This week, we get a chance to talk to the members of World’s First Flying Machine, an Urbana-based band as oddly orchestrated as it is pleasantly composed. While thriving on flexibility and spontaneity the band’s music remains fresh, expressive, and uniquely honest. Be sure to check them out at Canopy Club on Friday, February 8th for their contagious enthusiasm for great music.
buzz: Your music incorporates a lot of unconventional sounds and instruments, from ukuleles to bells and violins. If you had to pick a favorite sound, what would it be?
Ben Campbell: I personally like the sound of anything breaking, like glass or ice or anything.
Kurt Warner: I like electronic sounds, not necessarily synthesized stuff, but more like dying Casio keyboards.
buzz: The band has changed a lot since you guys started as far as adding new members and people leaving and coming back.
Ben: We wanted to be more flexible than just a band. I wanted to allow people to come in and to leave. A lot of it is just for convenience purposes so we wouldn’t have to come up with a new name if someone decides to stop playing with us.
buzz: What do you think is most charming about your band during a performance?
Laura Lynch: Probably our honesty. At one of our first shows Ben was counting us off but forgot to put his capo on, so he told us to stop after we started playing and we just started over.
Brian Montgomery: People comment that we look like we’re going to fall off the stage because there’s so many of us. It makes us feel cozy when we perform.
buzz: How are your practices different from your performances?
Ben: I like to think that whatever we do in practice doesn’t really matter. We have practices to prepare for an ideal setting, but at live shows I’ve completely changed things in the middle of songs. If you have everything planned out and know exactly what you’re going to do, it takes away from the expression that is really important in music.
buzz: Where will the band be in fifty years?
Brian: We’ll be on a reality show after not seeing each other for twenty years. It’ll be called Desert House and we’ll all be super arthritic wearing hearing aids.
