- Culture
- 21 Jun 22
On Our Radar Q&A - Kingfisher: "Mumford & Sons and Dermot Kennedy are big influences for us in terms of creating a sense of scale"
Folk maestros Kingfisher discuss the inspiration behind their brilliant debut single, ‘Flowers-Fire’.
Where did you get the title for ‘Flowers-Fire’?
We don’t usually name the songs before they’ve been written. The track itself is quite open ended - the name comes from the lyrics, and while the metaphor has specific meaning to us, I think anyone can find their own interpretation. Music is a personal thing.
How would you describe your music to people unfamiliar with it?
The tracks we’re making are pretty personal, or at least that’s the goal. We grew up watching a lot of movies, and always found that a good soundtrack can help elevate a story to something much greater. The feeling you get from the final scene of a good movie when the soundtrack captures the mood is unlike anything. Mumford & Sons and Dermot Kennedy would be big influences - they both capture that sense of scale, and we’re trying to do the same.
Which Irish artists have influenced your sound?
Most of them are Irish. U2, Bell X1, We Banjo 3 and Hermitage Green have all been massive; we definitely look to them for inspiration.
What makes you stand out in the folk scene?
Lots of little things, I suppose. When we started the band, we had loads of people telling us we needed to do something completely mad to convince people that we’re different, but that just felt wrong. We’re normal lads, we’re not trying to be something we’re not. We have something we think is worth sharing, stories we think are worth telling, and we want to make the songs as big as possible. Standing out for the sake of it isn’t something we’re too concerned with. We’d rather focus on making things that feel right and having the craic.
What do you have in store for the near future?
We’ve got some live videos in the works and a few surprises lined up. Our next release is due out in late August/early September, and the song is called ‘Eyes Don’t Lie’. We’re super-excited for that. Hopefully it gets as good a response as ‘Flowers-Fire’.
• ‘Flowers-Fire’ is out now.
