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Last month, Yannis Philippakis was up the road from here – ‘here’ an unremarkable pub, playing Arcade Fire’s last to an audience of _us_ plus single-hand-count early doors drinkers – playing to a gargantuan room full of fans of another band entirely. Foals, the band he’s fronting following the dissolution of The Edmund Fitzgerald three-or-so years back, played first-on at Bloc Party’s two-night residency at Alexandra Palace, north London. We’re not quite in its shadow; more the gutter that runs about it like a moat of stinkin’ convenience stores and fried chicken hovels.

Alongside us: Andrew Mears, vocalist and guitarist with fellow Oxford outfit Youthmovies. Mears was a founding member of Foals, and played on their debut single for the Try Harder label, ‘Try This On Your Piano’ (review). The plan is to have these two talk the early evening (late afternoon? It’s after dark, suffice) away about their forthcoming long-players, the first proper for both acts: Antidotes and Good Nature, Foals and Youthmovies respectively, arrive in March. Prompting is necessary, however. The pair – very good friends – have never spoken openly about the tangents they’ve followed since one departed the other’s now hotly-tipped act to concentrate on his primary calling. It takes time to coax such discussion from trilling youths enjoying the times of their professional lives to date.

*Y: *This would be better if it was two people who hated each other. All we’re going to do is agree with each other.

*A:* I know the answers to all the questions before I ask them, but we’ll see I suppose…

I guess we will. First: both of you worked with renowned Americans on your albums, Bob Weston and Dave Sitek, of Shellac and TV On The Radio.

** A: **Oh yeah, Bob mastered our record. Why? Mine’s a terrible answer: Bob’s really cheap!

*Y:* And Dave’s really expensive, and both of us got fucked.

*A:* Yeah… Bob was really cheap, and obviously we grew up on his bands… and I guess you did as well?

*Y:* Yep.

Yep

*A:* And that kind of stuff resonates with people, doesn’t it?

*Y:* Yep.

A:* Because it’s Bob Weston, from *Shellac. I don’t know… he did a good job, and he was cheap! We never met him, and never really spoke to him, because Ant (Theaker, Good Nature producer) did all of that organising, as things like mastering is way over our heads. Over your head?

*Y:* Pretty much. I went to a mastering session for the album and I didn’t understand what was going on.

*A:* It’s having to understand compression and stuff like that… Wait, this is not good copy. Let’s stop this…

Okay…

*Y:* But yeah, so, Americans. We had our album produced over there, obviously.

*A:* It’s funny – everything I read recently seems to be saying about your ‘terrible’ experience with Dave Sitek, and stuff like that, but it was really only the last chapter that was bad, right?

*Y:* Exactly. The rest of it was a really positive thing.

*A:* That’s exactly what I seemed to gauge from you. He sort of changed the way you thought about the band… Like, even down to how to behave as a band.

*Y:* He totally did. It’s weird for me reading these things, as I’ve tried not to divulge any of the problems that arose, because we do still admire him so much. But it’s weird reading that Dave Sitek did this, and we were ‘dissatisfied’ with it… We’re not dissatisfied with the experience of working with him, just the mix that was originally produced. Everything he did with us while we were out there was just nuts. Properly nuts.

It must be great having these associations, though – say someone doesn’t know Foals, but knows TV On The Radio… there’s your way ‘in’…

**

A:** Oh, of course, it’s a good thing. It can validate a record for people before they hear it. And it’s exciting for you, as the band, because you’re on the same level as these people; there’s a little nostalgia at play, or something.

Y: *Definitely. When you look back at bands like *Oxes and stuff, listening to them when you were 15, to have a record mastered by these people, well… it’s nice.

Both albums are out in March – any chance they’ll arrive on the same day?

*Y:* They_ were_ going to be on the same day as I understand it.

*A:* Now they will be two weeks apart. But it’d have been nice to have them on the same day from a story perspective. Of course, it would have killed our sales.

*Y:* I’d like to have seen all these kids going into their record store to buy both albums on the day they came out, though.

*A:* Yeah,_ good luck_!

*Y:* Well, that would’ve been cool. I’m going to steal your album. There’s no way I’m paying for it.

*A:* Well I’ve already got yours on my computer.

*Y: *But that’s not the finished one. You don’t have the finished mix. You know there’s an extra track which we only did at the mastering stage?

