We caught up with Sidmouth veterans Flook for a few questions on the sofa ahead of their return to Sidmouth in August….

You’re celebrating 30 years of Flook this year. Congratulations! Going back to the start, how did the band initially come together? What were your aspirations for the group at the beginning? 

Thank you, yes, thirty years is quite an achievement, with the same line up since 1997! In all honesty, we didn’t have a plan at the start and we don’t have one now. A mutual friend of Sarah, Brian and Mike (McGoldrick) was asked to suggest a group for a flute-based festival at Jackson’s Lane Arts Centre in London and she thought the three of us would make a good combination. She called us Three Nations Flutes, and she booked us a tour so the flute festival wasn’t just a one-off. We enjoyed the gigs so much that we wanted to carry on. We didn’t like the name, however, and it wasn’t anyway accurate, so we quickly changed it to Fluke and then subsequently to Flook, and we enlisted our friend Ed Boyd on guitar to balance the sound. When Mike left early on, we decided that 2 flutes was plenty and at that point John Joe joined us on bodhrán. The rest is history. 

This year you’ve had a hectic schedule touring your new record ‘Sanju’ all over the UK, Europe and Japan. What have some of the highlights been from your travels?  

All of our gigs have felt special this year. We started the year in Switzerland. We’d never done a run of gigs there before so that was a great fresh start. We always love our tours in Japan. We’ve been there 8 or so times over the past 20 years. We are looked after so well and the people that come to the shows are so respectful and knowledgable about the music and the country is a beautiful mix of calm and high tech, depending where you are! All our gigs around Europe and UK have been really enjoyable too – our show in Paris last month felt electric and the UK dates have been a lovely mixture of old favourite venues and new venues.

Looking ahead to Sidmouth this summer, you’re playing a special afternoon concert at The Ham – what can people expect from your set? 

We’ll be playing all the tracks from our new CD, Sanju, and a selection of material from our previous releases – we just made a Flook tunebook, so we have rediscovered some older tunes we used to play and are trying to re-introduce some into the live set.

Do you have any favourite Sidmouth memories from over the years? 

Recording our first Sidmouth gig in the Ham Marquee and releasing it as our debut album (with an introduction from none other than the delightful Ralph McTell!) is definitely up there. We’re fairly sure we did a slot in a packed and sweaty room in the Bedford Hotel too. It was great to share billings with Emily Portman, Lucy Farrell and Rachel Newton and Lisa O’Neill in more recent times. 

Is there a specific Sidmouth tradition that you always try and do when you’re at the festival? Maybe a swim at a special spot, a walk, a particular meal, a certain pub you find yourself returning to every time you’re back in town? 

We always enjoy the walk to and from the Ham along the seafront, with its different stalls, buskers, and Morris teams. As we’ve only made brief stops the past couple of times we’ve played (this year will be no exception as we have to hotfoot it to Lorient after our gig) we’ve tended to get something to eat from the various food vendors outside the marquee. 

With over 750 events running across 8 days, the festival can be a bit daunting for those who haven’t been before. As Sidmouth veterans, do you have any top (survival!) tips for newcomers to the festival? 

The biggest distance between stages would be to go from Ham to the Bulverton, and it’s also uphill as we recall, so we would probably recommend getting a shuttle if you’re doing that particular journey after a long hot day down by the sea. Apart from that, Sidmouth isn’t a big town so the only problem walking around the centre is the sheer number of people – don’t be in a rush!

After a busy summer festival season, what’s next for Flook? 

We have to go to Japan again at the beginning of September, just after Tønder festival in Denmark. The recipients of this year’s Gradam Ceoil Awards in Ireland are being flown out to Osaka to participate in a Gala concert there as part of Expo 25. We’ll head straight up to the Scottish Highlands for a handful of fun gigs when we get back, then onto to Celtic Colours Festival on Cape Breton Island in Canada in October. We’ll finish off the year with a couple more weeks worth of gigs in England, Scotland and Ireland, including a show in Islington’s beautiful Union Chapel towards the end of November which we’re hoping is going to be very special.

You can see Flook live in concert on Saturday 2nd August, 3.15pm at The Ham. Tickets available here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/sidmouthfolkweekproductionsltd/1674575