Band profile: Flow

DAY TRIPPING: Going with the Flow

Once described by Rolling Stone writer Jerry Hopkins as “A band that recalls the exuberance and insistent rhythms of the summer of love”, Flow – a Thailand-based homage to the spirit of ‘70s rock and roll – is about to release the third in a trilogy of albums ahead of a US tour.

They first arrived in South- east Asia in 1997 for an impromptu tour, but when the Asian financial collapse sank its teeth into the region’s economy, they got stuck here – and haven’t left since. Currently in Cambodia to work on Flowers, the long-awaited follow-up to their first two albums, Seeds and Roots, they play a passionate folksy sound that calls to mind rock royalty such as Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Hendrix.

One of their most notable hits, Drugs Against War, was inspired by Thaksin Shinawatra’s stint in the Thai prime minister’s office. “He had this new social order campaign we’d been talking about, the punchline being that the ‘war on drugs’ isn’t much of a war because the drugs can’t fight back. What we really need is drugs against war.”

Their forthcoming album, which the quartet may yet decide to release digitally on a song-by-song basis, promises to be a spirited tribute to the sound of the ‘70s. “We wanted to write something that reflects the different stages a band goes through, from when you first get together and start writing and recording stuff,” the band says of the trilogy. “If you look at the trajectories of other band’s careers, you can start to see pat- terns. Good metaphors for that were seeds, roots and flowers: we wanted to come up with music that was organic, that came from our simple three- chord roots, with good folksy lyrics that might actually teach you something. People’s lives are changed by Bob Dylan, not Britney Spears.”

http://www.drugsagainstwar.com/flow-info.html
www.myspace.com/flowthe-band

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This article was 1st published in The Advisor - All back issues are available as downloads here

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