*A:*_ Yeah_, I know. I’ve got it. I downloaded it the other day.

*Y:* Has it leaked?

*A:* Yeah, I leaked it…

It hasn’t, yet, so far as I know. Incidentally, do either of you ever download anything for free…?

**

Y: **I don’t. I can’t use a computer. I got an iPod last week and it’s already been stolen. I’m using a Discman.

*A:* I’m still using a Walkman.

*Y:* I made Andrew a mix-tape.

A:* I’ve still got it. It’s got, like, *Charlottefield on it, and stuff like that.

*Y:* They recorded their first album, like, three times. Well, at least twice. The entire record.

*A:* The only time I use a computer for music is to put my music, my whole record collection, onto it, as I live in such a small house. I have to put all of my records in a box, so I use iTunes as a library. I don’t download things for free because I don’t know how and, honestly, I can’t be bothered.

*Y:* It’s not like it’s an ethical decision, even.

*A:* Exactly, and all of my friends have so many great records that I’ve never heard that I might as well just borrow them. I also listen to peoples’ bands on MySpace and stuff. Usually I only listen to my friends’ bands, actually.

You consider MySpace to be as important to bands nowadays as it was during the emergence of Lily Allen, Arctic Monkeys et al? What with Facebook’s growth and all…

** Y: **I think MySpace is still invaluable for bands.

*A:* It’s definitely been good for us. I mean, I don’t want to ‘big it up’ it as such, but it’s definitely helped people hear our band who wouldn’t have otherwise.

*Y: *For music, Facebook… well, you can set up groups.

*A:* I don’t have a Facebook.

*Y:* Yeah, but you’ve got a Youthmovies group.

*A:* Do we?

*Y:* Yeah, you do. I’m your ‘friend’ on it.

*A:* Really? I don’t think any of us set it up. Maybe Al (English, guitarist) did.

*Y:* But yeah, I think MySpace is a massive thing. We used to be quite into replying to all the messages and stuff, and it’s still lovely in terms of transparency – you’re only one message away, in theory, from communicating with your fans.

*A:* And it’s not just like being in contact with fans, it’s the mechanics of being in a band and having people hear your stuff. Did you ever read this essay that was on that Crass record?

*Y:* No…?

*A:* Well, it happens in stages all this stuff – bands make cassettes, and they can make their own cassettes, and then they can make their own CDs, and then they can have their own MySpace… it’s about us, bands, being empowered with the tools of our own oppression. MySpace is like that – it’s run by Rupert Murdoch, but what’s he going to see the individual getting out of it? Obviously he does get a lot out of it, ‘cause he’s such a dude…

*Y:* Such a_ douche_.

Do the pair of you feel it’s your duty to support acts you’re friends with, or that you truly admire, given your current positions? Bands that maybe aren’t as recognised by the wider industry?

*A:* It’s absolutely essential to do that, and I think it’s your responsibility to do so. Like, bands bang on all the time about how hard it is to be in a band, and while that’s kind of true it _is_ fun, too, and it’s a great job. But a lot of your friends are working really fucking hard, so if you’re afforded some kind of success at whatever level it’s your responsibility to take them with you. A lot of these people, you really respect what they’re doing, so it should be second nature.

*Y:* Yeah, definitely. I think that… we’ve tried to emphasise the idea that our band’s sort of like an extended family, right through to who does the artwork, and it’s nothing to do with a scene orientation but because you have friends who you know are talented but they’re working in kebab shops, or something. If you’re given a larger platform, it’s important to help them out.

*A:* If that’s not what a ‘scene’ is, then it’s what a scene should be.

*Y:* Personally, I feel like Foals’ home is Oxford, and all of our friends are there, as are lots of people who we choose to work with.

*A:* Your fan site says you’re from Brighton…

*Y:* Does it? But, the people we have working with us, they’re friends we’ve had from way back. Unfortunately there’s a tendency amongst more mainstream acts to overlook this. All they’ve ever been angling for is to be able to work with people they aspire to be like, y’know, people already within the industry. I think that one thing I really enjoy is – with being from where we’re from and knowing the people we do – promoting our talented friends.

*A:* That’s the difference between being in a band that’s been working for years, where you’ve built up a proper group of friends, and being in a band that can’t appreciate that because they get picked up by some A&R guy right at the start, and they’re groomed a certain way. If you grow into the system, it’s a more gradual thing.

