Kicking Flowers is a garage/indie rock band that is Inspired by the shoegaze revival of the early 2010s and the stripped down simplicity of early 60s rock groups, we balance a soft and melodic presence with a loud aggressive performance.
I caught up with Samuel Corbin from the band to talk about his early musical experiences, how he started writing and performing and the making of the groups new record “Lost the Question Looking for the Answer”.
CMM-What was the first music that really made an impact on you all as kids and what artist or band did the two of you enjoy the most?
Samuel-As teens my friends and I had to be resourceful to find new music. We’d steal CD’s from our parents or some corporate thrift store and burn them into digital files on our phones. One of our favorite albums was The Lonesome Crowded West by Modest Mouse. The loud and aggressive songs like Shit Luck always fit the occasion when we were being chased out of the neighborhood for stealing lawn flamingos. The more somber songs like Cowboy Dan also were perfect for when we scored a bottle by befriending the local homeless people.
CMM-How did Kicking Flowers get together and start writing songs and developing your own sound?
Samuel-Kicking flowers was designed to be a solo project after my band Manic Joy stopped getting together. I had a lot of song ideas that still needed to be recorded and that’s when I asked my drummer Israel Ferraro to jam as a way to flush out some of the basic ideas. He was originally in Manic Joy with me so a lot of the songs came from the original vision, except we are a lot better at playing and recording than the drunk teenagers trying to figure out how to post music online. I think because life was so chaotic while writing for Manic Joy, that shaped how I write for Kicking Flowers. We used to practice in a pink house right next to section 8 housing and on occasion strangers would walk into the house because the locks were broken. At one point we had someone who abused meth to the point that most of his brain didn’t work except when you put an instrument in his hands. He was extremely talented and it was great playing with him up until he shit himself on me and attacked us with a cheap bowie knife.
CMM-The band recently released an album called “Lost The Question Looking For The Answer”. What was the writing and recording process like and were there any particular pieces of gear you used to get the sound you were looking for?
Samuel-Recording the instruments was the easy part, I was lucky enough to work with some very talented musicians and we all recorded together in a few sessions. The lyrics were a much more intense process. When I had started writing the album I had just finalized my divorce and I used writing as a means to deal with the process of moving on. My biggest struggle was dealing with insomnia and the half-alive state you’re left in. After weeks, paranoia consumes the mind and you can’t really trust others or yourself and I was convinced that the house I lived in was haunted by the late owner. The album art was a picture I had found in the crawlspace while looking for a phantom scratching sound in the walls. A ghost from my past came back to remind me things never really go away. Suicide, drug overdoses and abuse were all themes in my writing and I would stay up all night after 14 hours of working, screaming into the microphone. The fact the cops weren’t called was a miracle.
CMM-If the band could do a score for any film director, who would it be and what would the film be about?
Samuel-Putting the music into a porno movie or war footage would be the best place I could think of. I’ve been obsessed with finding the boundaries of what is an acceptable form of art. I would want to see my art used in places it’s not meant to be in. My music isn’t particularly sensual or even angry so I’m not really trying to answer what is the best place for my music, I want to know what would happen if I combine things that shouldn’t be together.
CMM-Anything coming up?
Samuel-We’ve started work on the next album. This first album was definitely a training experience that was used to work through some growing pains as a band and figure out what works and what doesn’t. I’m excited for the next release because it’s going to be tighter and louder but because more care is going into recording, I’m planning more intimate and free shows for the meantime.
