Fat White Family vocalist Lias Saoudi has shared a new essay clarifying his view on IDLES after Joe Talbot spoke about their beef in a recent interview. I feel like an unresolved human being. The Grass Arena by John Healy https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/aug/05/biography, 5. Born to a British mother and Algerian father, he grew up in the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Northern Ireland, before moving to London . To the point where I was like, I dont want to do any of that online shit. Just frustrated, angryAnd now its like, well, if its going to be like his for a year, then, just to make ends meet, Ill have to work out a way of doing it online, doing a show, something theatrical, doing in it weird locations. To find out more, click here. "All that carry on, for me, is circumstantial and social. First, there's the time difference he lives in the U.K. and, second, there are pranksters like his brother and band mate Nathan, who just might answer the phone pretending to be Lias. Its really hard to find that place again once its got some kudos, then youre suddenly in this hall of mirrors of anxiety and expectation. The easiest way to gain popularity online of course, is simply to regurgitate what everybody else already believes. Theres a poem called The Word, about the way his dad speaks. PKM: You cant learn that dynamic online. My girlfriends family lived on one of those Prod estates with the murals, union jacks and red, white and blue curbs. But I thought Id choose the last album by David Berman, from Silver Jews, released in 2019. The multi-ethnic South London-based Fat White Family has been called the 'sonic equivalent of society coming unhinged.' Their raucous onslaught is leavened with humor and social commentary, as seen in the titles of their albums (Champagne Holocaust, Serf's Up) and singles ("I Am Mark E Smith,' 'Whitest Boy On the Beach').Ingrid Jensen spoke with FWF's front man Lias Saoudi for PKM The Independent. That whole thing about living in a sort of post-truth ageI mean, the amount of information you get from all these angles, constantlyit becomes impossible to make up any kind of a concrete opinion as to what is actually going on. The worlds defining voice in music and pop culture: breaking whats new and whats next since 1952. What do you think concerts will be like when people are allowed to gather in larger groups? I think thats something Id like to move away from: monotone rage and anger. I noticed after I came to London that everybody in the big city starts shagging each other and doing drugs at age 13; no such joy in the soggy, racist backwater I grew up in. There was a time in my life when they were precious to me. Then Id have just one record. I think doing this was really helpful and cathartic, says Saoudi. In choosing to attack two groups at once I believed I was demonstrating a supreme . After spending the six weeks of lockdown at a close friends house, Fat White Family front man Lias Saoudi is ready for a move. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Jeannette Lee and Kim Sion had excellent suggestions. Usually its like, oh, we gotta hit this part of this cycle at this pointthats all gone. Whod have thought?, Anything with me in it. And making a music video is like hanging them up on a meat hook in the public square, you dont want anything to do with that ever again. PKM: Lets talk about your prose writing a bit: Life Beyond the Neutral Zone, was wonderful to read, I had so much fun reading that. Plans for a fourth album were temporarily ground to a halt with the advent of the pandemic, and the band were forcibly scattered to the winds with the cessation of travel between countries. It was sort of like rehab, says Saoudi. PKM: People are still in panic mode. Get Lias Saoudi setlists - view them, share them, discuss them with other Lias Saoudi fans for free on setlist.fm! Lias Saoudi: Maybe I dont have to, but thats the image, isnt it? B orn in Southampton to an Algerian father and a Yorkshire coalminer mother, Lias Saoudi grew up in Scotland and Northern Ireland before studying at London's Slade School of Fine Art. Lias Saoudi: Well, Saul got stranded in SpainWe were all supposed to meet in Algeria, and work on an album there, around where my family live, and collaborate musically with other people from that region. It was traditionally the right who were forever trying to get things banned and cancelled, so there is a creeping sense of political homelessness if youre into avant-gardism in any way, shape or form and free expression for free expressions sake. I mean, with me and my brother it waswe were just sort of skint, and pissing around, and sort of felt like rejects. I didnt want to sit and watch Countdown., Well, thats not quite true. Life Beyond the Neutral Zone - Lias Saoudi 03/04/2020 He would reveille at 7am, drink a strong coffee, take a bath, write until noon, luncheon, read for four hours, practice the flute for half an hour, go for a two hour walk, dine out, then take in a play or a show in town. Really, really good positive energy. In this month's Low Culture subscriber podcast Luke Turner is joined by Lias Saoudi of Fat White Family, co-author with Adelle Stripe, of Ten Thousand Apologies, the brilliant and now best-selling account of the band's slow, troubled rise and. The racial hatred I encountered in the backwaters wasnt pathological, it was that of the animal suddenly forced into sharing its cage with some new and terrifying creature. It was cathartic to come out of the Fat Whites, this horribly pressurised environment, and just do a day down at Trashmouth as a way to let off steam, says Lias. Ratfucker by Armand Schaubroek https://trouserpress.com/reviews/armand-schaubroeck-steals/. Its different, now. I, is released via The Leaf Label on November 4. Read the choicest cuts from the Quietus archive: reviews, features and opinion, Ten Thousand Apologies: Fat White Family and the Miracle of Failure, Stalker Humanoids: The ERC, Maxine Peake & Lias Saoudi Interviewed, No Sleep 'Til Notting Hill: The Moonlandingz Interviewed, Fat White Family's Lias Saoudi To Publish Biography Of The Band, Peer Review: Joel Gibb Interviews Owen Pallett And Vice Versa, TQ's John Doran To Host Metal Modernism Event In Brighton, Ben Gregory Details Debut Album, Shares New Essay, Monsters Vs. Nazis: Margaret Killjoy Of Feminazgl On Anti-Fascist Black Metal, Virtual Mentors: Arooj Aftab's