Flies on You

Flies on You

Flies on You is a Leeds, United Kingdom group active since 2011. It is made up of Doug Aikman and Andy Watkins. The pair form the band with the intention of playing punk rock: short, crude and demented songs, with no track over two minutes long. The project first carries the working name Pug Ugly, but they drop it because of the similarity to another band name.

Style and influences

The band’s music sits around punk, DIY post-punk, alternative rock, indie, and noise rock. Their influences include The Distillers, NoMeansNo, Jean-Jacques Burnel’s bass sound, Yugoslav indie, Belgian synth-punk, 60s chanteuses and Big Youth. They also share an interest in acts such as Thrilled Skinny and Man Or Astro-man?, with Doug Aikman especially pleased to find “Sweden’s answer to Thrilled Skinny” and Andy Watkins taken with a Japanese equivalent to Man Or Astro-man?

Debut album

The debut album, Nothing To Write Home About, is released in September 2012. It contains 18 tracks and includes hummable melodies, occasional uplifting choruses, danceable moments, pathos, eccentric detours and moments of subtlety alongside the band’s usual abrasive sound.

The band is described as a DIY post-punk act, though it also uses the word punk frequently in relation to its own music.