Feature / One Question Interviews
Fighting Kites

Words: Cheryl • November 20, 2014

Fighting Kites
Fighting Kites

Neil Debnam (Fighting Kites)

SPB: Is there a particular record you've heard this year that surprised you? In both a good or a bad way?

Debnam: Speaking from a strictly personal point of view rather than as the mouthpiece of four individuals now separated geographically by a few thousand miles, I think it has to be Robert Turman's Flux. I heard it first on the Neus Van God podcast by Kraak and was shocked when I found out it was a reissue of an album from the early Eighties. It sounded, at least to my ears, totally fresh and not at all dated. The other-worldly feeling of the sounds might have had something to do with that though. I love how minimal it is, but at the same time it manages to be so emotive. It has really got me thinking about how I make my own music in Broken Shoulder, although I haven't really managed to transfer those thoughts into actual actions yet. Guess that's difference between being talented (him) and hopefully slogging away (me).

(Damn, I should have picked one of the releases on my new Kirigirisu  label. That would have been the sensible PR-minded thing to have done. Still not very good at that kind of thing).

Fighting Kites
Fighting Kites

Related features

Fest 23: Artist Interviews

Interviews / Fest 23 • October 18, 2025

FEST 23 takes place later this month, from Oct. 24-26 in Gainesville, FL. Something like a billion bands are driving, flying, canoeing, and snowshoeing to the festival from across the country -- many of them for the first time and many come back to play nearly every year. Scene Point … Read more

FEST LIBS 23 & Fest Moments

Music / Fest 23 • October 18, 2025

Are you ready for The Fest!? While we’re pretty sure you’re already counting down days until your trek to Gainesville, FL, we’ve got some Fest games for you to play, including a few samples from this year’s performers. Click here to play FEST LIBS -- like a fill-in-the-blanks word game … Read more

Guest List: ADD Records Picks 5 Favorite Leatherface Songs

Music / The Set List • October 18, 2025

This summer Little Rocket Records announced Leatherface: The Peel Sessions, a collection of live studio recordings with Leatherface from the 1990s with the late John Peel. While Little Rocket handled the release, ADD Records took on US distribution for a limited release. Available from ADD records here As Leatherface means … Read more

Bo Diddley Plaza: Behind the Scenes at Fest

Music / Fest 23 • October 6, 2025

For close to a quarter-century punk fans have flocked to Florida for The Fest. Boasting a lineup of 300+ bands and roughly a dozen venues these days, the festival has grown, shifted and evolved. For several years the main stage has been in a large downtown park called Bo Diddley … Read more

moja

One Question Interviews • September 24, 2025

moja SPB: How old were you when you learned your first instrument? Masumi: My first instrument was YAMAHA Electone when I was five years old. Haru: I’ve never actually had formal lessons -- I’m totally self-taught. I bought my first instrument back in junior high just to start a band … Read more

Related news

Related reviews

Fighting Kites

Self Titled
Variant (2012)

North London four piece Fighting Kites started life in 2009, their brand of intimate instrumental rock immediately setting them apart from the arty crowd that usually inhabits the post-rock tag. Delicate structures of gentle and sweeping beauty permeate this debut record, opener “Chuck Close” a subtle composition of lightly struck notes and slow introductions to a range of noises. As … Read more

More from this section

moja

One Question Interviews • September 24, 2025

moja SPB: How old were you when you learned your first instrument? Masumi: My first instrument was YAMAHA Electone when I was five years old. Haru: I’ve never actually had formal lessons -- I’m totally self-taught. I bought my first instrument back in junior high just to start a band … Read more

Broken Record

One Question Interviews • September 23, 2025

Lauren (Broken Record) SPB: What was your first tape/cd/record? Lauren: The first CD I bought with my own money was No Strings Attached by *NSYNC, but perhaps more formative was my second CD, Green Day’s Nimrod. Green Day went on to become one of my all time favorites, and I … Read more

Eric Angelo Bessel

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • September 22, 2025

Eric Angelo Bessel SPB: Walk us through your gear setup for the recording of Mirror at Night. Eric: I composed the album, Mirror at Night, using a pair of digital Mellotrons (proto-sampling keyboards), an Alesis Micron (keyboard synthesizer), and guitars. The Micron is a new addition, and is the main … Read more