Foals
| Foals | |
|---|---|
 Foals performing at Roskilde Festival 2011. |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Oxford, England |
| Genres | Indie rock Dance-punk Math rock (early) |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Labels | Transgressive (UK) Sub Pop (USA) |
| Associated acts | Cannibal Corpse, Youthmovies |
| Website | http://www.foals.co.uk |
| Members | |
| Yannis Philippakis Jack Bevan Jimmy Smith Edwin Congreave Walter Gervers |
|
| Past members | |
| Andrew Mears | |
Foals are an English rock band from Oxford, England. They are currently signed to Transgressive Records in the UK and Sub Pop in the US. They released their debut album Antidotes on 24 March 2008 in the UK, and 8 April 2008 in the US.[1] The band's second album, Total Life Forever, was released on the 10 May 2010.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Early History
Jack Bevan, Eilish May and Yannis Philippakis were originally in cult math rock band The Edmund Fitzgerald, which did not gain much media interest. The group was disbanded after they claimed that things had become "too serious" and they wanted to have more "fun making their music".
Walter and Jimmy were part of a small Oxford band called Face Meets Grill. They met at and were formed from members of Abingdon Boys School. They played gigs in and around Oxford and recording a debut EP in Hull. After playing Truck Festival in 2004 they separated to follow different paths and careers.
Guitarist Jimmy Smith is the only one of the band members to have completed his degree, at Hull University: each of the band members quit their respective universities including Yannis and Edwin leaving their English courses at Oxford University, when the band signed to Transgressive Records by Ben Mackereth.
The lead singer of Youthmovies, Andrew Mears, originally formed the band Foals, playing as guitarist and lead vocalist. He was present on the band's debut 7" single "Try This On Your Piano/Look At My Furrows Of Worry", but left shortly afterwards to concentrate on Youthmovies' debut album Good Nature.
The band likes to be self-sufficient, so all of the music videos are created by their friend Dave Ma and all of the artwork (excluding cover art of Total Life Forever) is also done by their friend Tinhead.
The band’s musical influences are varied, with the band members citing minimal techno, Arthur Russell, the Irish based math rock band The Redneck Manifesto, Krautrock bands such as Harmonia, and Talking Heads as well For London (previously known as The Jester People) as their main sources of inspiration. Their musical style however can be more directly linked to various genres such as math rock, indie Rock or New rave.
In early 2007, the band released the limited edition 7" singles Hummer and Mathletics, both produced by Gareth Parton.[2] "Hummer" later featured on the Channel Four teen drama Skins.
[edit] Antidotes
In the summer of 2007 Foals began working on their debut album in New York. It was produced by Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio. However, the band decided to mix the album themselves, stating that Sitek made the first master copy of the album sound like "it was recorded in the Grand Canyon".[3] Yannis has stated multiple times during various interviews that Foals and Dave Sitek are on good terms, even though the copy by Sitek was rejected by the band. Foals released their debut album, entitled Antidotes, on 24 March 2008 in the UK and 8 April 2008 in the USA. The album was a commercial success in the United Kingdom, debuting at #3 in the UK Albums Charts.[4] The album was a minor success in other countries, charting in Japan, France and the Netherlands. Non-UK versions of the album include the early Parton produced singles.[5]
[edit] Total Life Forever
In August 2009, Foals started recording their album at Svenska Grammofon Studion in Gothenburg, Sweden. The band's second album, Total Life Forever, has been described by the band members as sounding like "tropical prog" and "like the dream of an eagle dying".[6] The band have described the album as being "a lot less funk" than they had originally planned.[citation needed] The album was produced by Luke Smith, formerly of Clor. The album's title is named after an element of Ray Kurzweil's theory of singularity. The band's frontman Yannis Philippakis has stated a long time interest in futurology with it informing numerous songs on Total Life Forever.[7]
On March 1, 2010, the promotional single "Spanish Sahara" was first played on Zane Lowe's show Radio 1. Foals' new website was updated that night with the release of a video for the track directed by longtime collaborator Dave Ma. On March 6, the Total Life Forever site was officially launched. Puzzles revealed images, lyrics and sound clips of songs from the album. The last clip appeared on March 12, and resulted with a password entry for the Foals' new website. The site was opened on March 13 and presented the whole new art concept and media including samples of songs, photos and videos. Lead single "This Orient" was released on May 3, 2010.[8] The album was finally released on May 10, 2010.
"Spanish Sahara" was featured in trailers for Entourage 's seventh season, season four of Skins, and BBC One 's Outcasts. It was also used in the soundtrack of the second season of the E4 drama Misfits. It was released as a full physical single in September 2010, featuring an edited remix starring the strings of London Contemporary Orchestra.
