Interview : Foals
(Louis first apologises for his bad English)
Yannis (to Louis) : It’s alright, I speak little French. And I’m in your country, so I should feel bad, not you.
Louis : Your style is math-rock – can you ...
Yannis : Je comprends le français un peu.
Louis : Can you explain what is math-rock ? It’s not very famous, neither popular in France …
Yannis : Le math-rock isn’t really a real thing. There was some bands in America that were kind of called “math-rock”, and it was kind of a joke.
Jimmy : It was just a way to pidgeon-hole bands that couldn’t be pidgeon-holed.
Yannis : And a lot of them came from Chicago as well. There was like a scene in Chicago, bands making strange music.
TLS : And were you listening to that kind of music ?
Yannis : When we were younger, we’ve listened to a lot of different musics, so, it was some of the music we listened to; and in Oxford there were a lot of bands that were playing with that sort of style, a few years ago. Foals isn’t math-rock at all, it’s more what our background was. Foals is much more of a pop-band, really. Math-rock is very complicated, quite difficult to listen to, and Foals was almost a reaction against that, to try to make something that was more direct, that you could dance to. Math-rock is dead, you know.
TLS : But ... what about Youthmovies ?!
Yannis : They’re our friends.
TLS : You’re taking them with you on your next UK tour. Do you think they need your help to get bigger ?
Yannis : I don’t know if they need it, but I think it’s our responsibility as friends of theirs to help them, because we’ve been playing for a long time and they haven’t been given the exposure that we have been given. And we’re not friends with bands from London, we’re not friends with cool bands, we’re friends with people like Youthmovies. They’re our friends from home, so, when you’re on tour you want to have fun, you want to be with your friends, it’s natural.
TLS : Is it important for you to have support bands that you like ?
Jimmy : Definitely. It’s pretty horrible when you’re on long tours with bands you don’t like. With Youthmovies, it just ensures that the tour is going to be a lot of fun. We need them as much as they need us. In different ways.
Yannis : We’re control-freaks as well, so we like to be in control with everything, from the support bands to the artworks.
TLS : So, are there any bands you’d like to take on tour with you ?
Yannis & Jimmy : Loads !
TLS : Which ones ?
Yannis & Jimmy : Liars !
Yannis : Dirty Projectors, Fuck Buttons, Great Eskimo Hoax, Hot Club de Paris …
Jimmy : No Age … U2 … (laughs)
Yannis : Bruce Springsteen ...
Jimmy : Simon & Garfunkel … everyone !
Yannis : Sinatra ! (laughs)
TLS : You said you were control-freaks. I know you’re working with Dave Ma and Tinhead (Jimmy and Yannis laugh at the mention of Tinhead) – do you like to work with friends only ?
Jimmy : Yes, of course.
TLS : And I just saw the video for Cassius … What is it about exactly ?
Yannis : It has to do with the lyrics. The lyrics in the chorus are about the wind in your heart, in your heart, you know, in your ... coeur ? Or wathever it’s called in French … That’s why there’s loads of hearts.
Jimmy : It’s the current image that appears in the videos, the photos, and the artwork. It’s all tied in.
Yannis : It’s all inter-linked. The visual side is to express the lyrics, so it makes the lyrics easier to understand.
Jimmy : It’s very important, especially the videos. The first two videos we did – we were suggested ideas by, you know, people from the label, but we didn’t like it, so it didn’t work out. We were never happy about it. It’s such a massive part of what people see.
Yannis : What’s funny for us is that we’d be in Paris, and there’s someone like you mentioning Tinhead (laughs) – we’re just bums from Oxford ! We’re just a bunch of losers. We didn’t have any ambition whatsoever. And now we’re in Paris doing promo, and it’s good for us to have our friends working with us – Tinhead would be so thrilled to know his name has been mentioned in Paris, you know. That’s what it is about. We’re not carrierists, we’re not interested in getting tennis courts in our back gardens – that’s not what we’re in for, so that’s why this stuff is important for us. The Cassius video is quite weird though. I think it’s weird - and I don’t think much stuff is weird ! But it’s all very much linked. The Balloons video is a lot more closely linked to the lyrics than Cassius is. But Cassius is also meant to be about the five of us being together, because none of the videos before really expressed the personality of the band.
Louis : The French Open – do you have a special connection with France, or tennis ?
Yannis : C’est plus … sorry, I keep trying to answer in French (everyone laughs). It has little to do with tennis or the French Open, really, it has more to do with Andy Roddick being used in a Lacoste advert – that’s where the French connection comes from. And he always loses at the French Open ! Still, I think he’s amazing.
Louis : You worked with Dave Sitek for the production of your album.
Yannis : Oui oui. C’est vrai. Dave Sitek plays for TV on the Radio and also produces them. And he produced our album, we just re-mixed it.
Louis : You already played in France last year …
Yannis : La Flèche D’Or et la Boule Noire, oui.
Louis : What did you think of the French audience ?
Yannis : You know, I don’t think any people knew us at the shows, but that’s what’s exciting for us, because we try to take people by surprise. We like to play to people who haven’t seen us before, it’s more exciting. Because already in England people come and expect something, they expect the gig to be crazy, and if it isn’t as crazy as they expected ... It just sucks – both for them and for us.
TLS : Why is your soon-to-be released album is called Antidotes ?
Yannis : We chose it so that people would ask us what it’s about (laughs) I can’t answer this question anymore, I’m really sorry. I’ve just been asked that SO many times !
JT. & Louis
