The Norwich-based group shares insights into the making of their debut album out 25 April 2025

Transmission 189: Interview with Floral Image

Floral Image are a Norwich-based psychedelic rock group comprising Fergus Nolan, Jack Warner, Matt ‘Tex’ Kennedy, Mitch Forsyth, and Phil Whitton.

Title: Gone Down Meadowland
Artist: Floral Image
Release Date: 2025-04-25
Genres: Alternative Rock, Garage Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Label: Fuzz Club
Description: Interview with Floral Image on Gone Down Meadowland released 25 April 2025 by Fuzz Club recorded in Norfolk.

Their debut album Gone Down Meadowland, set for release on 25 April 2025 via Fuzz Club, was recorded independently at the band’s home base in Norfolk during 2024. The album brings together older material—initially set aside from earlier sessions—and newer tracks developed during winter rehearsals.

What got you into music in the first place? Was there a band, record, or moment that started it for you?

[Fergus] For the Italian readership of the magazine—my dad used to collect Lambrettas, and he and his friends would go to Italy to get them. They’d ride their Lambretta scooters, meet up, and play music when they came around the house. So as a kid, I’d smell the two-stroke oil while they were listening to a lot of ’90s music. I remember bands like The Verve. I probably remember those moments most—especially seeing the “Bittersweet Symphony” video. That was powerful.

[Matt] Mine was just, on a whim as a kid, finding all the music channels on TV—especially Kerrang! As soon as I came across Kerrang!, my life changed. I was like eight years old. Heavy metal.

Were there any local shows or bands in Norfolk that inspired you to start your own project?

[Fergus] My sister’s boyfriend had a band called We Can’t Dance. I used to watch them play around Norwich. They had a bass player called Matty Howes, who was pretty heroic at the time. I remember they played the 100 Club once—in London. That was cool. We went there. Apart from that, I can’t remember much, but later on, in the early stages of this band, there was a Norwich band called The Wolf Number. They played heavy instrumental psych music and were great.

When Floral Image began, did you have a plan—or did it just come together naturally from playing?

[Fergus] When Floral Image started, there wasn’t really a plan. The first version of the band was Jack, myself, and our old bass player Paul. We made a few songs, and one of them got played on Radio 1—we had submitted it, and it just happened by chance. Then we realised we should put a band together to play some shows. Since lockdown, when Matt and Mitch came on board, and later Phil, we wanted to make music with two sides—some upbeat melody, and also some heavier progression. Stuff you could either dance to or be absorbed by. That’s really been the mantra of the band. As long as those two things are being served equally, we’re happy.

Do you remember your first proper session as a band? What stands out from that time?

[Matt] I don’t know if it was a proper session, but when the current band formed, we were having a curry around Mitch’s house. Not playing or anything—Phil was there before he joined the band—and it just felt right, you know? Eating curry with him, never met him before, and he felt like he was already in the band. I can’t remember the first session we actually played together, but it must have just clicked straight away, which is really nice.

[Fergus] Yeah.

[Matt] Sometimes it’s nicer to click as friends before playing, because then you know when you do play, it’s going to be great.

[Fergus] You can trust each other then.

How did you end up connecting with Fuzz Club?

[Fergus] Turns out Jack Palfrey—he’s one of the people at Fuzz Club—is from Lowestoft, which is a seaside town very close to where we are. So he knows a lot of people we know in Norwich. Now he lives in the big city doing big city label things. But I think he’s still in touch with the Norwich and Norfolk crowd. He came to a few shows and saw us, and I guess we impressed him enough that when we sent him the album, he actually listened to it. He didn’t just put it on a shelf.

[Matt] I think it’s nice for him as well—we’re essentially a hometown band for him. I don’t think he’s signed anyone from Norwich before. I think he liked that.

How did you go about choosing which songs made it onto the album?

[Matt] I think some songs were always going to be on there. Some we wrote ages ago and held onto because they were too good to just be singles or EP tracks. They all fit together nicely. There wasn’t a big discussion or anything. We knew we needed about 10 songs. We wrote about 14. Some were already done. If we wrote something that sounded good but didn’t feel like it belonged on the record, we just held onto it for another time. The songs kind of fit themselves.

[Fergus] We knew it was going to be a debut album, so logistics mattered too. We wanted it to be on vinyl, and we couldn’t afford a double vinyl. So we had to keep it to 45 minutes. Before we even started the album, we had three songs we knew were going on—Tear Garden, Howling Dog Song, and Some for Hire.

[Matt] We’d scored those a few times.

[Fergus] Yeah. Those were the pillars of the record. Then we added songs that brought something else. We didn’t want to do the same thing again or have every song sound alike.
I think we’ve avoided that on this record. It’s pretty varied.

Were there any new sounds or ideas you wanted to try on this album for the first time?

[Fergus] We’d never used a Güiro before—and we put one on some of the songs. Do you know what that is?

[RetroFuturista] No.

[Fergus] It’s like a little wooden frog, and you scrape a stick along its back—it makes a sound like “grrkk.” But overall, I think this record brings together everything we’d released before, just in better quality.

[Matt] Higher quality, higher level.

[Fergus] Yeah, we’ve reached a point where we don’t have to try so hard to write. Some songs were brought to practice or the studio already written, and others were just born from us playing together.

[Matt] Since it’s the first record, the main thing was to get good songs down before experimenting too much. I hope with the next record, we can try more stuff. There are ideas, but I don’t think we were ready this time.

[Fergus] With a debut, you want to make a statement—but you also get more time to decide what that means. We’re all music fans, so making those decisions as five people can be hard, but we trust each other. Everyone’s input helps shape the whole.

What’s your next project after Going Down the Middle Land?

[Matt] We don’t actually know.

[Fergus] Yeah, we’ve talked about writing something next year. We’ve got new songs and jams we’re interested in. It’s just figuring out what direction to take it in.

[Matt] Exactly—going back to the last question—we might experiment more next time.
Right now, though, we’re just focused on getting this one out. One thing at a time.

[Fergus] Eventually we’ll have to think about what’s next. But honestly, there’s not a lot of thought going into it yet.

[Matt] We’re just sitting on this one and enjoying it.

[Fergus] We’ve been playing some of these songs for three years. Now they’re officially out, and other people can finally hear them.

[Matt] Yeah.

[Fergus] So we still have to love them. Dress them every morning. Send them to school.

Photos courtesy of Floral Image

Matteo Damiani

Matteo Damiani is an Italian photographer and author. Curator of the sites Retrofuturista.com; weirditaly.com; china-underground.com and others