An Interview with The FMs .....New Single "Annihilation Denial"

Does anyone have a vision? The answer to that is yes! The FMs, the Brooklyn based synth-pop’s politically charged, seductively queer and gender fluid band care about the earth, and the fact that mankind is on the path to destroying it. Their nearly released song “Annihilation Denial,” a collaborative effort with singer Miss Cherry Delight, screams a vivid and vibrant warning to humankind. A look into the near future and the now pleads with humanity to stop their selfishness and carelessness….

“It feels like a perfect time to be releasing an angry AF song about humanities infatuation with convenient truths. It’s lazy and dangerous to never think about tomorrow, the only believe things that sound sweet to your ears, and validate your existing worldview. The fact is, we are ruining the planet for our children and every generation after them. Deep down I believe everyone knows this, they are just too craven to except it”….Matte Namer, The FMs

Your new song speaks about climate change, pollution, and everything else that’s destroying the earth. What do you think we have to do to get people’s attention?

I’d say it depends on who you are talking to. There is no one size fits all winning message. The quest to change people’s perspective on climate change is a marathon… no hail Mary approaches will work. That said, from an artistic perspective I think this song is not just about climate change, but rather the human psychology that gravitates us away from thinking about hard things that will happen in the future. I think the song and probably in particular the video have a messaging around the climate crisis that is different than anyone has ever seen or heard before.

What inspired you to write the song in the first place as there are so many issues affecting the world at the moment?

It always feels like there is a more immediate crisis to address. Every progressive right now, myself included, is extremely concerned with the threat Trump poses to democracy and the cult-like status that Trumpism is starting to shape itself around. But most likely Trump’s autocratic legacy won’t be something folks will be talking too much about in fifty years from now, he’ll be someone we talk about like we do Nixon today or at worst Francisco Franco, whereas the effects of climate change will affect every human living on this planet for the next hundreds of years at a minimum. Perhaps it’s this idea of today’s problems vs. tomorrow’s problems which interests me in this topic.

You are pretty much brilliant. Do you see a solution for our planet?

That is so sweet of you to say, but I don’t feel especially smart. Most of what I’ve learned about climate change has been from incredible women, like my Partner who have dedicated their lives towards studying and helping fight climate change. So I preface my opinion here by saying I don’t want to be another white person with penis who maybe read one book on this and pretends like I’m an expert. On a basic level though, the message I’d like to share is that this is absolutely a crisis that can be somewhat easily solved. The key word here is investment; we need to be investing a marginal amount of our wealth towards climate solutions and that marginal investment will go an incredibly long way. Humans have not fully evolved away from a scarcity mentality, and so some folks think it’s absurd that any money would be put towards stopping a crisis with a ten-twenty-thirty etc. year time horizon when folks are struggling or going hungry today. The problem is the lack of the investment of pennies today will cost us hundreds upon thousands of dollars worth of damage over the next few hundred years for all of our children and their children.

What do you want people watching the video to take away with them?

I’d be surprised but also delighted if I helped catalyze this issue as important in peoples’ minds. Moreso as an artist I would always hope to make people feel something powerful while watching it, and that their experience and brain have been enhanced by something new.

Does Miss Cherry Delight share your feelings?

Haha, yes absolutely. Cherry co-wrote the lyrics for this song (the ones she sings) and came up with some amazingly brilliant lyrics (right on the spot in the studio I might add). In particular looking back I remember being super impressed with how quickly she came up with these verses and sang them with such skill before I could look up from my phone. I was like damn that is some pro-level shit right there.

Even though this song just came out, what is next for The FMs?

We will be releasing a video for our Silent City Remix and also releasing a two-song single on vinyl Song X/ Bad Girl in January/ February. That will be a really big deal release for us so stay tuned. We got to work with some amazing folks on that release including John Siket (Phish, Sonic Youth, and Peter Murphy, Blonde Redhead) and grammy winner Brian Forbes.

Why do The FMs want to change the world single handed and how can we help?

Haha, in all of our hearts don’t we all on some level just want to change the world for the better. In general, both The FMs and the world itself can use all the help you can offer. Anyone who ever listens to or shares our music is like the most amazing person on the planet to us. We work so hard at what we do and most of the time it feels kind of unrewarding, but the moment we move even just one person for even a moment its a whole new world of inspiration to us.