Bristol based duo Icarus have been taking over the UK electronic music scene over the last few years. I sat down to ask brothers Ian and Tom about their dream collaborations, find out who they would want to play them in a biopic, and I guess we also talk about music a bit. Let’s slide right into this all new #TMITuesday interview y’all.
1. Let’s talk about your record label “Fly Boy’. Are there any new releases, or signings you’re excited about?
We’re always on the look out for new music for the label. It’s exciting listening to producer’s demos and hunting online for unheard tunes or artists. We’ve recently signed a duo from Russia which we’re very excited about. We’ve been playing one of their tunes in our sets for a while now and always had a great reaction so we started chatting over email and it led to us signing a release! You’ll have to wait to see who that is .
We also love developing and working with artists on a longer term basis. We’ve just put out FLYBOY020 which came from My Friend. We started working with those guys about 18 months ago now and it’s great to see how their project is developing and continuing to gain support from club and radio DJs. Plus, we have the next release coming from King & Early. Their last single ‘Moving Forward’ was a big one for our label, so we’re very keen for the world to hear what they’ve got next!
2. Since today is #TMITuesday, can you tell the fans something they may not already know about you?
Tom: When I was a kid I wanted to be a farmer.
Ian: I used to teach classical guitar.
3. In your song ‘Flowers’, theres a mystery lyric that fans just can’t seem to figure out. It’s time to solve this mystery. Fill in the blanks. “Only your _____ could change the way I feel for you”
Happy to help! “Only a fool, would change the way I feel for you”
4. If you could choose one song to be your ‘theme song’ what would it be, and why?
Ian: Paul Simon – You Can Call Me Al. Epic Bass solo.
Tom: Yazz – The Only Way Is Up. Just a constant reminder to be positive, isn’t it?! Sick acid bass line too.
5. You’ve done a number of dope collabs, is there anyone you would consider to be a dream collaboration?
We’ve been lucky with who we’ve worked with so far. Collaborating with other writers and artists can be really inspiring. It’s cool to get another person’s take on ideas – you never know how someone else is going to approach things so you can learn a lot from different people. We’ve actually got some very exciting collaborations in the works at the moment! Really looking forward to unveiling them in the future. A few of dream ones would be JMSN, The Chemical Brothers and Beyonce.
6. Was there a moment, an ‘ah-ha’ moment when you felt like you ‘found your sound’?
Probably not an exact moment but we do feel over the past few years we’ve gradually found our lane. We’re never going to write the same tune over and over, as we do have quite eclectic tastes when it comes to what we write, but we do think that we now have a recognisable production style. People have actually said that to us too, so we’re happy that come across in our music.
7.I love asking this one, who or what inspires you two?
Big question, big answer. Basically everything! Musically, we have a wide array of influences. We both grew up listening to rock, pop, trance, house, drum and bass, metal, punk… And then when we both went to study music at Uni we were opened up to Jazz, Soul, Funk, all sorts! We try not to let anything directly influence us when writing, as we don’t want to reinvent the wheel but all those influences will definitely creep in. We’re also influenced by day to day life too. I think as an artist you can’t help that. Your mood, the people you’re with, even the time of day can have an impact on the sort of music you end up writing at that given moment. It’s what keeps it so exciting.
8. Let’s say theres a biopic on Icarus, which actors would you have playing you?
Tom: David Williams
Ian: Matt Lucas
9. In the last few years you were signed to FFRR, ran by the legendary DJ Pete Tong, what was that whole experience like for you?
We’ve been signed there almost 5 years now. Crazy how time flies! We’ve learnt so much since then. I remember back when we signed thinking we knew exactly what we wanted and what Icarus was. To a degree we did, and the vision hasn’t changed but it’s been a blessing having the experience of the team (and Pete, of course!) helping us along the way. We’re all on the same wavelength and view Icarus as a long term project which is cool. We’ve never been under pressure to write anything we don’t want to write, so having that creative freedom has been great for us.
10. What’s next for you?
We’re working towards our largest body of work to date, which we plan to start release towards the back end of this year! So right now we’re writing a lot, whilst also DJing at club nights and festivals. We plan to take our live show on the road again too, so keep your eyes peeled for announcements on that in the future.
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