Writing your debut album and preparing for a release is stressful enough under normal circumstances. But a whole new layer of uncertainty and stress is brought on when just as you are finishing recording the entire music industry comes to a grinding halt due to an unprecedented global pandemic.

In this situation you have two options: one: to put your career on hold and wait out the storm for more favorable conditions or two: release your music as planned and do everything in your power to make sure that you are heard by the masses.

For Helinski based Flush, this choice was not an easy one- but choosing to persevere and work like hell behind the scenes to help give their album a fighting chance seemed better than giving up. And now, music fans around the world have the chance to get a taste of the band’s talents with their debut release It Began as a Mistake.

That being said, 2020 has not been easy for many musicians, including Flush, who had to learn how to navigate the digital sphere in order to help get their voices heard and keep their creative endeavors alive in a year that music as a whole has suffered.

But the pandemic has not put a halt on their goals, and we were fortunate enough to get to chat with the band about their 2020, how they adapted to the new musical landscape and what they hope to see come out of 2021.

You can read our full interview with Flush below, and be sure to check out their debut album It Began as a Mistake, out now.

Second Society Report: How are you holding up during this insane year? Hopefully your friends and families are staying safe and healthy!

Flush: Yeah, thanks for asking. Physically we have been fine, mentally not so sure. We had big expectations for 2020, with a new album and all, but the world wanted differently. But yeah, we’re still alive and healthy, and our families too, so that’s all good.

Second Society Report: Did you have any big releases or tours that were put on hold because of the pandemic? How has that affected the band? (could be personally, financially, morale wise, etc.)

Flush: We finished the recordings of our debut album It Began as a Mistake just as the pandemic restrictions started to hit, so we got lucky in that everything was completed before things got really bad. The pandemic massively impacted our release and promotion plan though. Our plan was to promote the album during summer and fall of 2020, but that obviously did not happen. We decided to release the album anyway and it came out in October. With most live venues closed, our primary and almost only promotional channel has been virtual PR like social media and these types of interviews.

Second Society Report: How have you been spending your newfound “downtime” while the world has been essentially shut down?

Flush: This is Lasse (song-writing, vocals, guitars) responding on behalf of the band. Many people think that this type of downtime would be ideal for artists to be very creative, but the big issue is that if the world stops and nothing happens, there is nothing left to write about. The inspiration to our songs comes from real life, and with that life on hold, the inspiration just isn’t there. But we’ve learnt a lot about digital promotion, how Spotify works and all that stuff, and there is some new material in the works too. I finally upgraded from Garageband to Logic, and also recorded some simple solo stuff just to practice the whole end-to-end writing-recording-mixing process.

Second Society Report: Have you picked up any new hobbies while quarantining that you’d like to share?

Flush: No new hobbies per se, just a lot of listening to new music and watching TV. Twin Peaks is still excellent after all these years and Money Heist was excellent too.

Second Society Report: Have you worked on any new releases during this time? Any that are already out or that we can get a sneak peak of?

Flush: We released our debut album, ‘It Began as a Mistake’, in October 2020, but as mentioned, it was recorded just before the pandemic hit the fan. Obviously, all groundwork was done well before that already. It is a collection of songs from our last few years and the best possible representation of what this band is about. It has some punk rock, some alternative rock, some metal riffs, and stories mostly about the darker side of life. It’s out and available on all digital platforms. We have more recent material in the works already but we’re not yet sure on what we will do with that. Check out our website or Facebook to stay updated on our activities.

Second Society Report: If already out- what was the inspiration for the release? Have you written any songs specifically about the state of the world right now?

Flush: With the album we wanted to make a statement on what and who we are. It’s a blend of all our ingredients and we are pretty happy with how it turned out. Our songs deal with real things; everything from personal life experiences to observations on our surroundings. We write about real people and emotions, and comment on the state of the world as we see it. No fantasy stuff in our songs. The two songs that directly comment on society today are Surreal Experiment and New World Order. I mean, we live in a pretty bizarre world today and it feels like too many people have lost their ability to be empathetic and intelligent.

Second Society Report: How has it been being an artist in a time when you cannot tour? How have you been working to promote your music and expand your reach?

Flush: Releasing an album, and not even being able to do a record release party, definitely sucks. We don’t have the means to do quality virtual shows with the sound volumes and style of music we play, so we have resorted to digital promotion. We’ve been somewhat successful in that, but it’s not the same as meeting people live. Somehow our music has found its way to audiences in Latin America, North America, and far corners of Asia, and that has been quite fascinating to track. We have no clue how that happened, but we know that we’ve been on some good playlists, a few radio shows and a number of music sites/blogs, and that has definitely helped.

Second Society Report: Do you have any words of advice for fans that are feeling particularly bummed out about the live music world coming to a halt?

Flush: We strongly encourage you to find ways to support your favourite artists, venues, and independent media (blogs, radio, etc) in these times. Buy sustainable merch if you can or at least promote the content to your network. And when live music returns, maybe more aggressively than before, support the live scene by going to venues and using your money there. Any revenue is desperately needed to keep the independent venues and artists going.

Second Society Report: When the world returns to a safer spot and we are able to (hopefully) attend live shows again- say in 2021- what do you hope to achieve?

Flush: We just want to be out there and play shows. Any shows. Anywhere. To anyone. Summer festivals would be great, but we’ll take small clubs and house shows too.

Second Society Report: Is there anything you wish your fans would know about you or about the current state of the music world?

Flush: I think it’s well known and established by now, but in case it’s not clear to everyone, streaming platforms do not generate fair compensation to independent artists. I hope fans appreciate that other support is desperately needed if music as an artform is to prevail. With the current revenue and business model, all we will have left in a few years is machine generated music designed as a commodity imitating what once was original and inspirational art. Spotify does not promote art; it promotes a commercial service that in their business model can – and soon will – be produced at scale by artificial intelligence. Music as an artform needs to find other sources of revenue than streaming and we need fans to support this journey. This is the only way to maintain authenticity, originality, and danger in music.
You can stream Flush’s latest album It Began as a Mistake out now wherever you stream music, and catch up with the band via social media for updates on all things upcoming.

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