Exclusive: Friendly Fires’ drummer Jack Savidge speaks Spurs!

He’s often thousands of miles away but Spurs regularly provide Jack Savidge a home from home as he travels the world with one of the top bands around, Friendly Fires.

A glance at the band’s gigs over the last year reads like a football fixture list - dates around the UK and Ireland, Germany, Mexico, Japan, Spain, Australia and Switzerland to be followed soon by trips to Portugal, New York, San Francisco, LA and San Diego in the USA, London, Birmingham, Manchester, Dublin, Germany, France and Holland.

As well as the music, there is another constant for Jack across all continents and cultures, and that’s Tottenham Hotspur, his football love since watching Jurgen Klinsmann dive into all our hearts in 1994.

“Touring the world, it’s always interesting watching Spurs games in different countries, interacting with the people abroad,” he explained. “I feel like I’ve interacted with a lot of fans in places like Indonesia, America, Australia and that’s really nice. It’s a global Spurs community. You just know people have shared the same ups and downs, the same experiences and there is that common ground.

“A lot of musicians are into football and when you have a group of friends who follow football, it’s something to talk about that takes the pressure off. It’s like a release valve for us.”

As detailed above, Jack (drummer) will soon be on the road again with band mates Ed Macfarlane (vocals) and Edd Gibson (guitar) as Friendly Fires promote their latest album ‘Inflorescent', their first full-length record since 2011’s ‘Pala’.

Friends since the age of 11, initially meeting at St Albans School - very much recognised by Jack as ‘Arsenal territory’ - Jack, Ed and Edd formed their first band aged 13. Friendly Fires started to catch fire in late 2007 and their debut album ‘Friendly Fires’, including tracks like ‘Kiss Of Life’ and ‘Jump In The Pool’, was nominated for the Mercury Prize. ‘Pala’ followed in 2011 and following that early success, it’s no surprise their return to the studio made the music business take notice. ‘Inflorescent’ debuted at 15 in the UK in August.

“It’s been a long time, a good eight years between albums,” reflected Jack. “We wanted to take a break after the last one. I don’t think we realised it would be as long as it has been. Right now, it doesn’t feel like that much time has passed. Looking back, I feel we’ve done the right thing because we’ve come out with something we’re really happy with.”

Back to Spurs, and as is often the case, it’s a family affair... “My stepbrother Tim was a huge Spurs fan and I remember him having posters on his wall,” Jack recalled. “This was around 1991 and Gazza, the FA Cup. I remember the 1991 FA Cup semi-final and then the final. That’s when I knew what the club was all about.

“My dad took me quite a long time after that, possibly around 1994, 1995, when Jurgen Klinsmann was at the club for the first time. At the age of 10, 11 around that time, I remember him being really God-like. I still look back at that as an amazing era.”

Jack’s music career really took off in 2007 with the release of ‘Friendly Fires’. “I always loved music growing up,” he explained. “When I left school, I didn’t really think I was pursuing a career in music. I was trying to do other things.

“The band was something that the three of us did together, but it just picked up. It wasn’t really a grand plan to make it happen. We knew we had a really good live show and that was getting us a lot of fans. Our gigs went well but the recordings and being on the radio was something we didn’t expect. We released music, it went really well and we kept on doing it. It’s crazy!”

‘Inflorescent’ is out now.

Friendly Fires are touring in September, October and November, including dates in the UK.