It’s always heartening to see that the youth still want to create original bands and try to set the world alight with their music. Sheffields Flying Rats are proof that hard work and dedication can really pay off and 2025 looks like their year for starting some fires.
Give us a potted history of the band
Where to start? It all came into the realm of possibility on a lazy year 9 school trip in 2017, on the bus ride home, our singer and guitarist started planting the seeds which would eventually blossom into the creation of Flying Rats. We had quite a lack of direction at first; a singer who couldn’t sing, a drummer who’d just started his lessons and a bassist that was generally a bit shit. Despite this, our shared passion meant that we’d be in the drummer’s garage most days after school.
Long story short, we got rid of the shit bassist and in 2022 replaced him with some guy who had sod all to do and no bass experience (you wouldn’t believe it), then we decided we should actually learn to play our instruments (which took us far too long). Since then, we’ve been joined by our wonderful bassist, and it’s been onwards and upwards from there. As of now, we’ve played a multitude of live performances and have written several of our own songs. All in all, from the moment we started, we’ve all been totally addicted to making and sharing our music.
Who inspired you to make music
The first of our members to induct themselves into the music world was our guitarist, Harrison. He grew up listening to hard rock sounds and had a particular love for Green Day, Foo fighters and other rock music, he could play the guitar by 12 and it’d be a cold day in Hell to walk into his room and not see him jamming out.
After that, our drummer, Lewis, decided it was time for him to find a piece of the action, enrolling in drum lessons at the age of 16. Eager to start writing his own music, he almost instantly started coming up with original drumbeats and sounds (partly due to the band as a collective being stupid teenagers and not wanting to learn other people’s music properly).
Our singer, Macenzie, started out in the musical theatre scene, doing various live productions and shows. He wasn’t exactly inspired, though.. Driven by hatred and ADHD, he wanted to prove that he’d make a better ugly stepsister (his first big role) than his fellow classmates. This led to his love for performing and a need to create music.
Our bassist, Dominic, spent most of his life as what we call a ‘normie’, with no distinct music taste or preference on what he listened to; he was very much a blank slate. After meeting Harrison in college he started to listen to a few of the songs and playlists Harrison would play. This led to him getting the boogie-bug and developing a keen taste for bands like Type O Negative and System Of A Down.
And the one or maybe two records that inspired you artistically
We find it very difficult to name just one record that really inspired us as a whole, but we’d definitely have to go with Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’. We know that it’s not the most unique of choices, but it was Nevermind that really kicked things off for us. We were amazed at how one band could cram so many genres into one album and still sound great, while also being the album that inspired us to start learning about the songwriting process and how enjoyable it is to create our own music.
If you’re trying to explain who you sound like to someone who’s never heard you, what do you say
One of the things we’ve always disputed is who we sound most similar to; this is a question every pub asks when we apply for gigs, and we always disagree. The few bands we can agree are similar to are Arctic Monkeys, Pixies, Incubus, and Sublime, while also drawing inspiration from funk, hip-hop, and metal.
Tell us about your new single
Our upcoming single, ‘Ugley Man’, was born in a shed. After Dominic had joined the band, we were short of a practice space and he was very much a beginner to the bass guitar. Despite this, he wrote what is one of our most recognisable and best sounding songs to date on a whim, all in Harrison’s shed. As soon as we’d all heard that infectious bass line, we were raring to start writing more and taking ourselves seriously as a band. This is the song that caught the attention of our fairy groovefather, Trevor Gibson, who helped us better the song and produced it with us at his studio, Circle Recording Studio.
Where can we get hold of it
You can find our new single, ‘Ugley Man’, on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, SoundCloud and a number of various radio stations.
Tell us how you write
When we write, we like to link arms to channel our chi energy into the severed goat head in the middle of our ‘shaboingboing circle’; this provides us with divine inspiration and visions from above. (Nothing for nosey’s, chips and bogeys).
Tell us about your live show
The easiest way to describe our live shows is to say that we love to poke fun at the crowd and love to get a little bit of gripe back. Our set is mostly originals with a few rewritten covers to keep it interesting. We absolutely adore the banter we have with our audiences, and it’s one of the key things that makes us love performing in the first place. Our dream gig would probably be to perform at tramlines; we’re all for the idea of giving back to the music industry. All of the smaller, up-and-coming bands they have playing make us feel like Tramlines really cares about supporting smaller artists and emerging bands, which we would also love to do!
What can we expect from you in the near future
Our new single ‘Ugly Man’ comes out on 9th May, but if you’re itching for a fix, we host regular live streams, shenanigans and content updates on our social media pages (@Flying.Rats_). We can’t speak on an exact plan, but in the near future, you can expect a few more singles, live performances and interviews, all spearheaded by our latest single, ‘Ugly Man’.
Tell us your favourite records that are rocking your stereo/headphones/tour bus
One of the records that’s always blasting through Harrison’s stereo is Linkin Park – Hybrid Theory. If you pay attention when he’s wearing shorts, you might see just how much he likes this album.
Dominic’s poison is Type O Negative – World Coming Down, at any given time, you can hear this from the street outside his house.
The drummer, Lewis, has never been able to get enough of Pearl Jam – Vs, David Abbruzzese’s drumming is positively riveting, and I don’t think anyone would be able to blame him for loving this album so much.
Macenzie curled into a ball on the floor when we asked this question, repeating that he could never choose between Alice in Chains – Self Titled and Pixies – Dolittle.
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