A flawless change?

When Sweet Relief formed seven years ago in Carrickmacross none of the four lads could have expected the acclaim that they have received.

Changing their name to The Flaws and after the release of their debut album Achieving Vagueness they were thrust into the spotlight - gigging across Ireland and at festivals like Glastonbury. Now though, the boys are taking time to breath and record their new album.

Lead singer Paul Finn says that last year was “pretty much non stop” for the band with the summer spent playing festivals at home and abroad, starting with set at Glastonbury where they played the Leftfield Stage followed by performances at Castlepalooza and Electric Picnic.

“Glastonbury was an amazing experience, the atmosphere was so good,” he says. “We drove over and spent the weekend there. Our gig was great but we also got to relax and enjoy ourselves and hang out with some other really cool Irish bands like Ham Sandwich - they have a really good sound”.

On top of a hectic schedule touring around the country the boys took time to record their track Idolise as the Euro 2008 Closer for RTE. The boys were invited to RTE where the recorded a special visual piece to accompany the football footage, the result of which was a piece of video that was watched by over half a million people.

“It was pretty cool” says Finn. “The lads are really into football so they were really excited about it, I couldn’t care less about sports but it was a really great day and being in RTE was brilliant. It was something to show the parents, something to prove to them that we aren’t just messing about with this music craic; we are actually doing something that people like, something that we feel is important.”

This summer was mostly spent in the studio but the boys spent took time out to debut their new track I Don’t Want To Dance -doing a college tour in September to coincide with the release of the track. Although it may not make the cut for their new album it is an excellent example of what they have been working on. The band also recorded a cover of the song The Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen for a charity album.

Now though, for the band it is all about the new album. “We started recording for the new album in January this year in the studio at my house and we have also been taking some of out stuff and recording in Tumbleweed studios in Dundalk” says Finn.

The band say they want to make sure that people know this time around that their sound is completely different from their last album. “No matter what you do over two or three years, you grow up, we have all developed a more mature attitude towards music.”

With their new drummer Colin Berill, Finn says “It feels like were a different band.” He said making this album was harder then making their debut. With this one, he says, “we are trying to make a new sound. We want this album to be different from the last.”

With so many Irish bands hammering out the same repetitive tunes The Flaws are making sure that when we listen to their tracks, we are listening to something completely original. The boys are performing in the Academy on December 18 and will be debuting many of their tracks from the new album in what Finn says is a “gig primarily for the launch of the new album.” For the band it is a chance to see how fans react to their new material.

The boys have certainly built up an impressive resume over the past two years and it seems like they can only go up from here. It is obvious that their music is very important to them and they only intend on getting better and improving their sound. Their passion for the work they are doing is obviously what has made them such a success in such a short space of time.

They are currently in talks concert promoters and hope to spend next year playing even more gigs then they performed last year - if that’s even possible. It’s clear that we have some busy men on our hands, and they are showing no sign of slowing down.