Jack Savidge of indie-dance heroes Friendly Fires on the band’s excitement about playing Electric Picnic, creative reinvention, and the cathartic nature of live performance. Interview: Stephen Porzio

Friendly Fires’ music has a perpetually sunny, tropical quality, a trend the English trio’s latest single -pop banger ‘Love Like Waves’ - continues. It may surprise fans to learn the track was recorded over Christmas: “It was freezing cold so we wanted to write a really summery tune,” says drummer Jack Savidge. “With us there’s an escapism to making music. We’ve never been the band who go somewhere hot to record something poppy and bright. We’re more comfortable with that being a romantic ideal than what we’re actually experiencing.”

That said, while the band don’t record in sunny climates, they shot the promo for ‘Love Like Waves’ in Italy to capture the track’s seasonal vibe. Savidge says the idea was to recreate the atmosphere of films Call Me by Your Name and A Bigger Splash: “Those have such a beautiful, luxurious depiction of idle summers.”

It hasn’t always been sunny for Friendly Fires. It’s been seven years since last album Pala because of the band struggling to find their creative mojo. The trio experimented with psychedelic sounds, recording with DJ and producer Andrew Weatherall. An eight-minute track from these sessions - ‘Before Your Eyes’ - was released as a stand-alone single in 2014. However, Savidge says the music produced at this time was not right for the band: “We did stuff with Weatherall which I liked. But I don’t know if it would have translated to our live show, an important part of the appeal of Friendly Fires.”
Savidge says financial pressures and exhaustion from over-touring got the better of the trio.

“When a band moves from being friends indulging in a hobby to a career, that can be tiring. We did shit-loads of touring between 2007 and 2012, so we wanted to recharge and ensure we’re playing with enthusiasm rather than because of financial expediency.”

The less alternative, more poppy ‘Love Like Waves’ sounds both familiar and like a new step for the band.

“Although we’ve been away for a long time, we have been consuming a lot of new music and staying current,” notes Savidge. “We were keen ‘Love Like Waves’ felt both like Friendly Fires and something made in 2018.”

Savidge describes the run-up to their recent UK gigs - the first since 2012 - as rejuvenating.
“That period was more cohesive and creative than any time in the band’s life. We’d been working hard on new music and the live show and it just felt like we had been reignited.”

The band returned to playing big venues with a sold-out appearance at London’s O2 Academy Brixton.
“It was nerve-wracking,” reflects Savidge. “We did smaller warm-up shows, which felt like riding a bike. But with the bigger shows, there’s a lot of people and expectation.”

The Brixton gig received rave reviews. Savidge says the critic and fan response felt cathartic, comparing it to ‘scoring a goal after several seasons on the bench’.

“The crowd vibe was unlike any show we ever played,” he enthuses. “It was like they were the band and we were the audience because there was such an energy.”

Friendly Fires will be hoping for a similar reaction from Electric Picnic audiences, a festival close to Savidge’s heart after headlining in 2010: “There was an amazing stage that was in a natural bowl [Body & Soul]. It’s a festival which gets a good mix of bigger acts and smaller stuff to discover. It’s an experience.”

Savidge remains coy when asked about an upcoming album. Therefore, Electric Picnic is the only way for Irish fans to hear sneak peeks of his band’s new tunes. Regarding their show, the drummer teases: “There might be songs people haven’t heard in a long time. There might be things people haven’t heard ever. What’s fun about these shows is getting to revisit things that feel fresh again and play new songs. They’ve been going down really well which is a hell of a relief.”