INTERVIEW

Alice Gee | 14/10/2025

In a world where importance, originality and success is determined using metrics of virality, The Ramona Flowers are firmly stepping in the opposite direction with their new album, instead focusing on raw honesty, navigating depths of vulnerability, personal growth and creative reinvention taking priority. Sat with singer Steve Bird, guitarist Sam Dyson, keyboardist/guitarist Dave Betts anddrummer Ed Gallimore, the band are excited to rediscover earlier sounds, excited about the potential and evolution of their music. What unfolds is a portrait of a band unafraid to tear up the rule book, strip things back and grow. It’s more than a new album, it’s a whole new era.

Alice

When you began working on the new album, did you go in with a clear structure or concept in mind, or was it more about experimenting and creating what felt right at the time?

Steve

We had done the same things for the past three albums, so this time we wanted to try something different, mainly just being as honest as I could lyrically. This is probably the most honest and stripped-back I’ve ever been in my writing. The written process itself was different too.

Sam

We all came in with ideas, so it was much more collaborative this time. Everyone had their own collection of ideas, and we’d sit together, listen through them, and decide, “Oh yeah, that one’s really cool, let’s go with that.” 

We’d usually pick one idea from each of us, which is really nice because it meant everyone had a sense of ownership over certain songs on the album. I think that made it all feel more connected and interesting.

Alice

Did you feel comfortable to lay things in the album and be vulnerable?

Steve

We've been together a long time, so we know each other inside out. I had some big events in my life. I went through addiction problems then having a child, and the pandemic hit. It was just a bit mad that everything was happening at once. I think it was a mix of all those things, along with realising how hard I’d been trying before. It’s really difficult to be completely honest when you’re writing songs but I feel like I finally found a way to just let it all out this time.

Alice

There’s often that moment needed. You can plan and want to be open, but it doesn’t always work like that. There are moments where you feel more comfortable and more understanding of it all, where you can make sense of it and communicate it in a way that feels right.

Steve

I started doing therapy, and understanding a lot more about myself. As you get older, things make a bit more sense.

As a songwriter, it’s always difficult when you're talking about people you love. There's always things about my past lovers in the songs, which makes my wife uncomfortable to hear. 

Alice

You don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, obviously, but I guess you get to a point where you just want to speak your truth and be honest about your feelings. It’s that balance, learning how to navigate it.

Did you find that this album marked a bit of a pivot from the sounds you’ve created before, like an evolution into something new? Or was it more about returning to something familiar, a kind of home comfort?

Ed

Definitely not a home comfort. We moved around studios like they were going out fashion, and we recorded all over the world.

Our producers are really good at encouraging us to make the most of what we’ve got. I think, going into it, we knew we wanted to change up our sound. We just didn’t know exactly what we wanted yet.

Sam

What we did is get away from the electronic thing. We're a real band. Everyone plays really well, so we want it to be more organic and real.

Steve

I think the environment really affects how you feel. When the guys are writing the music, what they play influences what I want to talk about, and that’s always shaped by where we are. It definitely helped us this time. 

Ed

It's really hard to be inspired, if you wake up every day and live the same life.

Alice

What was important to you in shaping the identity of the album and what felt important for you to express in terms of identity? 

Steve

We were trying to find something different, and we found a lot of ideas from our early work. We wrote ‘All Night’, which is one of our first songs we released. We realised that’s the sound of this song, and the rest will spawn from that one.

Ed

What’s interesting is that, towards the end of the process, we started writing a few tracks that summer, right at the tail end of the album, and it almost feels like those songs have one foot in this album and one foot in whatever’s coming next.

Because the album was made over such a long period of time, there were loads of songs that ended up falling by the wayside, some we were sure would make it on. Really good ones, too. But when you listen to the album now, you can actually hear that progression of us growing in confidence with what we’re creating, and Steve becoming more confident in sharing his story. I think what’s coming next feels really exciting.

Alice

Were there any difficult moments?

Steve

When we do certain gigs, especially the acoustic ones we’ve got coming up, there’s always that thought that someone might not like it. I find you have to explain the meaning behind the songs a lot more in those intimate settings, and that can be quite difficult to put into words. It can feel a bit uncomfortable, especially when you’re surrounded by all that energy. It sort of stirs everything up again and it’s a weird feeling.