The energetic post-hardcore stylings of Flechette have taken the Richmond scene by storm over the past year or so, but the members of this relatively young band have been around for quite a while. Featuring former members of Resonance, Permanent, Field Day, Tarpit, The Two Funerals, and quite a few other bands, Flechette is an attempt by all involved to take their music to the next level. So far, they have succeeded, both by crafting excellent songs that are far more than the sum of their previous bands and influences, and by grabbing lots of attention with their live shows and recordings. Their first release is a seven-song LP on local label Sound Era, and they've already got a lot more planned. I spoke with singer/guitarist Jimmy Held about their history and their creative process.
How did Flechette get together? I seem to remember hearing that you guys were together for something like three years before you really started playing out regularly--what caused that long gestation period?
Flechette’s first incarnation consisted of James, Jeff, and I about three years ago. It was initially a side project, and pretty much stayed on the backburner while going through a ton of lineup changes along the way. We tried out beaucoup bass players in the beginning before Kyler was abducted. Jeff also moved to Seattle for about a year. Basically, the first 2 years were rather dormant. We started playing out regularly as soon as we had a solid lineup.
All of you have played, separately or together, in a lot of previous bands before coming together as Flechette. How do you think your previous experiences have affected the way the four of you work together in this band?
I used to take for granted how quickly each person in the band locks in and is able to expand their parts. It’s something I’ve taken into account recently with our new songs, and has allowed me to pull back on a lot of things guitar-wise and pay more attention to vocals. It’s also just great to have a band full of people I’ve been friends with for a long time.
Your lyrics are interesting and poetic in tone, but their meaning can be tough to puzzle out. What sort of topics are your lyrics typically about, and do you have any message that you're attempting to communicate through them?
Most of the lyrics on the record are sort of collages of lines written independently of each other. I usually trim and try to connect them based on their theme, but I also obviously like toying with the words and leaving a lot of gaps for interpretation. The result is a lot of abstract personal stuff being woven into a political backdrop, and vice versa. Lyric writing in Flechette has been more of an outlet for me, so conveying a particular message wasn’t really a focus. This recently changed, though, with a couple new songs that are more topical and coherent.
What led you to decide to include short bursts of noise in between the songs on your LP? Do you consider noise to be an integral component of your sound?
Though noise was mixed into a couple of the songs, we tried to keep it at a minimum and primarily in between songs because we didn’t want to overcrowd a lot of parts we thought were already complete. As for our overall sound, it’s not necessarily a component that is integral. We’ve yet to play live with a person doing noise, but I do find it to be an important part of the LP, in terms of providing a contrasting atonality. In regard to what led to the decision: Fifty Foot Hose and Jon Hawkins.
What's coming up in the near future for Flechette? Tell us about the new records you've got planned.
We’re currently working on some new stuff that we’re really excited about because it’s exploring a bit of a new direction. We will be recording three songs in November, but we haven’t decided how they’re going to be released. A long tour isn’t really feasible because of our jobs; however, we’re planning on doing a handful of mini tours within the next couple of months. We also just moved into a new practice space, which will allow us to practice considerably more than we used to. So yeah, good stuff is happening. I hope we write our butts off.