Fly On The Wall Promotions are: Pedro Nat Benjuth Liam Jody Sam
JoOp: What started off this spark? This want to help the local music community?
Pedro: I was introduced to Weeble and I decided to help in whatever way I can to get them the recognition they deserve and not just in Nottingham, all over the UK. I started setting up gigs and then we had bands asking us, so it started taking up a lot more of our time, it became a proper promotions company, a non-profit one, we try and pay the bands when we can, we make no money from it.
Jody: Yeah, but you have landed big bands….
Pedro: Yeah we're binging Phinius Gage in, but we do need to make a little bit of money in order for us not to be out of pocket. We've got PMX and RedAsMonkey comin down, we're in connection with a few record companies now,: LockJaw, Deck Cheese etc. so it's progressing very nicely.
JoOp: When and how did Fly On The Wall come about?
Pedro: The name for Fly On The Wall came about when, me and Nat were contemplating lots of names, all cheesy and crap, but on the long journey from Derby to work one day and Nat came up with it, I liked it straight away and everyone knows us by it now, it seems the appropriate name for us.
JoOp: Cool. What's the most successful event you've put on?
Pedro: The Mumrah gig. All the bands were fantastic, the crowd was up for every band from the first to the last, giving them all the same amount of support and it was nice to actually see that it was all worth it. Also the first gig we put on, we'd never done it before and we all worried about things going wrong, it was at The Flowpot in Derby The bands and sound guy were brilliant, the crowd wasn't massive because of the festival in Derby, it was still successful. We realised there's room for us in the music scene, to fill a gap, especially in Nottingham, although we'll cover any style..covering the Ska/Punk scene.
JoOp: What is the philosophy or policy of Fly On The Wall?
Pedro: We're doing it for the bands, we're not in it to make money.The bands are not working for us, if they give us 100%, we'll give them 100%. The more they put into it, the more we can give back to them, and bringing bands together. We put a gig on with Long Drop and One Gone No More, never met each other before, now they're good mates arranging more gigs together.
Jody: Being in a band, before I joined FOTW, Pedro was going round, hardly making anything, making sure the bands got everything they wanted and when you work with him, that's the most obvious thing seperating FOTW out from everyone else. As with you guys, there's no sense of money grabbing or owt like that, s'all good.
JoOp: Where is this heading? What steps are you taking for the future?
Liam: We wanna spread the genres out, get in at new venues, more gigs, better bands, more money in the kittie.
Pedro: It's not just about these big bands though, we supply the big bands to the bands we work with here to actually support, so we can showcase the smaller, unsigned bands. So if Reel Big Fish are reading this interview and they'd like to play for us, they're more than welcome! I'll give 'em thirty quid!
Sam: And a floor to sleep on!
JoOp: What are your thoughts on the Nottingham underground scene? Rising talent?
Pedro: Nottingham's got a fantastic amount of talent that needs to be noticed. If it didn't have then obviously we wouldn't be able to work.
Sam: People don't really realise how great a potential Nottingham has, it's just seperating the bands, y'know it's like, some gigs you go to and the same band my as well have played 4 sets. But some gigs, the Saggy-Pants gig the other week, most random set of bands i've ever seen and it was fantastic! Everyone was there! The floor was filled for every band and that's what you're looking for, that gig you come away from and think WOW! Nottingham had the potential to do that to people, but doesn't get the chance to shine.
JoOp: Talk about your compilation CD.
Pedro: We'd like to get it out by the end of Feb. It's just basically for those people who can't make it down to gigs to have a listen and to check out some of the bands we're putting on. They can then play that CD to their mates.
JoOp: Right, last but not least: Shout-Outs?
Pedro: Saggy-Pants…bigtime! Printing our flyers and posters, saving us loads of money! Other people i've got to thank are, Adrian at Junktion 7 who's been a massive help, and the guy from myspace…Tom! Murmah they're wicked, Weeble, Long Drop…all the bands we've put on and all the bands in future.
Sam: Orakai and Breakneck.
Jody: Mr Wolf and Leigh from Smelly Mob!
Pedro: If you check out our website, we've got a Battle of the Bands comin up in April, first heat is April 1st with good quality bands. A few dates at Junktion 7, A gig at First Floor club in Derby with Phinius Gage, Weeble, Bambix and Mr Wolf. So come check out are gigs see what ya think!
www.myspace.com/flyonthewallnights
