FEATURE INTERVIEW: HOTHOUSE FLOWERS

As Great Music Stories hits its second anniversary and 200th hour special in April 2017, it seemed a fitting time to delve deep into the archive and pull out some of the early 2015 interviews. This one was special. A feature interview with Fiachna O’Braonain from Hothouse Flowers, true purveyors of authenticity and spontaneity in music making that is soulful and moving in equal measure. Fiachna retraced the story of the band from their street busking days in Dublin to the top of the charts via Glastonbury and an impromptu ‘Little Wing’ session with Def Leppard. This feature was first broadcast in September 2015 on two fronts – my local Sussex station and also in Birmingham. This listen again clip is from the Sussex broadcast. I have always been a bit hesitant to add this to the online archive as a speech only clip because it is one of those hours where the interplay of words and music really works well. Following this feature, I met the band at the O2 Arena in London at the end of 2015 ahead of their London dates with U2. A full broadcast of the band’s live show at Symphony Hall Birmingham was broadcast on my show on Christmas Eve 2015, with a full re-air of this original hour special. The band recently appeared for the launch show of Amazon’s ‘The Grand Tour.’