Features

Ménage à Trois

Interview by Jack Dolan
Photos shot by Nicole Dyson in Manchester, UK

The legend goes that Ménage à Trois met in a gay karaoke bar in Manchester and decided to form a band on the spot. In fact, as lead singer Jonathan Flanders is trying to tell me over a very jolty skype connection, that’s a bit of a simplification, but sometimes he falls back on the story anyway.

Before their chance meeting with Joseph Manning, at that point drummer for enigmatic indie band WU LYF, Jonathan (vocals) and his friend Craig (keys) had never even considered making music. The three of them started hanging out and eventually found themselves in that karaoke bar doing an impromptu performance. Even then they had no idea they would become a real band, they just started making tracks because it was enjoyable. The trio have now finished the third LP in their oceanic-pop triptych, Australia Parts I, II and III, and they’re already scheming on the next.

Ménage à Trois 01 © Nicole Dyson

Where do you guys make music?

Craig makes these Steven Spielberg videos on his phone and puts music to them, and then Joe’s just been making cute songs and sending them to us because he has more free time. I’ve been writing down loads of observational stuff from conversations that I overhear or that I’m involved in. Then we come together and sometimes we just end up beating each other up, and sometimes we might make a really good song. Sometimes there’s harmony when we come together and sometimes there’s hostility. Living in Manchester is pretty heinous.

I don’t realise how much pressure I put on myself until I’m running away in the night.

Would you say your music is generally quite melancholy?

If I was to make songs on my own they would be fucking depressing. Between us all it becomes more positive.

So you’re the depressing member of the group?

Craig is definitely more positive and stronger than me. Joe is a really strong, together, moral person and not as fucked up as me and Craig are. If shit got really serious I would definitely be fine to kill people for either of them though. If either of them walked into this room and punched me in the face and knocked all of my fucking teeth out, I would say thank you.

Do you guys fight a lot?

We had a big fight a few days ago in Toulouse because Joe and Craig were sleeping in the same bed and I had to sleep on the couch so I flipped out, put all my shit in a suitcase and stormed out of the flat. I didn’t have any battery on my phone and it took three hours to find a hotel. I met this guy from Syria who’d been a refugee living in Toulouse for six months and he showed me the whole city. I was supposed to be in a van with the guys driving back to Paris but I just told them I’m busy and I would fly back the next day.

 It must be important to take some time to yourself when you’re living in such close quarters all the time.

You forget to take time until it’s a real crisis moment. I don’t realise how much pressure I put on myself until I’m running away in the night.

What do you guys have planned for the future? Do you have a plan?

This summer I’m going to run away and go write in New York for at least two months. Then we’re going to meet back in Manchester to record because I really have something strong that I want to say for the next one and it needs to be here. Most of the songs so far have been about memories and love and very momentary things. Now I’m thinking more about love with yourself as opposed to dying to live these moments that are so transient. Learning to love yourself is the next stage.

Water is some kind of life source, energy, saviour, place to go that makes everything seem clearer.

Has this come through travelling and touring?

A lot of the songs have come from one major relationship and since that all I’ve done is fuck up other relationships since. I didn’t realise I was fucking them up but it was just going wrong because I never really let go of this one person. I’ve only just recently realised that…Not touring but just like self indulgent bullshit. Maybe the next part will be slightly more helpful to other people rather than just nice to listen to.

There seems to be a lot of oceanic themes in your music. Where does that come from?

I have the word ‘ocean’ tattooed on my arm because I fell in love with this guy and then the first night we met, it was raining and we came back to my place and he said to me ‘you look like you’ve just come out of the ocean’. He was only supposed to be in Manchester for two days and he stayed for two weeks and then he had a flight booked to Berlin so I went with him and then to Madrid and then he had to go back to Argentina. We planned to get tattoos in Madrid but we didn’t have enough money so we wrote it on each other and I came back to Manchester and got the tattoo on my wrist and then I got a flight to Argentina. The ocean thing is definitely symbolic too. Water in general is definitely some kind of life source, energy, saviour, place to go that makes everything seem clearer as opposed to more fucked up.

Would you say your music is a way of trying to find that clarity within these fucked up situations then?

It doesn’t bring clarity, it’s a way of sharing it and it not being so shit. If you go through the most intense experience that you’ve ever had, you can’t really describe to people, I don’t know, maybe you’re more socially evolved than I am, you might be able to understand it, you might not. Music just made it a positive thing.

Australia Part III is out now on Cracki Records. Ménage à Trois play De Nieuwe Anita, Amsterdam on 15 July. Show free for Subbacultcha members.