interview with Neonfly

What´s the name of your band? Neonfly

How was the band formed? When we were born, we all knew the day would come when Neonfly would get together and rock, it was our destiny. So in fact Neonfly was never formed, it always existed.

Can you tell about your band? The band itself is quite cool, unfortunately all the members in it are wimps and posers. 

Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band? We’re all based in London, we’ve got Willy Norton from Ireland on vocals, Boris Le Gal from France on the drums, Paul Miller from the Channel Islands on bass, Patrick Harrington, Irish-Filipino on guitars, and myself, French-Mexican love machine. Oh and I also play the guitar. And my jokes are legendary. 

What was the ambitions of the band when you started? To write great songs, and put on some great live performances. I always wanted to make sure our shows were extremely entertaining, coupled with some great music.

Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? It’s melodic metal with some classic influences, and some more modern elements. It’s catchy, it’s fun, it’s also well crafted music that will make sure the listeners don’t get bored after a few listens. There’s some epic orchestral arrangements, huge choruses, heavy riffs, power ballads, a couple of blast beats… it’s really quite varied. 

Where was your first gig? The Horn, St. Albans. That’s the actual name of the venue, I’m not trying to imply that I have an erection. 

Where was the latest gig?

Bush Hall, London. 

I’m not even going to make a inappropriate joke about that name, it would be too easy.

Who writes your songs?/ who writes the music who writes lyrics? I write all the music and some of the lyrics. Willy Norton also writes lyrics and occasionally also contributes some vocal melodies. 

Who has the best since of humor in the band? Well it should be pretty clear from this interview that it’s me!

What's good/bad with the band?/What genre do you feel you are? What’s good is that we’re going to release a great new album! What’s bad is that I sometimes hear voices in my head. I thought about this long and hard, and I believe the best way to describe our style is Vegetarian State-Of-The-Art Financial Noble Metal. 

Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about? We didn’t actually pick the style, we were artificially manufactured by a record company. We sing what we are told to sing. Every song has a different topic, it would be too long to describe. Actually according to our singer, issues addressed include invasion, addiction, social injustice, political corruption, the end of innocence and emotional loss. But I wouldn’t trust him on that, especially if you’ve seen him after a drink or two.   

Do you write your own material or mainly covers? All original.

Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they?

1. Outshine The Sun (2011)

2. Strangers In Paradise coming out soon!

Do you have any clips on YouTube? 

You bet!

This is A Gift To Remember the single of our first album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AW_NzNarEc

And we just released the first lyric video for our upcoming album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmiMP8zwyKs

How old are you?/What got you started in music?

Old enough to ride a bike. 

Iron Maiden touched me in many many ways when I was a young boy. With their music, of course.

At what age did you start playing? When I was a wee lad. 

What year was the band started? In the year of our lord two thousand and eight. 

Best/worst gig you've played?

I loved every gig we did on the Alice Cooper tour in 2013. Although from a musical and technical point of view I think the last tour with Dragonforce in the UK was the best. I was really pleased with those performances. 

Worst gig… probably our first gig! 

What places will you be playing in in the imidate future?

We have a release party headline show in London on November 20th at the O2 Islington Academy 2, tickets are available here:

http://www.o2academyislington.co.uk/event/71418/neonfly-strangers-in-paradise-album-launch-party-tickets

And we have special ticket bundles which include our album pre order here:

http://neonfly.bigcartel.com/products

We’re also confirmed to play the Main Stage at Masters of Rock Festival 2015 in Czech Republic. 

Damn, I get all serious when I have to plug our stuff. I’m not a traveling salesman, I’m a musician, I swear!

Where have you played from then till now? All over the UK, and a lot of places in Europe, we’ve toured a lot, but never played outside of Europe. Hello Progpower USA??? Hello 70000 tons of metal???

Witch band is the best you´ve seen? Tough question, I’ve been to so many gigs, and festivals… I’ve seen a lot of bands that have really impressed me for many different reasons, and others that disappointed me… Recently I had so much fun watching TNT live at Sweden Rock Festival 2014.

Is it always the same songs live? We always try to make some changes to our setlist and do fun stuff like medleys, etc. We keep it interesting. 

What has been the best/most promising gig so far? The best gig is always the one we’ll do tomorrow. 

