Friendly Fires Say Suck My Deck

Stopgap mixtape to tide fans over while the UK band completes their next album.

By Blurt Staff

English trio Friendly Fires - Ed Macfarlane (vocals, bass, synth), Edd Gibson (guitar) and Jack Savidge (drums) - follow up their surprise hit 2008-09 release Friendly Fires with a new mixtape for Bugged Out!. Titled, tellingly enough, Bugged Out! Presents Suck My Deck Mixed by Friendly Fires,  it began to take life following 12 months of promotion and touring. The band found itself curating a Bugged Out event at The Coronet in South London: "We had the choice of doing a Brixton Academy gig or Bugged Out," says Macfarlane. "We ummed and ahhed about, but in the end we decided that a club event was more the kind of thing we would want to go to." As well as a performance by the band themselves, they got Kompakt boss Michael Mayer, UK post-rock trio The Invisible and Joe Goddard from Hot Chip to play.

It was the start of a mutual appreciation that led to this mix. It's a combination of rock solid party tracks, such as "City & Industry" by BDI and "Coma Cat" by Tensnake, to the lush reflective sounds of "Lost In The Streets of NYC (Boris Werner Lost In Malta Remix)" by Tom Trago and classic cuts like the party favorite "Din Daa Daa" by George Kranz. "It's more of a party compilation than anything, but there's lots of variation too," says Savidge. "Music for the dancefloor isn't as one dimensional as it's often painted. There's a lot of dance music that's thoughtful and sad. We wanted to combine that with some of the more banging stuff that's elsewhere in the mix."

Continues Savidge, "When we formed the band one of the main things we wanted to do was make danceable music because dance music was one of the things we bonded over." The three of them grew up listening to progressive thinking labels like Warp, and Macfarlane released tracks on respected Manchester electronic imprint Skam and Hooj Choons offshoot Precinct. "I mean, I've been DJing for longer than Friendly Fires has existed," he notes.

One of the album's high points is "Stay Here," a collaboration between Friendly Fires and Toronto house crew Azari & III. Written exclusively for this compilation, it's a stunning fusion of classic house beats, spoken vocals from the band and a belting chorus from Macfarlane, with Azari & III providing the verse. All three members of Friendly Fires were big fans of Azari & III, having played the Canadians' tracks "Hungry For The Power" and "Reckless With Your Love" in their respective DJ sets. However, when they were approached by Cedric Gasiada at an after-show party in Toronto while on tour in North America at the end of 2009, they didn't recognize him. "I think I'd just played "Hungry For The Power," and Cedric came up and said hello," remembers Savidge. "I didn't know who he was. Then Ed found out that he was Cedric from Azari & III and everyone was like, Oh my god. We love those guys. We found him a microphone. He sang the lyrics to our song Paris over this banging house tune."

Making a track together was the obvious thing to do next. "We'd been wanting to make a tribute to that New York house sound for a while," says Gibson. "It's an interesting sideline for us to make a house track because we listen to a lot of house music."

Proceedings close with "New Day" by Round Two, a blissful moment of bubbling synths and silky keys. "It's easily among my favorite pieces of music of all time, and a complete no-brainer when it came to thinking of a closing record," says Savidge. "A beautiful, beautiful song, the ultimate dancefloor tear-jerker."

Working on the compilation has helped the band with their second album, due out next year. "Writing a follow-up can feel a bit serious because, if you've had a bit of success, there's a lot riding on it, whereas with a debut you've got nothing to lose," says Savidge. "This reminded us that to make good music you have to enjoy it and be excited about it."

 Tracklist:

1. The Egyptian Lover - Freak-A-Holic

2. Bot'Ox - Bearded Lady Motorcycle Show

3. The Phenomenal Handclap Band - You'll Disappear (Munk Remix)

4. Tom Trago - Lost In The Streets of NYC (Boris Werner Lost In Malta Remix)

5. Ryan Crosson - Metro Bunker (Original Mix)

6. Lindstrom & Christabelle - Baby Can't Stop (Aeroplane Remix)

7. Rebotini - 777 (Discodeine Remix)

8. Tensnake - Coma Cat

9. Munk - La Musica (Azari & III Remix)

10. Friendly Fires and Azari & III - Stay Here

11. Redshape - Dog Day

12. The 2 Bears - Be Strong

13. Butch - No Worries

14. George Kranz - Din Daa Daa

15. Jody 'Fingers' Finch - Jack Your Big Booty (BHQ No Acid Vocal)

16. BDI - City & Industry

17. Alan Fitzpatrick - Green Light

18. Boo Williams - Mortal Trance

19. Round Two - New Day (Club Vocal Mix)