“WE ARE SO EXCITED TO BRING NEW STUFF INTO THE WORLD!” | INTERVIEW WITH EDINBURGH’S FLAME
INTERVIEW | FLAME by Anne Kelly
From making their live debut just over a year to becoming a completed puzzle by July, Edinburgh‘s Flame are one of the capitals most alluring quintets in the rise.
Boasting a sound defined by “emotional textures” and unexpected influences, Flame derived their influences from a meeting pot of inspiration from classical backgrounds to more traditional roots. As they prepare to join Northern Exposure Live in Glasgow this weekend, we caught up with the band to discuss how they’ve spent the last year refining their craft and why 2026 is going to be their biggest year yet.
Flame, let’s pretend I’m Cilla Black for a moment and we’re on Blind Date…What’s your name and where do you come from??
Hey there, this is Flame! We are Ciaran McKinven, Fiammetta Nisio (aka Flame), James Campbell, Francis Brewitt, and James Veitch, and we are your next up favourite alternative rock band from Edinburgh!
Was there a specific moment or gig where the five of you realised Flame was no longer just a hobby and something you wanted to turn into something bigger?
We have been playing together for a little over a year, but I think it’s safe to say that we all agree that our very first gig as a four-piece in April 2025 was the moment where we felt like something bigger was brewing. This feeling consolidated when James Veitch joined us around July last year, and even rehearsals started feeling like something more than just practicing or a musical hangout. Every gig we have played ever since has had a different striving taste!
Your last single, ‘Gravity’ was released a year ago, how have Flame evolved since that track and can we expect to hear anything new this year?
Our sound since‘Gravity‘ has definitely evolved into something more cohesive with everyone’s music tastes and influence, especially with it being the very first and early collaborative project. Even the way we play it live hits so differently than the studio version. I think we have been spending a lot of time weaving a lot of different emotional textures and dynamics into every song we have written so far. You will definitely be able to hear something new this year, and we are actually beyond excited to bring new stuff into the world!
Talk to us about your influences: as a five piece, how do these vary? Is there one band that you all collectively home in on?
Everyone in the band has very different music tastes, but so does every other band; the interesting thing might be that we all come from very different musical backgrounds, from classical to traditional, to funk, to progressive metal, to folk, and still found a common ground where everything merges in the most unexpected way. Every time we write a song, it’s like a little adventure to see which part prevails. That’s probably why we don’t have a singular band we can easily and collectively identify in, but we all tune in to each other’s playlists and recommendations – maybe for the better and for the worse haha.
When it comes to songwriting, what does the process look like for Flame?
It’s usually Flame (Fiammetta) that would come up with the starting ideas, whether it’s a riff or lyrics, we eventually just jam it out in rehearsals. It’s actually very funny how everyone reacts differently when trying things out, we end up going down so many musical tangents until what we play kind of “mirrors” what we feel to be us. I guess our different influences really come into play in these instances.
Sometimes it would take 30 minutes, sometimes much longer, like weeks or so, but it eventually feels right, and we get very excited to bring them on stage.
Your next gig is at Glasgow’s Classic Grand, as a band that straddles both Edinburgh and Glasgow, do you find you have to play differently to win over a West Coast crowd?
We love playing both Glasgow and Edinburgh! We always feel at home, even if being based in Edinburgh might make things a bit trickier sometimes when gigging in different cities. We are an emerging band, and Glasgow is an entirely different crowd, and the way we approach these gigs is to ALWAYS play our best, we stay positive, we stay animated because these people don’t know us, they just know the music, but if we can make them know us through the music, then that’s what we always strive to do!
We would also absolutely love to – and are currently looking to – start gigging in other cities in and outside Scotland!
Gearing up for a gig, what do you do as a band to prepare for this?
As a band, we tend to travel to gigs together whenever we can! It gives us the time to prepare for the gig as well as giving us time to chill/hang out as friends, not to mention that’s usually when the funniest tragedies happen. Scran after sound check is a must, so we usually go on some silly nearby adventures looking for snacks!
The lineup for this show is stacked with local, female leading talent. Is there anyone else on the bill you’re particularly excited to catch on the night?
It’s such a diverse and brilliant line-up, it’s pretty much impossible to pick a favourite! We are excited and honestly really glad to be playing in an all-female fronted line-up for the first time. We are sure it’s gonna be such a good night, and are equally thrilled to catch everyone.
Finally, you can pick one dinner party guest each (dead or alive) who is sitting at the table?
Flame: Rasputin
Ciaran: Shakespeare
Fran: Robert Palmer
James C: DJ Khaled
James V: Norm Macdonald
Tickets for Northern Exposure Live on 9th May with Red Vanilla, Brielle, Flames, The High Priestess and Saint Sappho are available for just £10 (plus £1 booking fee) from B12 Entertainment now.
