Country puritans would argue that country music should only come from the south of the good old USA. But I challenge anyone to take a listen to First Time Flyers and tell me they hear anything other than good, knee slapping country music.
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Ahead of their upcoming album, Bound To Break, and tied in UK tour, we were lucky enough to chat to the quartet. First Time Flyers, piled into their London music studio, took the time to tell all about country music out of the US.
Shouldering Their Way Into Country
I needed to know what the reception was from the country fans they've played to. Already they have made waves, having played the UK's C2C festival and even opened for Bruce Springsteen. However, it's interesting to know how people were warming to a British band in a predominantly US based genre.
"I mean, I think for us, it's trying to get all the country music fans in the UK to be like, hey, we exist. There's such a big fan base in the UK for country music. And like, when you go to festivals like C2C, for example, there's like hundreds of thousands of people."
Despite the millions of country music fans out there, First Time Flyers still have to make themselves heard among the other artists. "It's all the big American artists, so we feel like, you know, our job is to kind of convert all of those people and bring them along for the ride. But they've been very nice to us so far."
They've certainly made an impact in the UK country music scene. As each year passes, First Time Flyers move from strength to strength.
High Time Flyers Rooted In Country
Listening to First Time Flyers, their love for country music is evident in every harmony and guitar strum. But how did they come together?
"Country music was the reason we all knew each other, anyway. We were friends before the band started and it was all through our connections within the UK country scene or just country in general," they said.
They all just fell into each other's laps, according to First Time Flyer Vicki Manser. "Tim produced a lot of our solo stuff and then he introduced me to Jake. We wrote together, and then when I supported Jake when he did a show, poppy was there and I met poppy. Then poppy supported me, so it's all just sort of like was intertwined from the get-go."
What To Expect First Time Flyers New Album 'Bound To Break'
Without going too much into all their secrets, we asked what we can look forward to hearing from their debut album. We've already been given a teaser with Stay. It's certainly whet our appetites.
"You know what, the album is something that we're so excited about. We've really put our heart and soul into this body of work. If you've listened to our music at all, it's more of the same, but further into that," they explained.
"There's a really visible string throughout the album, so hopefully something really cohesive. Fresh but familiar at the same time. Some really hooky songs, and then some songs that hopefully might make you cry a little bit." I love a good cry. Bring it on.
Catch A Slice Of UK Country With The First Time Flyers Tour
To promote their new album 'Bound To Break', First Time Flyers will be doing a UK based tour. There are plenty of locations around the country to catch them, and a few of my favorite venues, too. We wanted to know if there were any in particular they were looking forward to.
"We've been wanting to play Norwich for ages, haven't we? Yeah, it's that's a bit of a special one for me just because it's like my home," Tim said. Nothing like a home ground gig, that's for sure.
"We just love touring so much," they continued. "Yeah, we've had such great fun every single time we've done it, whether it's been just four of us or whether it's been full band shows. We just have fun."
If you're looking to catch First Time Flyers on their Bound To Break tour, check out their touring venue list.