The album was nominated for the 2010 Mercury Prize.[9] In an interview with online magazine Coup De Main, Jimmy Smith said how the band members live together on and off the road - heading to Australia to record demos for their next album together. "It's just like touring with your family, it's nice".[10]
[edit] Members
- Yannis Philippakis - Vocals, Guitar, Live Drums
- Jack Bevan - Drums
- Jimmy Smith - Guitar
- Edwin Congreave - Keyboard, Backing Vocals
- Walter Gervers - Bass, Backing Vocals
- Former members
- Andrew Mears - Vocals, Guitar
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio Albums
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [11] |
IRL [12] |
AUS | NZ | FRA [13] |
US Heat. [14] |
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| 2008 | Antidotes
|
3 | 20 | – | 99 | 84 | 28 | |
| 2010 | Total Life Forever
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8 | 25 | 79 | – | 38 | 30 |
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[edit] EPs
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2007 | Live At Liars Club
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| 2008 | iTunes Live: London Festival '08
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| 2008 | Gold Gold Gold
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| 2008 | UK B-sides
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| 2010 | iTunes Festival: London 2010
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| 2010 | Metropolis Session
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[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK [16] |
|||
| 2006 | "Try This On Your Piano/Look At My Furrows of Worry" | – | Non-album single |
| 2007 | "Hummer" [A] | – | |
| "Mathletics" [A] | 109 | ||
| "Balloons" | 39 | Antidotes | |
| 2008 | "Cassius" | 26 | |
| "Red Socks Pugie" | 89 | ||
| "Olympic Airways" | – | ||
| 2010 | "Spanish Sahara" | 148 | Total Life Forever |
| "This Orient" | 97 | ||
| "Miami" | 127 | ||
| "Spanish Sahara" (re-release) | – | ||
| "Blue Blood" | 158 |
Notes:
- A - The singles were originally released without an album, but were later added as bonus tracks for the album "Antidotes".
[edit] Recognition
Total Life Forever was nominated for the Mercury Prize in July 2010, losing to xx on September 7 that year.[9] The album was tested again the following year for best album in addition to a nomination for best cover artwork by the NME Awards. The single "Spanish Sahara" was nominated by the same group for best track on top of being named all-around best band and live act.[17] In July, the MOJO honour awards also nominated Foals alongside Canadian band Arcade Fire for the caliber of their live performances.[18]
- Mercury Prize
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Total Life Forever | Best album | Nominated |
- NME Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Foals | Best British band | Nominated |
| Foals | Best live act | Nominated | |
| Total Life Forever | Best British album | Nominated | |
| Total Life Forever | Best artwork | Nominated | |
| "Spanish Sahara" | Best track | Won |
[edit] References
- ^ Lindsay, Cam."Foals’ Sound of Music ", Exclaim!, May 2008.
- ^ http://www.discogs.com/artist/Foals
- ^ http://www.nme.com/reviews/foals/9565
- ^ http://www.theofficialcharts.com/top40_albums_last.php?week=88&end=30/03/2008%20-%2005/04/2008
- ^ http://www.discogs.com/Foals-Antidotes/release/1303497
- ^ "Foals: 'New album will sound like the dream of an eagle dying'". NME. July 30, 2008. Archived from the original on December 15, 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5uzi1iiap. Retrieved December 15, 2010.
- ^ Bennett, Matthew (June 3, 2010). "Blood, Sweat And Fears: Foals Interview". Clash. Archived from the original on December 15, 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5uziNAw3m. Retrieved December 15, 2010.
- ^ http://angryape.com/news/foals-announce-uk-ireland-tour
- ^ a b "Foals 'tricked' into attending Mercury Prize nominations ceremony". NME. 20 July 2010. http://www.nme.com/news/foals/52141. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
- ^ http://coupdemainmagazine.com/music/interviews/2838
- ^ http://www.theofficialcharts.com/artist/_/foals/
- ^ http://www.irish-charts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Foals
- ^ http://lescharts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Foals
- ^ http://www.billboard.com/#/artist/foals/chart-history/815865
- ^ a b "British certificates: searchable database". bpi.co.uk. http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
- ^ http://www.zobbel.de/cluk/100626cluk.txt
- ^ "Foals lead field at NME music award nominations". Reuters News. 25 January 2011. http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/01/25/us-nme-idINTRE70O04P20110125. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
- ^ "Arctic Monkeys nominated for two Mojo honours awards". BBC News. 1 July 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/13980354. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
[edit] External links
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