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Foals are an internationally
renowned band from Oxford that garnered copious hype and praise from
the UK music press way back in 2006, playing infamous, injury inducing
sets at sweaty packed-out-the-door house parties in London. Initially
playing smart angular indie rock with pop hooks and an anti-establishment
attitude, the band’s sound has expanded and evolved since their debut
album Antidotes was released
in 2008. After 2 years of exhausting touring the band is set to release
their follow up LP Total Life Forever. I caught up with Foals’
Oxford accented guitarist and synth player Jimmy Smith
on the phone to talk about their new record, touring and future plans - including a visit down under!
Hey Jimmy, how’re you going?
I’m good man, how’re you?
Not too bad, are you in Oxford?
I’m actually in Cambridge, bizarrely
enough. Yeah, we’ve got a day off on tour
Nice
Yeah, really nice
You’re in the middle of a pretty
big one at the moment hey?
Yeah, yeah it’s certainly taking
its toll on my mental health
Understandably
... and my liver.
[Laughs]
That’s not such a bad thing I suppose
[Laughs] Yeah
So, to the questions...
Some moments in
Total Life Forever are quite a departure from
Antidotes in that it’s darker and more atmospheric, with the
slower tempos, particularly in tracks like Spanish Sahara and 2 Trees.
Were you consciously trying to move away from your sort of
funkier, dance-oriented debut?
When we wrote these songs it wasn’t
like a conscious effort to do something different from the first one.
We just wanted to... It was quite appealing to us to try and write songs
that are like out of our comfort zone, you know? Like “proper” songs,
like ballads almost.
Yeah, well
Spanish Sahara is definitely a ballad I’d say
Yeah, and I think ballad gets a bad
rep as a word but, you know, you’re right.
When it’s well executed it can
be brilliant
Yeah! Yeah definitely.
So I wanted to ask you about
the producer. This time around you used Luke Smith,
who has worked with Shitdisco in the past. How did you end up working
with him and what was the process like?
Yeah Luke Smith, yeah, he was great.
We call him “The Ham”. He does this thing where he’s got these
really hammy hands, and if he’s into something he starts shaking it
a lot. So it’s always a good sign, if the ham came out we knew we
were making a good song.
But yeah we got introduced to him,
because we were trying out loads of producers and it wasn’t really
working. Like we had a go with like a few big shots, and it wasn’t
really there. And then he seemed to, from what he said before we went
into the studio, like he seemed to really get what we wanted to do.
And he was actually like, visually excited about the sonic side
of things.
Yeah,
I think that that shows in the record, it’s got a really great sound.
Yeah, a really great sound. Like he
was painstaking. It really pissed us off at times like how painstaking
he was in the studio. Cos he’d spend entire days just working on a
drum sound, you know. But yeah, it just shows, if you pay a bit more
attention to something it pays off.
I read some interviews where you
guys talked a lot about taking drugs in the studio while you were making
your first record. Was this still important while you were making
Total Life Forever
as well?
Uh no, not really, no. Like, first
record we just got stoned because Dave Sitek said we had to, you know?
[Laughs] He didn’t give us much choice in the matter.
[For the uninitiated Dave
Sitek produced Foals’ first record, Antidotes, and is also the guitarist
and producer for excellent US band TV
On The Radio]
Yeah, I read an interview with
Yannis where he was saying he was being force fed joints and Jameson.
Yeah, literally the first thing [Sitek]
said when we came through the door was “get that spliff rolled”,
basically. And the weed he was smoking was so fucking strong that even
if you just smoked one spliff you were stoned for about a month. [Laughs]
So this time around it was like in Sweden, drinking 2.5% beer.
So was it more sort of focussed
for you guys?
Yeah, yeah definitely. And like we
were actually living in the studio this time, whereas last time we were
in New York, in Williamsburg so it was like in the heart of party town.
There were a lot of distractions. Whereas this time around it was a
much bigger studio. We could actually separate ourselves off from what’s
actually going on, so we could sort like, while they’re working on
the song in one room we could be working on another one, or just sounds
you know. I spent like 2 weeks just shaping sounds on these old synthesizers.
You’re a band that’s known for
experimentation and sonic exploration. What did you do this time around
to get the interesting and unique sounds that you’ve got on the record?
Well, we tried to put a lid on it this
time round. I mean like, last time when we were recording the album
there was such a heavy time restraint for Antidotes that we didn’t
actually have any time to experiment really, but this time round we
had all the time in the world. So I think we tried to experiment, not
in an obvious way. Like with sonics, and ambience, and like kind of
experiment with the actual feel of the whole album. Luke [Smith] did
a lot of that to be honest, because he had these crazy modular things,
and he basically put everything through it and changed like the sound
of a guitar or a drum just ever so slightly, but when you put it all
together it kind of creates this sound.
