Interviews: Felix Hagan and the Family are bringing spectacle to a boring rock scene

London's Felix Hagan And The Family call themselves a "seven-piece beast made of makeup, hairspray and rock and roll." The theatrical multi-genre group has been touring in support of their new album Attention Seeker, which arrived last October. Writer Graham Isador caught up with the band recently to dig into their storied live performances an what makes Hagan tick.

Felix Hagan is standing on a bar top and pointing. Adorned in skin tight pants and a feather boa, his face caked in show makeup the frontman belts out high notes, harmonizing with his impossibly jovial seven piece band, and really making a show of it. It’s like what would happen if Tim Curry was playing Freddie Mercury in a bio pic directed by Baz Luhrmann. The crowd below is eating it up: shaking their hips in a way that’s seldom seen at a rock show, playfully flirting with the other members of the audience, and generally having the best fucking time. Everyone is drenched in sweat. The whole escapade has been going on for forty five minutes and shows no sign of stopping. It’s night one of the Attention Seeker tour.

Attention Seeker, the new album from Felix Hagan and the Family plays on the finer points of the live show, bringing together influences from punk rock, show tunes, glam, and pop for the band’s much anticipated debut. On the backs of the steller first effort the group has earned the praise of some of UK’s finest and even landed support gigs with folk punk troubadour Frank Turner. Recently I had the chance to sit down with Hagan to chat about his ongoing effort to make rock fun again. You can read our conversation below.

Graham Isador: Your band draws from a lot of different sources. I hear a lot of show tune influence in Attention Seeker. That type of theatricality is also a big part of the live show. Talk to me about that influence.

Felix Hagan: My earliest exposure to live music was through the world of musical theatre. When I was a tiny child growing up in London my Mum would take us off to see matinees of all the West End shows, and that particular type of entertainment took its place forever in my heart. The theory of musical theatre is still my guiding principle when writing songs. Make them as catchy as possible, never ever let them be boring, and then deliver them BIG.
When I was watching all those shows growing up, the spectacle of it was so perfect. I remember seeing Return to the Forbidden Planet when I was about nine, and seeing five drummers all hammering out the solo from “Wipeout” loud as hell on a crashing spaceship, while things exploded and twenty people did a huge dance number. After that, you kind of set your standards for entertainment pretty high. And that’s the spirit we bring to our shows. Never let up, never let it stop and give absolutely all of your energy to the audience.

For anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure, can you walk us through what your typical live show looks like?

The seven of us rush on, covered in tights, glitter and other such beautiful sparkling adornments, then smash into an hour-long rock/pop/glam/punk extravaganza that has been ruthlessly rehearsed and calibrated to make sure that every single person in the crowd has the best time possible. Ellie, Tash and I are out the front, gyrating away and yelling out all the words, and the four finest musicians I know are behind us, bringing the tastiest grooves in the fucking world. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, it’ll change your life.

That’s a bold statement, Felix. Something that might be indicative of a person who…seeks attention. The new album is called Attention Seeker. Are you, Felix, an Attention Seeker?

Oh god, yes. I have always had a quite troublesome dose of social anxiety in lots of situations, and it is through music and performance that I am able to contextualise my existence and give myself the confidence to go out and perform and talk to people. When I am left without a stage and the means to demonstrate that side of myself I get hugely nervous and shy, which can make some social occasions awkward. It’s what several of the songs on the record are about, including the title track. It’s about being desperate for people to see you perform, as it’s the only way you can really show yourself. It’s a fun little insight into the monsters that lurk in the back of the psychological cupboard.

I’ve always been fascinated by artists who use their given name as a band name. How does the rest of the band feel about this?

I always had a huge fondness for the Someone and the somethings style of band name, as for me it always called to mind old Motown bands, really shit-hot musicians performing something slickly choreographed and euphoric. This band started as a means to perform a solo record that I released a few years ago, hence the name. But since then everything has changed entirely. We have gone from me and a (dreaded phrase) backing band to seven complete equals, all driving the ship and all bringing our own brand of magic to the whole. If anyone was to leave, the whole thing would change entirely. Everything I write now for the band is founded on their abilities to nail every style and deliver it all in such a huge and joyful way, and it’s so rare to find a group of musicians with such varied influences who all believe in the same fundamental idea and trust each other so implicitly. And we all really adore each other’s company, so luckily I think we’re okay for a good few years yet!

That’s all very sweet. I’m going to riff on that explanation when I pitch the new website name Graham Isador and the other writers at Punknews. What is the worst thing you’ve ever done for attention?

When I was thirteen, in the first week of my new big school, all the 150 pupils in my year trudged into the theatre for a health and safety demonstration. The kindly old man giving the talk asked for a volunteer. Eager to impress this huge cloud of terrifying strangers my hand leapt up, and I clambered on to the stage. He began placing me in the recovery position, when my new “You’ll grow into them” school trousers rode up awkwardly, and for all the world it looked like the sensation of an elderly man administering medical treatment was giving me a feverish young erection. Cue widespread hysterics and weeks of homophobic jibes from the worst people in the world. Great first week.

Indeed. The band is about the head on tour. Where can people see you play?

We just played London tonight at the Borderline, but things are finishing up for the winter. All Dates for next year are available soon on our Facebook page.

What is the best show you’ve ever played?

Tonight was pretty fucking awesome. The crowd were mainly old friends who’ve been with us since they saw us on the Frank Turner tour last year, and they’d brought friends. So there was a lot of singing and dancing out in the crowd. This is also our first tour with our own sound engineer, the wonderful Zac, who makes every show a fucking pleasure to perform. But I have to say that playing at Usher Hall in Edinburgh on the Frank Tour was a real highlight. It is such a huge a beautiful venue, and by that point in the tour we were so well-drilled with the show that it felt perfect. We then went on to have one of the funniest nights of our life trawling the metal bars of the city, but that’s a story for a different day.

Thanks for chatting my friend. As an attention seeker I’ll give you the last word. Is there anything you’d like to wrap on?

Oh yes. We’ll be heading out on tour again early next year, and we’re hugely excited about what happens next now that the album is out. We are devising a brand new stage show, and we’re getting ready to be busy as hell. We can’t wait.

Graham Isador is on twitter @presgang