Have you had any bigger tours from start to now? The Alice Cooper tour was pretty big. We also did 2 really big tours supporting Magnum. Those are the biggest tours we’ve done so far. 

How big crowds do you usually play for? It depends whose audience we’re stealing. 

What are the plans for the rest of the year? Other than the aforementioned show, we’ll just get fat and lazy until we can’t fit into our stage clothes anymore. 

Where do you usually play? In our bedrooms. 

How do you get psyched up for a gig? Class A drugs.

What are your goals with your music?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhlx43rTs2Q

When did you decide to go all in for the music? My mamma used to tell me to go to school, but I always said, No! I play rock and roll.

Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? I don’t think you can say that it’s easier to get inspiration from one source or another, it’s not about how easy it is to get inspiration, it’s about what music makes you feel, and how you chose to interpret that in your own compositions. 

What are your sources of inspiration? I personally like to steal everything from Lady Gaga.

What's the first step when making a new song? I look at the track list of a Lady Gaga album and wonder, which song will I copy next?

How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? I suppose if it’s a paid download I can’t complain about it, from a musician’s point of view. Although personally I like to own the actual product, I never buy digital copies. Always physical. 

What would be your dreams for the band? I would like Bruce Dickinson to fly us to the moon.

Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? Recently I’ve been loving Dirty Loops. What a band!

What do you hold most dear? My street credibility. 

What would be your greatest fears for the future? Fear is for the weak. 

When you are on stage, what do you fear most then? A stage invasion by a bunch of crazy and attractive female fans. That would be terrible, I would be so scared. 

What songs and what years were they released? Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark released the song Enola Gay in 1980.

Have you been part of any other projects? No. 

Have you been in any other bands? Just some school bands when I was a kid. 

What would you do if there was no music? As long as there’s still sex and drugs, I suppose rock and roll I could do without… (alright that line didn’t come from me, but still)

How important are your fans?

It depends how much merchandise they are buying. 

Naaaah come on we love them all the same.

What's the funniest/most memorable thing a fan has done for you? Feeding us, we’re always hungry. 

How often do you rehearse? Whenever Patrick Harrington gets out of bed.

Where do you rehearse? Storm Studios in Holloway Road. Rocco if you’re reading this, is the next rehearsal on the house?? ;)

Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment?

Heart Of The Sun and Falling Star.

What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? Our driver.

Do you have any webpages?

Yes sir!

http://www.neonfly.net

http//www.facebook.com/neonflyUK

Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there? After my band was robbed on tour in April this year, I told myself every time this question came up I would be serious and give a sensible answer which I hope will help other bands in the future. Insure your gear. Don’t go out on tour without insurance. If you’re based in the UK join the Musician’s Union. There’s a small fee to pay for that, but if you ever get into trouble it will be worth it. 

Describe your show, visually and musically

Can I just do this instead? I think this is a pretty good visual example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f04io8ERRm0

Let’s face it, if anyone has read this far into the interview, they will probably click on that link.

How do you view the music industry of today? It’s all fucked up, thankfully we have signed with a great label, and I’m extremely happy with the way they are handling our release. It’s a pleasure to work with them, and in this business it is quite rare.

What advice would you like to give other bands? Get insurance for your gear or join the MU… I can’t stress that enough. 

What are the biggest obstacles for a band? The inability to be objective and critical towards their own work. 

What is best/worst with playing the clubs? Getting up close and personal with the fans. That qualifies both as best and worst. haha

Tell us about upcomming gigs and why we should be at them? I mentioned the 2 shows we have confirmed so far earlier, and you should be there because that’s where the action is!

How would you describe your sound in one sentence Balls.

What was one of the most quarrelsome times for you in the band? Every time Willy Norton calls me up on the phone.

Whats your Pre-show ritual?

Willy Norton likes to do his ironing. Gotta see it to believe it… there is the word Iron in ironing, so it is metal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsdEoYFp_ho

Do you have anything to add? Yes I do. Congratulations to you, avid reader on your quest for knowledge, you have made it this far, but this is not the end of the road, your journey has only just begun! The door is open and the path lies ahead of you. Now it’s time for you to spread your wings and fly. We will meet again! 

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