Foals are young stallions
Foals lead singer and guitarist Yannis Philippakis took a few minutes to talk to Music Felix before the gig at the Scala (reviewed overleaf) to answer some of our questions.
Felix – You’re on a headline tour at the moment – how is it going? Is it very tiring? You’re all very energetic on stage…
Yannis – Yes, I’m very tired.
But you still keep going?
Yeah, I got in a fight in Reading where I got my earring pulled out of my ear, and I’ve got an ulcer. Our guitarist chipped his tooth, our bassist has two black eyes and that’s all just from the last four days!
There’s not going to be any cancelling of dates though?
No - there’s no ‘Plan B’ for us!
You’ve just recorded your new album (with Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio in New York), which I’m very excited about. What was it like working with Dave?
(Jokingly) pretty unpleasant.
Did he push you hard?
It was just a big ego clash!
Hopefully he knows what he’s doing though…
Yeah, he does. He’s a good friend of mine now.
Any idea of a release date?
March sometime. There’ll be some stuff released off it before, some singles and things.
New songs?
Well, Balloons is the first single, and that’s an old one, but after that, yeah.
Why did you decide not to put some of your older songs on the album? Have you moved on from them?
Yeah, we always like to progress. We write prolifically, so it doesn’t make sense to keep re-releasing the same songs. I don’t like albums where you’ve heard four of the songs before because then it doesn’t feel like an album, it’s just a collection of songs!
I’ve noticed listening to your older songs on the demos that there’s a big difference between them and your new singles…
You think so? Really?
Definitely! Not only in the style, where I assume you didn’t have much in the means of production facilities available at the time, but also structurally some of your songs like ‘Hummer’ have changed a lot from the demos.
Well, we recorded that demo in a barn for free!
So have the songs changed because you couldn’t record them as you wanted to when you started, or have they evolved as you played them live into something different?
Definitely both. We always want to progress, so I don’t ever want to write a song that sounds like Hummer ever again. Not because I don’t like it, but because I don’t find the idea of stagnancy enjoyable, and I don’t understand why some bands do!
So do you think that if you were still playing in five years’ time you would still play the ‘classics’ live, or would you be the kind of band that only plays the new album?
Yeah, the live thing is different, I like doing everything live. I think a live set is just meant to be relentless and in your face and energetic and violent, and that will always be like that. I’m interested in making records, and I think the live experience is something that is pretty much divorced from that and they are two very separate arenas in which I perform. I enjoy both equally, but the progression of the idea of what Foals is as a band is like a recorded thing. Live it is always going to have this energy. I hope so anyway!
You’re supporting Bloc Party on their arena tour. Are you nervous? Excited?
I get nervous when I leave my house so I’m used to that! But yes, I do get nervous.
Do you see yourself ever headlining venues that size?
No, not that size!
Let me ask you about Youthmovies – you’re good friends with them…
Yeah, best friends! Andrew (Youthmovies’ lead singer/guitarist) is my best friend.
Have you heard their album yet? Have they given you a copy?
Yeah, I have.
What’s it like? Give us the inside information!
(Jokingly) Pretty rubbish!
Nothing like as good as yours I suppose?
No, it’s good! He is my best friend in the whole world – I’d take bullets for him!
Can you see a joint tour coming in the future?
Yeah, possibly.
After your last band, ‘The Edmund Fitzgerald’, split up you said it was because it wasn’t fun anymore. Do you ever see that happening with Foals? Could you just get bored with this and want to do something completely different? Could you just drop it all and move on?
Yeah, definitely. If it got boring or if it wasn’t fulfilling or I felt like we hadn’t achieved what we should have then I would stop. There is so much different stuff I want to do other than this, and it’s the same for all of us. Our next record might just be ‘Cello and drums, no guitars – but it will still be Foals. I think there is something intrinsic to it that will always be there, but the textures and the way we produce sounds might be completely different. I find it really weird when people say ‘I can’t believe you put brass on your record’ or ‘I can’t believe there’s no synths on it’ – because there isn’t any. Why should you be so offended with the way we produce sounds? It will still sound like us!
How would you do that live? If the new songs have got brass on them will you get a brass section to tour with you?
I don’t know, we have to try and sort that out.
You have said before that you write songs for people to dance to. Would you write a song that you couldn’t dance to? A ballad maybe?
Absolutely! There are songs on the album you can’t dance to.
Ok, thanks for taking the time to talk to us.
No problem!