You guys have talked a lot about
advancing musically and trying to innovate and be progressive as a band.
Where do you see the band’s sound heading, or is it
something that you discover along the way?
Well, we’ve already decided that
we want to make a really, really pop record next time.
Right, like a bubblegum pop record,
short songs and stuff?
Yeah! Yeah. Mate, you know, in the
vein of like Talking Heads, but like better. But, you know, we were
saying we wanted to make a surf pop album for Total Life Forever
and that didn’t really happen so god knows what we’ll get.
Around the release of your first
album you guys were sort of considered a
‘hype band’, with publications like NME
and so on building up the expectations.
How did this help the band and how did you feel about that
‘hype band’ label?
Well, we don’t really give a fuck
what the media says to be honest. We definitely don’t let it influence
any choices we make. It just helps us, it just boosted us, like suddenly
we weren’t just this small band from Oxford, like people all around
the world kind of knew our name without even seeing us, which meant
that when we’d go and play shows, you know people would turn up and
that was our excuse just to try and win them over.
You’re a successful band that
seems determined to maintain your integrity in the midst of
this crazy industry, in the state it’s in today. How have you found
dealing with these people and have you had to fight for creative control?
No not at all man, not at all. Like,
we’re signed to like a major record label and we’ve got a major
management company, but like we’ve got complete creative control.
They’ve never, like Warner Brothers or whoever have never actually
intruded on the writing process or anything. They completely respect
what we do.
That’s great
And like, we hear of examples of labels
fucking with bands, and bands getting paranoid and making terrible mistakes,
but we’ve just never experienced that.
Right, I can see how it would happen
with A&R guys trying to push you in a pop direction where you weren’t
going or something like that
Yeah because, you know, we’re constantly
surrounded by these people and you put a lot of trust in them. Especially
management, and close people at the record label. And if they start
misguiding you, you don’t really know. When you’re so caught up
with like being on tour or something and then they start giving you
mal advice and then next thing you know, you’re fucked.
So would it be fair to say that
you guys are quite wary of the industry as a whole?
Yeah, I think you’ve gotta be. I
think we’re a lot more comfortable with it now than we were a couple
of years ago. We’ve learnt a few lessons the hard way, we’ve just
gained some experience.
So what’s been the most memorable
gig for Foals?
Well, the one I keep thinking about
is, well it’s either Glastonbury or Redding festival in 2008. Cos
that was like the first time we played to like a properly big crowd
and it was kinda mind blowing that all these people had come to see
us.
Do you know how many people were
there?
I think at Glastonbury it was like
30,000.
30,000 watching you guys?
Yeah
Wow
I know, yeah. And we all used to go
to these festivals. So I used to camp opposite the stage we played at
in Glastonbury, and look at it and wonder and you know, dream of playing
there and I was actually fucking playing it. I felt like I was on ecstasy.
I actually thought someone had spiked my drink at one point.
That sounds pretty fucking good
man
Yeah! It was good man. It was good.
So when are Foals heading over to
Australia?
We’re coming over in August I think,
for Splendour. It’s not ideal, because we’re coming over and we’ve
gotta go to Japan as well, so we’re literally doing like 2 extra shows
and then Splendour I think, so like we’re playing Sydney and Melbourne
and then Splendour.
I’m in
Melbourne, I’ll try and get down to the show
Yeah man, it’d be great. I can’t
wait man. We’ve got a lot of friends from Australia. And it seems
like Australian people, when they’re in London, just like to talk
about Australia a lot [laughs]... And like the beaches, and you know...
Especially our friend Dave Marr who does all our videos. He’s like
the ambassador of Australia, and it just makes me want to
go there so much.
So you’ve never been to Australia
before?
No, the only person that’s been is
Edward. He went on a DJ tour, like the end of last year.
Was he
DJing as Foals DJs or has he got an alternative moniker?
At the moment he’s still under Foals
DJs. He needs to get a sort of pseudonym, yeah? Something catchy.
Any ideas?
Uh... Captain Calamity. [Totally deadpanned]
[Laughs]
Yeah, I reckon I’d go to a Captain Calamity
gig
...DJ Fritzel. [Laughs] He’s looking
at me in a bad way now...
[Laughs] Alright man,
thanks for that! Hopefully I’ll get out to that August side show
Yeah man. Yeah you should definitely
come.
You can catch Foals at Splendour
In the Grass, which runs from Friday 30th July to Sat 1st
August, PLUS: Tuesday July 27 – The Hi-Fi, Melbourne and Wednesday July 28 – Manning Bar, Sydney.
Their new album Total Life Forever is released through Warner Music Australia on May 7th’=.