Favourite Albums, Magical Cuts: Anthony Surgeon Childs Favourite Music, Love Songs And Monster Songs: Jad Fair's Favourite Albums, Stop, Collaborate And Listen: Meg Remy's Favourite Albums, Leather Jacket-Worthy: Lawrence's Favourite Albums. (LogOut/ Whoever its for, subscriptions allow us to keep producing Loud And Quiet and supporting independent new artists, labels and journalism. I certainly wouldnt vote for him., Saoudi performing with Fat White Family in 2019. It was really nice to just let Decius breathe, says Quinn. Lias Saoudi: Most of the new record, some of the old record, and then whatever else we might come up with in between times. I doubt that he knows exactly whats going on in that song, but the more I listen to it the more I think about it., Its a sexy number. And a birthday shout-out (in cartoon form) to the one & only David Attenborough. That was the main sentiment running through it. Dance music can be quite conservative, Liam continues. "Fat White Family frontman Lias looking forward to Irish 'homecoming' gigs". Bang to rights, The book is not always kind to Saoudis bandmates, however. Why not? It's a cringe-fest thinking back . Sarah Davachi at Lglise Saint-Eustache, Paris. Between them they had the entire back catalogue including all the Bootlegs. The minute lockdown started to get eased in London, the old devils crept back in. It was genuinely inclusive. He realised that many of Fat White Familys misgivings with the British indie rock scene that surrounded them during their rise to notoriety in the early 2010s - how tame and redundant of any libidinal energy a lot of that was - could be solved with the kind of spirit he found in the Berlin club. Last of the old school rock and roll frontmen, former Blur devotee, This was long, long, long before the preposterousness of the whole thing. People listen to me. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. I reckon we should have enough for an EP . There are two miracles in this brutally honest account of the rise and spectacular fall of Fat White Family, who despite their chaotic existence remain one of the more interesting British bands this . This was definitely the most fun Ive had making record, and hopefully weve engineered it so its kudos-proof. It was a bit heavy, that. When the pandemic ended more or less all live music for the duration a few months into the following year Fat White Familys 2020 touring schedule was wiped out in an instant Decius informality meant they weathered the storm quite easily. That hasnt been shut off yet. Lias Saoudi performing with Fat White Family performs at South Facing festival, London, in August last year. It shouldnt be like this, I tell myself, I should care more than I do. I was really nervous, he recalls. The river split at that point because youre just on completely different psychic wavelengths. A collection of domestic objects rendered in papier-mche in The grid. I think that the way the protests have broken out is really hopeful. He wrote, "In a state of frenzied arrogance around 18 months ago I took it upon myself to hurl a few digital petrol bombs at some of the countrys most beloved acts from the comfort of my hovel in Streatham. It begins in the medieval period, but largely focuses on the 20th century and disgust theory. Everything was all mixed up. "We've got a little four-piecejust a . The world wide web became quite popular around the same time. Its arguably the greatest suicide note in musical history listening to the lyrics, the conclusion you draw is inevitable, meaning he must have had that in mind, that he was on the way out. "On my radar: Lias Saoudi's cultural highlights". People talk about a blue pill and a red pill, he says. So what happened? Lead singer of Fat White Family, Lias Saoudi, self-pens a Bakers Dozen of thirteen musical choices that map his early life to the present day, from Ireland to Scotland, Cambodia to Algeria, via dark country and the howling void. Were in Brixton, south London, longtime home of Fat White Family, to talk about Ten Thousand Apologies: Fat White Family and the Miracle of Failure, a memoir of sorts by Saoudi and the journalist and novelist Adelle Stripe. That kind of lifestyle is underrated. Lias Saoudi: Im glad thats the way I am. I want to thank Jane Ferguson & her team at theObserverfor giving me this opportunity & putting everything together so it all makes sense. A fantasy that Id spend ten years toying with or trying to kill, that I finally submitted myself to fully only recently, was born in me. We were embroiled in this, not satanic ritual, but adjacent, and a kind of alcoholic abyss, he says. Photograph: Joseph Okpako/WireImage. Key West is ineffable. He is wearing a grey woollen rollneck, his hair tightly cropped, his face a little fuller than when I last saw him perform topless, cheeks drawn, lank black hair down to his shoulders. For all four of the musicians, it was something they deeply needed. That being said, when I saw the group play a tiny venue in France a few years back, just before they blew up, it was obvious they were pouring every fibre of their beings into the performance. Its an exquisite little collection of poems. Were the classic toxic men that everybody keeps talking about. Around this time i met and fell completely in love with a girl from school whom Id been passionately staring at in the corridors, classes and halls for the last three years. We were both virgins, both really timid; it took us quite a long time before we explored each others bodies in full. ", In response to Talbot's comments about nearly driving to London to find Saoudi, the Fat White Family added, "If Joe wants to get in his car and drive to London to mete out some form of rough justice on account of my expressing my opinion about his group thats fine with me. Ingrid Marie Jensen is a member of New South Story Lab. But how will COVID-19 effect gigs? FWF frontman revisits his 16-year-old self for our latest Sweet 16 column. ", The Fat White Family vocalist also wrote that the band "represent everything that is wrong with contemporary cultural politics, with a left to whom the future used to belong, in defeat now collapsing into whimsical utopianism. Support tQ's work by becoming a subscriber and enjoy the benefits of bonus essays, podcasts and exclusively-commissioned new music. Everywhere I looked. Its an ethos they intend to keep sticking to. 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