I caught The Fling on FutureSound’s The Rumble Tour in May so of course when I was offered an interview with frontman Dustin, I was stoked. Their recent release When the Madhouses Appear is available now on Dangirbird Records and it it’s hot from start to finish. Somehow When the Madhouses Appear draws inspiration direct from the classics, and manages to stay fresh, with twangy guitar riffs, lots of cymbal, winding guitar solos and classic rock voice, often breaking into four-part harmonies. They certainly slot well among the psychedelic-rock alt-folk acts like Dawes and Delta Spirit and I’m excited to hear more from them in the coming months.
Listen to “Wanderingfoot” by The Fling
A Chat with Dustin…
S: Dustin, you started out making music for The Fling as just a one-man project. What were you doing before The Fling? And did you always see The Fling becoming a five-piece?
Dustin: I have been in bands since I was a teenager. I was always the guitar player. I’d write a guitar part, and have somebody else write a melody and lyrics over it. To me, it was like making a painting and having somebody else give it color. A lot of times the colors wouldn’t match and the painting would get distorted until you couldn’t even tell what it was originally supposed to be. I kept getting tired of losing control over my ideas, so I started writing my own melodies and lyrics to keep myself happy. I did a batch of home recordings and came to Long Beach with the idea of putting a band together. Eventually we all sort of found each other and evolved into a five piece band with four main songwriters. (more…)