*Y:* When I met Andrew, I used to go on tours in my school half-term with him. Because I was younger I really looked up to Youthmovies – not that I don’t still – and I would be not wanting to play guitar because they were so good, even though we’d go to Birmingham and there’d be three or four people there. And the promoter wouldn’t pay or anything, and this was happening to us until very recently, so to now be afforded this time to make music, rather than having to worry about jobs and stuff, is important. It’s important to have a voice, and remember that there were eleven of us in a white Transit freezing our arses off last November, playing to nobody for two weeks. I think it’s quite easy to be, like, Well, we’ve got a sound guy now. The idea of having a sound guy a year ago was ridiculous. So, for me I feel the last year has been kind of weird… well, it’s been_ weird_, that’s about it.

And you’ve had very similar experiences, presumably?

*A:* Yes. Coming from the same place as we do, you (to Yannis) used to practise at our house. I think we’ve both branched out and had pretty similar experiences.

*Y:* I used to be very obsessed with bands, for ages – I’d read everything about a band, check out all the bands they were friends with, find out who took their photographs. It makes your position as a musician more fulfilling if there’s a greater architecture to it, if there’s an aesthetic that…

*A:* You need a canon of people around you to rein you in, too. Yannis and I were both learning guitar, really, at the same time – we’d go around each other’s houses and watch the other play and be, Shit, I can’t do that. Then we’d be trying to better each other. I think that serves as a sort of metaphor, for the bigger thing – if you’re friends with bands who excel, it makes you want to excel more. It’s a healthy thing.

I get the impression that neither band is likely to forget their roots in a hurry, whatever fortunes may come their way…

*A:* Any marginal success we may have, we just feel grateful it’s _us_, because it’s a fickle industry we’re in and we’ve seen great friends flourish – like 65days and ¡Forward Russia! and so on – but as many, if not more, not make it as they should have. And there’s no rhyme or reason to that – if you get any success you’ve just got to be grateful for it.

We’re coming to the end of the annual tipping season. Does it feel weird to be involved in it, as you both have to differing degrees...

*A:* Number 45, in front of the fella from The Killers…

*Y:* (laughs)

What?

*Y:* NME’s ‘Cool List’…

A:* You’re way lower than Henry, mate. No, not Henry – Thomas, House of Lords, from *The Young Knives. He was like number six or something.

Y:* The tip thing, though. I think the general point is that… Well, they’ve got this new Brit Award, the Critics’ Choice, that *Adele won, but we came third. We had to go and do an interview with them: So, like, now you’re giving out awards for unproven potential?

*A:* Unproven potential?!

*Y:* That’s the thing, it’s_ ridiculous. I understand how it works, and that it’s a necessary thing about how the music industry works – in super-speed and hyper-reality – but looking at it from our perspective, we’re just five boys from Oxford. I mean, it’s cool that there’re people who like us, but it can be quite a destructive thing. Being associated with ‘tips’ suggests to people, to _some people, that you’ve ‘made it’, but the real hard work hasn’t even begun yet! It’s very quick, and superficial, particularly with the tips thing. People are making assumptions based on two quite glossy pop singles, or maybe three, but they’re very unaware of what our band’s about, and what many of these other tips are actually about. You have no idea about these things until albums are released and musical trajectories are allowed to go their own way, and I think the way things are snapped up so early… it’s the music industry eating itself. Like, Prince… you look at Prince, and R.E.M.. Out Of Time was only made after their sixth album, and even though Murmur was good it was that album that broke through. That doesn’t exist anymore. It’s something we all have to deal with, but it seems incredibly short-sighted, and even something as simple as this Brit Award thing is another example of things becoming a certain way. It’s like mayflies – everyone’s mating and repeating and breeding and dying. It’s kind of overwhelming.

*A:* That was beautiful. I love you, man.

Do you feel any sympathy for Adele? Seems she’s the slightest cock-up from a backlash… if the album’s panned, well, where’s it leave her?

*A:* It’s the language that surrounds it, that is the problem. (To DiS) You guys are part of it. Journalists use a type of writing that forces definitions, and you need to always say what something is. The biggest mistake a band can make – and you (to Yannis) might think I’m wrong – is to say exactly what they are. We’re forced to use your terms – if you’re asked what type of band you are, you have to say, We’re a punk band, or We’re a post-rock band. They’re not terms musicians came up with, but whatever you say you are, people believe it, and if you stray from people can be disappointed.

