In this interview feature, we get to know the most radicalist up & coming stars on the planet.   

This time it’s the psychedelic troupe of nomadic multi-instrumentalists better known as Flamingods.

Initially founded in 2009 as a solo project by Kamal Rasool in Bahrain, Flamingods now exist as a five-headed beast with a seemingly voracious appetite for music, culture and spiritual exploration.

Drawing inspiration from a feast of musical genres the world over - including (but not limited to) Middle Eastern music, exotica, psych-rock, jazz, and Afrobeat – Flamingods create a rich music, alive and breathing. To be sure, the band undeniably indulge in these cultural reference points, but make no mistake, this music is neither superficial nor appropriative, but a celebration.

Having released three albums of lo-fi bedroom recordings via cassette, one remix album and two studio records previously (their Animal Collective-indebted debut Sun and its enthralling follow-up Hyperborea), 2016 finds Flamingods releasing their finest work to date – the resplendent, Odyssean journey of self-discovery, Majesty.

We caught up with Kamal from the band to learn a little more about these majestic Flamingods and their kaleidoscopic, cross-cultural sound.

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TMR: Flamingods’ origin story is quite uncommon - a meeting of minds traversing countries as distant as Bahrain, Dubai and England – but do you still live scattered around the world? What have you found to be some of the benefits and troubles of such a circumstance?

Kamal: Yeah it's a pretty bizarre story! Most of the members in the band grew up as childhood friends in Bahrain, I’m from there but the other guys were British nationals with their parents having gone there for job opportunities. We all went up to the UK for university around the same time we formed Flamingods and all was gravy until new visa laws meant I had to leave the country after graduation and so I relocated to Dubai for three years doing odd arts and music related jobs. In that time we recorded both Hyperborea and Majesty and had members scattered everywhere! The troubles were communication; having to send emails or go on Facebook chat to discuss putting an album together was just about the most stressful thing ever. At the same time, we maybe benefited having that space as it perhaps allowed us to grow our individual voices. We're all back together now in the UK which is a blessing and we're looking forward to finally writing another album all in the same room together again.

TMR: Flamingods’ music is filled with interesting, diverse textures and you all seem to be multi-instrumentalists. What are some of your favourite instruments to play and why?

Kamal: Yeah the multi-instrumentalism is a funny thing ‘cause it was never meant to be this defining characteristic of the band and just kind of happened naturally. We just get excited with playing different musical instruments and it’s always more fun for us to not stick to the same instrument and swap around. Most of the guys in the band really love their drums while I'm more inclined to enjoy playing our more exotic instruments like the Phin or Taishōgoto. I personally find it more free playing with lesser-known instruments; they aren’t as established as say the guitar so it feels more fresh and exciting to me. I think the sweet spot for us is finding a balance between Eastern & Western instrumentation without it sounding like a gimmick.



TMR: Travel and multiculturalism seem to be at the very heart of Flamingods. What environments have you found to be the most inspiring, either as a band or individually?

Kamal: Yeah totally! The phrase 'travel broadens the mind’ makes sense to us as we’re often most inspired when travelling. We tend to soak in our environments and let that breathe into our music. For instance when we went to Nepal three years ago, we collected a bunch of instruments like the Sarangi, Harmonium and Madal, took a bunch of field recordings and got deeply inspired by the local culture and music. All of the above found itself on to our new record Majesty, so it’s definitely a driving force to what we do. We’re part of a long list of musicians who have used this technique for inspiration including some of our heroes like Don Cherry, Sun City Girls and Piero Umiliani.

TMR: How did you go about writing the music for Majesty?

Kamal: It started in a similar way to how we created Hyperborea - all these individual song ideas being sent online and discussed through the inter-web. The difference this time was that we had the rare occasion when we got to flesh some of them out together in a room and then actually record it together in a studio. It also helped that Charles and me were living together in Dubai around the time we were writing the album. The lyrics and vocals took a lot longer and we somewhat benefited by being geographically split up as it meant our studio time would have to wait, giving me and Charles more time to revisit a lot of the albums lyrics and vocal melodies and develop them.



