are an incredibly young band fresh out of Princeton, NJ. The members are only juniors in high school, to be exact. The band recently finished up their first EP, Above The Optimism, which was produced and recorded by Gregory Dunn of Moving Mountains (Triple Crown Records) in Brooklyn. The kids may be young, but the passion behind the music sounds anything but. 
For Fans Of: Moving Mountains, The Fall Of Troy
Responses From: Josh Devincenzo, Conner Broerick, Andrew Hennessey, and Chad Fern

How did the band come together? How have you grown since you guys started?
Josh: The band started off as a jam band, a group of friends that would come together just to play music on and off for about two years. After a summer of writing skeletons to the songs that became the Above the Optimism EP. I felt that we were all on a level of maturity to start a serious group. I have grown as a songwriter through the process of composing and working on this EP. Francis Flute is a character from “A midsummer’s night dream”, a character that sacrificed his reputation for a bigger cause that turned into a success story in the end. Before I thought I could do everything by myself but now I know otherwise. I am very thankful for having the talented friends that I have and grateful that they have followed me with every artistic pursuit I have made so far.
Conner: Me and Chad started playing in 8^th grade, I had no idea what I was doing, and through our freshman and sophomore years we were “attempting” to write songs like The Fall of Troy or Mars Volta. Josh was always that quiet Choir kid, that we kind of knew and Andrew didn’t really take a real serious interest in music until about 2 years ago. Me and Josh started writing the E.P. songs during summer in my 110 degree attic. It’s safe to say were in a much better place in our proficiency now but as songwriters were learning more and more when to dial it back and that it’s always about serving the song not how “crazy” we can play.
 
What do you have to offer that other bands don’t? What sets you apart from a lot of the other newer bands out there today?
Josh: Well, I feel that the material we chose to write songs about is very serious and makes it very easy to get into the music we play. All the content in the songs we are writing and are on the EP force us in some way to show the impact that the music has on us both internally and externally. We are a newer band but we strive to be a positive newer band that gives music fans faith that the future of music wont be a let down and that there is more music innovation to come along.
Conner: We don’t really buy into any of the Metal, Post-hardcore or Pop-Punk scenes that are going on right now. Not that we don’t respect some of those bands but we don’t write songs for a genre we just write songs. We also have studied our instruments for awhile and me and Josh have been taking music theory classes and have been talking about incorporating more acoustic sounds like strings.
Andrew: I think our music is a kind that you can just sit and listen to without thinking too much. We do not try to go by the intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, outro, skeleton that many artists today do. Our parts never seem to repeat throughout songs too much. I believe we have a way of grooving through parts and exploding during others that keep things interesting.
Chad:  For our listeners and Fans they want something different other than the Pop Punk or auto tune. As musicians we hope we can keep being different and the band that is out of the box compared to everyone else.
 
How is the live show compared to the general sound of material that’s been released?
Josh: A live show is just an experience in its own. The exchange of vibes to the crowd and the crowd to us just gives us something that no record can reproduce. Although I am very proud of the material released a live show just has a different effect for the listener.
Conner: Yeah, I think a large part of our music writing process is purely just feeding off that energy you get when playing live.  The “Above the Optimism E.P.” was actually, tracked completely live with all of us playing in the studio at once, we literally tracked 4 songs in 10 hours, with the exception of “Blaschko’s Lines”, which was a collaboration between Greg and Josh. That being said, all the sounds you hear on the E.P., the drum parts, everything is pretty much exactly what you hear live taking into account we played with our own guitars, amps, and equipment. It sounds pretty reckless but we really felt there was no other way at the time with restrictions of money and basically everything that goes along with being in high-school.
Andrew: Live is always better. I am still trying to find that fine line of bringing energy, but still playing all my parts perfectly. I believe we are all very tightly knitted and if one of us messes up we are able to play through it. For example our guitarist, Conner, his guitar went out for a whole song in the break contest, we had to play through it and we still were able to make it through to the next round.
Chad: As a drummer, I try to keep the groove of every song exciting and as a band we put everything we have into our live performances so we give a very good first impression
 
