Music is a spiritual, mind-opening thing for the members of Flagship

    1 of 1 2 of 1

      Nondenominational rock ’n’ roll and Deep South church services don’t exactly make likely bedfellows, but if you think about it, there are definitely similarities between the two.

      This point is raised, in a roundabout way, during a half-hour interview with Michael Finster, drummer for Charlotte, North Carolina’s Flagship. Things swing around to the idea of a higher power when it’s mentioned that the ending of “Hollywood Underwater”, off the band’s eponymous debut, is like something you might hear while standing outside a Mississippi church on a sun-washed Sunday morning.

      Quite casually, Finster notes that, as good southern fellows, he and his bandmates are no strangers to putting on their best and giving thanks at their local services. When asked if the straight-from-the-church choir vocals in “Hollywood Underwater” are a direct nod to their pasts, the timekeeper instead gives a more reflective answer.

      “It’s interesting—everyone is somewhere different on their personal beliefs,” Finster says, on the line from a Columbus, Ohio, tour stop. “Trying to bring all of this around full circle to make sense of it, music is a really spiritual thing. When we were younger, we all played music in the church and got very used to ‘feeling it’, if that makes any sense. There’s a beautiful feeling you get when you are playing music, whether you want to call it God’s presence, or whatever it is that you are experiencing.

      “What we are doing today is different, but music is still a very spiritual thing,” he continues. “It connects to a place in your mind that can really make you feel things, it can open doors in your head. That’s a really cool thing, to be able to have that kind of experience. It’s almost like a high, where someone takes a drug and it opens their mind to a different place.”

      The front half of Flagship sounds directly inspired by a certain well-known act that’s long been famous for having a spiritual vibe, but not to where its albums are shelved in the Christian Rock section of record stores. Chiming, guitar-propelled rockers such as “Break the Sky” and “Holy Ghost” sound directly inspired by the early works of U2, a band that Finster is a huge fan of.

      Things eventually veer into more adventurous territory, though, with the soft-bulletin acoustic psychedelia of “Wagon” bringing synths into the mix, “Fever” meshing jazzy Afrobeat with colour-saturated ’70s country, and “Neverland” buoyed by sweeping strings and cool-jazz horns.

      “There are some bands that put out an album, and there are, like, 10 songs that all sound kind of similar,” Finster says. “One of them is the standout, and they’ll have that one be the single, but all the other ones are like worse versions of that song. We’re not like that. What happened on this record is that some of the songs were written over the course of two years. They reflect that, as musicians, we’re constantly evolving, and even feeling different ways on different days. Some days we write and want to hit hard. Others, it’s like, ‘Man, I’m feeling chill—let’s do something beautiful.’ ”

      One thing remains the same, though, for Finster and his bandmates in Flagship, who include singer Drake Margolnick, keyboardist Grant Harding, guitarist Matthew Padgett, and bassist Christopher Comfort.

      “We’re looking to make some deeper connection with people—the kind that you can’t really put into words or explain,” the drummer says. “When you can tap into that, it’s a really beautiful thing.”

      Flagship plays the Biltmore on Thursday (April 17).

      Comments