TMR: The lyrics on Majesty are much more audible than on previous outings and it becomes clear how filled with rich imagery they are. What were some of the visual ideas/influences at play on your new record and why do you find them so powerful? Am I right in saying you make references to Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain at points?

Kamal: It definitely took time to build up confidence in having the vocals clearer on the record and this time around we had both the label [Soundway Records] and our manager encouraging us to get them up. It felt right for them to be up on this record anyway so it happened naturally. From the beginning of the band, the lyrics have often revolved around a central theme of searching for meaning or enlightenment. Whether that’s searching within yourself or outwards varies and there’s often smaller scaled themes along the way.

With Majesty we got to toy with the idea of a fictional character called Yuka going on this great big adventure of self-discovery and coming across the many pleasures and perils of his voyage. Some of the lyrics are visceral and personal to me while others are there to tell the story. There are a few Holy Mountain references yes and lots of influence from similar stories, be it from 19^th-century explorers in books like Typee and Pattern of Islands to more esoteric literature from writers like Colin Wilson speaking about hidden ancestral knowledge and the mystic power of nature. The reference points for the album’s lyrics run pretty deep but all helped shape the overall imagery and feel we were going for.

TMR: How does the creative experience of writing albums compare with that of playing live? Do you have a preference?

Kamal: We like to keep our records and live sound as separate entities to ensure the possibility of two different experiences. Our live sound is a lot louder and psychedelic while we’d like to think of our records as more of a spiritual journey. We are discussing the idea of breaking that mould slightly for our next LP though.



TMR: What has been your favourite show you’ve played so far and why?

Kamal: It’s a hard thing to try and choose one! We’ve been on an extensive tour since April and have had some of our most memorable shows in that time but it all kind of blurs into one for me cause of how often we’re on the move. It’s probably cause it’s so fresh but we really enjoyed playing End of the Road Festival the other week. We have a pretty huge and complicated setup so it’s not often we get to relax on stage with all the sound tech issues we get but this particular show didn’t have that and we could really just ease in and do our thing. Everything came together quite nicely. I ended up jumping into the audience for our last song and got lifted up by an elderly man trying to crowd surf me, it was amazing!

TMR: Do you have an ultimate goal you’d like to achieve as Flamingods?

Kamal: I think the goal has always been to try and get people moved or moving to music they are not completely comfortable with or fully understand. If they can get in to us maybe they’ll get into all our worldly inspirations and we can all enjoy The Other together. Unity is important to us and though it’s not painfully obvious in our lyrics; our sound and ethos are based around the idea of loving your world and the cultures that make it up. With Xenophobia on the rise (and still existing somehow in a modern world!) we want to lend our hands on showing the beauty of cultures coming together.



TMR: We’re a blog specializing in new music so are there any up-and-coming bands you’re really enjoying lately?

Kamal: Really enjoying Yama Warashi, Vanishing Twin, Snapped Ankles, Susso, Alabaster De Plume and Native Ray at the moment!

TMR: What does the rest of 2016 hold for Flamingods?

Kamal: Lots more touring and the beginning stages of plotting our next LP - we won’t give too much away but we’ll be aiming to record the album in one of the band members’ cultural home in South Asia!

TMR: I heard you used to sell a range of sauces at your shows (Flaming Goods) and have previously spoken of your culinary experiences in the Middle East, but if Flamingods were a meal what would it be?

Kamal: We did indeed! Those were the days. We’re hoping to bring it back someday you know! I think as a meal we’d probably be Shakshouka. In Arabic it translates to ‘a mixture’, throwing in loads of ingredients that shouldn’t work but oh it tastes so good!

Be sure to catch Flamingods on their upcoming tour.

Majesty out now via Soundway Records.

-Karl Jawara