More times than not, influences tend to bleed through. What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
Josh: My influences lie in choir music and classical music and not in a specific band. I am a strong supporter that voice is the strongest instrument. Moving Mountains is definitely up there on influences for all of us and that’s why it was so unreal to have Greg Dunn working on our EP with us.
Conner: As a band were pretty split with a few common tastes. I’m into everything from The Who, Tom Waits, and Jeff Buckley to Prog: Mars Volta, King Crimson, to post rock/ambient like Mogwai or 90’s bands like My Bloody Valentine, Sunny Day Real Estate or Built to Spill. Right now, my heart’s really into bands like The Antlers, The National, Radiohead and Bon Iver, and a smaller band called Gabriel the Marine, they just have this immense sense of melody and climax that is steering at least, the way I write music, towards that more epic rock direction.
Andrew: One of my favorite bassist is Jared Followill. I have been entranced by Come around Sundown by the Kings of Leon. Twin Atlantic, Thrice, Brand New, and Taking Back Sunday are on my list of major influences also.
Chad: For me as a drummer I try not to be the same basic drum beat and get lost in the mix. I am influenced by many types of music, I try to add little of the jazz ride and high-hat whenever I can throw it in. I am more of a “wing it” kind of drummer in saying that if we mess up who cares just play harder after and the crowd will love it. I go with the flow and it tends to give me a boost over some other drummers. Also my biggest influence as a drummer is Thomas Pridgen, I like his ways of just go with it and if you put your heart in the kit, the crowd will love it.

What would you say the band has already accomplished and what do you have your eyes set on next?
Josh: A big thing we have accomplished would be developing a sound that is right for all of us, a home base for our writing. I would also like to acknowledge Andrew Hennessy our bassist who was originally a guitarist for the group for his accomplishment for becoming a very fluent bass player I have so much respect for him. What I have my eyes set on next are shows (any bands out there lets us know thanks you so much), new songs, college plans of course and it would be unreal to be signed just to have some security.
Conner: Definitely shows, we’ve played some local type shows but we really haven’t gotten the chance to prove ourselves to different crowds. We aren’t really sure about what “scene” we fit in yet. Other than that…High school, were all in our junior year, Josh and Chad can’t even drive yet, so just being teenagers. Were already working on a couple new songs that feel a lot more like huge rock songs and we want to really take our time with whatever’s next for us, both in a literal sense of recording time and writing. We did the live thing, now were ready for more instruments (strings, choral, horns), bigger sounds, and just improving ourselves.
 
Thus far, what’s a favorite memory or something quirky that’s taken place with the band (in-studio, onstage, or elsewhere)?
Josh: Every show, every rehearsal seems to be a memory of mine. More so, being a band we are also very good friends. We were the lucky ones to find a group of people that can bond with music as well as friendship. I know that we still have a lot to prove to people but I’ve proven everything that I had to with myself through making this EP.
Andrew: My favorite memory is definitely the break contest story I mentioned above. After the set I did not think we had a chance at moving to the next round after that so when Chad told me we made it through it was even more surprising. I still remember going up to Josh and screaming that we made it through and him just standing there understanding my flustered speech, then he called me after freaking out about how crazy it was.
Chad: The band loves each other as much as they don’t want to admit it, we all are like brothers. We like to joke around and not take each other too seriously. Every time we play Blaschko’s lines live we all tend to come in at different times after the break, every time on stage. Although frustrating we always tend to have a laugh about things.
 
Is there anything in particular that you’d like people to take away from listening to your music?
Josh: If they go away from listening to the EP with intentions of bettering themselves or with some kind of connection to music I would be more than satisfied. I just hope that the music does for the listeners what it has done for me. I know that were young and many might doubt were capable of writing serious music so I urge to take a listen to our “Above the Optimism EP”. Thank you Zack and everyone else so much, let us know what you think!

Check out The Francis Flute on Bandcamp, Facebook, and Myspace.

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