Mainstream Popularity
Although Fluke have been producing music for the best part of two decades they remain relatively unknown to a large scale audience and the band members themselves are even less recognisable. Jon Fugler insisted in an interview with The Independent that the band's reclusivity was "less about selfish hedonism than the revival of 'a communal attitude that had long been forgotten'". The main sphere of influence where the band has had success is through their inclusion in advertisements, film and video game soundtracks.
Amongst the more prominent of these appearances was the 2003 film, The Matrix Reloaded, using the Fluke track "Slap It" renamed to Zion for compatibility with the film.
Fluke's 1997 hit "Absurd" was featured in the trailer for Get Carter, in the strip club sequence of the 2005 film Sin City and the 'Whitewash Edit' is included on the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider soundtrack which tied in with a commercial deal for Ericsson who sponsored the film and then went on to use "Absurd" in its commercials. In addition, it was featured in the video game series NFL QB Club until its discontinuation in 2002. The "Knight to King's Pawn" episode on the 2008 series of Knight Rider, the song "Absurd" was used by KITT to hide a secret message. Where possible Fluke's licensing agent, David Steel at V2 Music, tries to ensure that when their tracks are used in films they also appear on the soundtrack album:
| “ | Steel acknowledges that he "licensed the track for use in the film on the condition that it would also be included on the soundtrack." In this way, notes Steel, the song "earned significantly more money than if it had just been in the film". | ” |
This kind of exposure was welcomed by members of the band, as Jon Fugler said in an interview with Billboard:
| “ | A band's success is based on what they do, not what their music is used for. I can only speak for the UK, but I'd find it very surprising if anybody listened to an ad for any kind of normal piece of product and went, 'Oh, I'm gonna take that as being minus points against this band or this composer or this act, because they're selling out.' I don't think anybody views it like that anymore. | ” |
In 1997 Fluke's US sales totalled 14,000 which was modest compared with the 200,000 copies of Dig Your Own Hole that The Chemical Brothers sold. In an interview with Billboard magazine, Fugler stated that he felt that predicted figures for the US electronica boom were overhyped by people who were out of touch with the music scene; "The expectations came from the people who nothing to do with the music, it came from the business level, people not involved with it." This lack of commercial success has not dampened the spirits of the band however, Fugler going on to say "It’s not about being on the cover of a magazine".
Read more about this topic: Fluke (band)
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