Y:* Loads of these people, like Adele and Duffy*…

*A:* I don’t know who the_ fuck_ these people are.

*Y:* It’s pop, they’re singers.

*A:* I like singers!

*Y: *But, like, I understand this attitude that an act gets hyped and that they should deal with it. But my perspective is that it’s not like that – no band ever comes out saying stuff like they’re gonna be the saviours of rock and roll. Well, bad bands say that, but from what I know from other people is that they actively disparage any hype slant, and we try to do the same. This second-guessing – you try to cut that down.

*A:* But_ you’re _victims of that.

*Y:* Yes, but I can tell you specifically that’s nothing to do with us, as it’s so far from how the band thinks of itself, and how we operate. It’s beyond your control, but when, all of a sudden, your whole livelihood as a musician is based on someone else building you up to be something you’ve never claimed to be, you have no chance of ever attaining what they expect of you and your livelihood is scuppered, all because someone has a rock on for what you’re doing.

*A:* Bands are made out to be dreamers, and I don’t think that’s really true. Customers are dreamers, fans are dreamers… Customers? Delete! Y’know, the ‘consumers’ – they’re the dreamers. Bands are realistic: they’re looking at their careers thinking, This isn’t going to last. I don’t even think I have the stamina to make things last, but the fans think things will last forever – you’ll always make great records and you’ll never become disenchanted with it.

*Y:* That’s a good point, but at the same time I like the idea of a band becoming something bigger than it actually is.

*A:* Yeah, definitely.

*Y:* There’s a whole myth behind certain bands. Take a book like Our Band Could Be Your Life: you read these books at a certain age and all of a sudden there’s this mythology around bands you like, and a legacy that emerges at a formative age, all based on three people playing together in a room.

*A:* Celebrity is a compressed myth – it burns out fast, so it’s important for a band to outlive this period of time. Like Radiohead.

Y:* Exactly. It’s a beautiful thing, the fact that you can get this absorptive world to sink into. Like, you listen to Nirvana* when you’re 13 and it makes you want to drop out of school, or something. It definitely has an effect, basically – it changes your attitudes, and has an effect beyond those three people. Something undefined. You don’t want to spend time with those people, they’re jocks.

Jocks? Just how long did you spend in America?

*A:* He’s always spoken like that. He thinks he’s fucking Jack Kerouac.

*Y:* We’ve all started saying ‘dope’ as well since coming back from the States.

*A:* He came back wearing a fucking medallion with a cannabis leaf on it.

*Y:* It was a present!

*A: *It may have been, but it doesn’t make it any less funny! Most people put a present like that in a drawer.

*Y:* It’s a gold, spinning marijuana leaf, on a really chunky gold chain.

*A:* You can pick it up and spin the leaf. Is it jewel-encrusted?

*Y:* No, it’s gold.

*A:* Fuckin’_ ZION_!

But it was a present…?

Y:* It was a present from someone in *Sweep The Leg Johnny.

A:* Which takes us back to an earlier point – that’s the band that Yannis and I… not _made friends_ over, as we got on anyway… but that we’d sit there and geek-out over. They were such a fucking amazing band, yet so many people have never really heard them. But I have never played them to anybody who hasn’t responded positively. They’re fucking sweet. Anyway… Yannis made friends with Mitch (Cheney), who was in Sweep and this band called *Rumah Sakit, and now he’s maybe gonna do a record by you…

*Y: *And giving us weed chains…

*A:* And maybe doing something with us in America. You know (to Yannis) he sent me a message the other day? Listen to my side project, influenced by your singing… When stuff like that happens… this is a guy I had up on a pedestal! He couldn’t keep playing guitar normally because he got carpal tunnel or something, so his solution wasn’t to give it up but to re-learn to play differently, with finger-tapping. Not like finger-tapping, like wailing, but he developed his own style to get around his injury. And this guy, who we respected so much, we’re now afforded the opportunity to talk to him. The first time I met him, Yannis had known him a while. Yannis went to order a drink, so I told Mitch how much Yannis fucking loves him. And worshiped the ground he walks on… You know, Yannis learnt guitar because of you man…_