Flower Show’s self-described ‘charity shop pop’ finds beauty in the everyday, mixing a love of musical magpie collecting with humour, honesty and a celebration of softness. Their second album, A Cake In A Daydream, explores class, sexuality, toxic masculinity and addiction with playful strangeness and emotional directness. Ahead of their headline show at Kaz Stockroom on 16 October, we caught up with Craig and Terry to talk fresh beginnings, finding joy in overlooked places and what comes next.
For anyone discovering Flower Show for the first time, how did the band come together, and where did the name come from?
Craig: We were originally called Lovecraft and played together for a long time with various line ups but then the material shifted to a more honest kind of writing and the sounds became more direct. As I was writing more from a personal, gender fluid place, it seemed like a good time to start afresh, and since we’re a bunch of pansies Flower Show seemed like the right fit! It’s about embracing softness, living with your poetic self and being bright and beautiful. This line up is very new but we’re working together incredibly well and writing a lot of new stuff together for the third album, it’s an exciting time to be alive!
You describe your sound as ‘charity shop pop’. What does that mean to you, and what would we find in Flower Show’s musical charity shop?
Terry: I feel the charity shop pop description is an acceptance of all the musical influences within the band. The experience we’ve all gleaned from listening to many different varieties of music can be coordinated, without shame (or expense) to make a really good outfit. Our outlook isn’t to ’try’ to be different – if we collectively hear a strong influence in a piece, we enjoy leaning into it as opposed to running away in fear that it could be traced by aficionados.
Craig: I guess it was initially just a term to describe our tendency to pinch bits from across all genres and eras of music, but it’s also kind of an ethos of championing the mundane – finding joy in the overlooked moments like a dead balloon wrapped around some railings or finding a sequined jumpsuit for a ridiculously low price in Barnados. Our musical charity shop would have lots of gorgeous vintage clothing, secondhand sex toys and loads of great music – Smashing Pumpkins, Faust, The Cranberries, My Bloody Valentine, Pulp and Viagra Boys. Everything £1.
Your second album, A Cake In A Daydream, follows last year’s debut, Painted Nails & Silver Bells. What changed in your approach between the two records?
Craig: We improved as musicians between the two, for a start – the band that played on this album were very tight. The drummer is different too and has a totally fresh approach to songwriting that’s improved things massively. The writing of this new record was borne out of a desire to be more playful and a self-assuredness that wasn’t there before. There was more experimentation, more silliness and more certainty in our intentions. I’m very proud of both albums but the new one is a huge leap forward in terms of the production, the emotional directness of the lyrics and a clearer message. I think writing Bags For Life from the first album made me realise I could write about everyday experiences in a poetic way and get away with it. There’s much more of that directness on the new album, talking about right-wing men being loud in a Harvester or Satan vaping in a cheap Primark suit, for example. It’s my way of coping with and processing the world.
There’s a lovely strangeness to the title A Cake In A Daydream. Where did it come from, and how does it fit the world of the album?
Craig: Thank you! I find album titles very difficult and often deliberate for a long time over them. This one was no different, it went through many iterations before I arrived at this. It has to feel like a mission statement – ‘here is the very important name of this very important collection of songs’. The simple answer is that it’s a lyric from the opening track: ‘It’s as obvious as a cake in a daydream’ – I have no idea why I came up with that phrase but it just felt so right. The album cover is a beautiful painting of two naked men wrestling and the more I thought about what I’d call that painting the more I thought of the men as somehow being the cake and it just clicked.
Terry: I think you hit the proverbial nail on the head, a lovely strangeness, it’s a lyric from one of the songs and the two words, cake and daydream just have a warmth to them. There’s also a strong irony in there, as the humour and warmth can be stripped back to reveal an acerbic outlook on the world; it felt to me, like a good mix of childlike wonder and ironic humour.
You explore subjects including class, sexuality, toxic masculinity and addiction, often with humour. What does humour allow you to say that a more direct approach might not?
Craig: It completely frees you to say anything you like – it cuts through the formality of a more obvious lyrical approach but also gets to the humanity at the heart of what you’re trying to say. It makes the words more relatable and palatable too, like a spoonful of sugar helping the medicine go down. Quite a lot of the stuff we’re talking about on the new album, those themes that you mentioned, they’re quite off-putting at face value, but talking about them in a funny way strips away the seriousness and allows the humanity to shine through.
Flower Show – I Want To Hold Your Man (Official Video)
I Want To Hold Your Man is described as a queer anthem in waiting. What sparked the song, and what would you like listeners to take from it?
Craig: The song is about being honest with yourself about your desires, whatever that looks like – in my case I wanted to write a song about fancying men. I wanted to hear a paisley-pop, Beatleseque tune about male-on-male action. There’s another meaning too: it’s also about a waitress throwing her phone into the sea because it told her to. I’m not wholly anti-tech but I do feel that we ought to bin our smartphones. I think if we returned to dial-up internet we’d all be having more sex and would generally be happier. There’d be less hate and division and people might get along a bit more.
You’re headlining Kaz Stockroom on 16 October, with Rongorongo, Pink Footage, West Country and Feral Wheel also on the bill. What can people expect from a Flower Show gig, and which new songs are you most excited to play?
Craig: Expect high energy, fabulous costumes, a sense of communal release through songs about knobheads and starfish and a welcoming atmosphere. I’m personally excited to play Size Queen as it feels like a mini rock opera, and I love seeing people singing along to Bags For Life.
Terry: Energy, performance, an array of eye candy, a laugh, and hopefully, the onlookers giving themselves up to moving. I think the band (especially our Craig) give their whole selves to a performance. The band has gone through a 50% lineup change recently, and the new recruits are displaying a joyous commitment to the cause. The stakes are high for this gig as we are with an illustrious lineup of Liverpool talent, so we’ll be on our mettle! In terms of new songs, I’m excited for Emptying The Ashtray in God’s House – this will be the first time we’ve played it live and it’s a little bit removed from our usual offerings, all the same it’s a fun song, and may cause some positive bafflement. Too Much With Us is another, this is slowly building into a possible FS anthem. Both songs aren’t on the album, but I think that keeps us fresh and contributes to our originality.
With more shows coming up at the Jacaranda and 81 Renshaw St for Loserfest, what are you hoping this next chapter brings for Flower Show—and what would you love someone to say after hearing the album or seeing you live?
Craig: Either that they loved or hated it; I’d hate to inspire indifference in people! We’re already writing the next album and are planning to record it at Bidston Observatory, a magical historic building on the Wirral. It’s going to be a lot more DIY and lo-fi than what’s come before and I for one can’t wait to hear the results.
Terry: We want to keep creating, to have an abundance of songs that can compete for space on the the third album, and to show how we’re all learning and listening to each other. The band has a strong democratic feeling right now with all members contributing to structures and feelings. We want to give ourselves more time to explore where we’re travelling to, and I feel we can only blossom further!
Flower Show’s new album A Cake In A Daydream is out now.
