Foals
July 9th, 2008 - Written by Angel
CONFRONT: Hi guys, welcome to Montreal!
YANNIS AND EDWIN: Thanks.
CONFRONT: Ok, let me start by explaining to you what we are. We are an online magazine called CONFRONT Magazine. Our motto is Dare, Defy, Provoke, so we want to Dare to Listen, Defy Stereotypes and Provoke Change. Our main goal is to bring all types of music genres and styles to our readers and help them see that there is a lot more to music than what plays on the Top 40.
YANNIS: This is interesting. What kind of band do you guys promote?
CONFRONT: We try to be as versatile as possible. We have artists like you guys; passing-by metal bands and hip hop.
YANNIS AND EDWIN: That’s cool, very cool.
CONFRONT: Ok, let’s start by what we call some CONFRONT questions.
EDWIN: Cool.
CONFRONT: What would be the first and the last CD you remember buying?
YANNIS: I think the first for me was probably Death Of The Pixies; I bought it on a cassette from my local HMV or something… and the most recent thing… wow, there is so much I don’t remember.
CONFRONT: It is ok, no worries… and you, do you remember?
EDWIN: I think it was pretty bad… I think it was Gun’s and Roses …
CONFRONT: Ok, and are these your influences now?
YANNIS AND EDWIN: Not at all.
CONFRONT: Not at all? What would be your influences then?
YANNIS: We try to listen to everything. We listen to world music, to techno, passing-by hip hop; literally everything.
CONFRONT: Well, that’s good.
YANNIS: Yeah, everything good.
CONFRONT: Obviously.
YANNIS: But I mean, in terms of genre, I’m not very interest in genre; like even as a motion I just don’t think it we should have to categorize the music we do.
CONFRONT: I agree.
YANNIS: Music is just so diverse nowadays.
CONFRONT: We have in our magazine a section called Daily Urges. So, everyday a member of our crew makes a suggestion of music; it can be pretty much anything, from a new discovery to an old classic that we think is worth rediscovering.
YANNIS AND EDWIN: That’s a very good idea.
CONFRONT: Do you guys have any Daily Urges?
YANNIS: I think Public Image Limited is so underrated; it still sounds very fresh.
CONFRONT: You, Edwin?
EDWIN: There is this new band from Brooklyn called Telepathy. They are definitely worth a listen.
CONFRONT: I wanted to ask you guys about your writing process, about being together as a band and creating music…how do you make music?
YANNIS: Well, as far as the lyrics, I take care of that…but for the rest it can pretty much come from everywhere. We start with one loop and work on it.
EDWIN: We always start with one loop and end up arguing and playing music and making it sound great.
CONFRONT: That’s a very cool process. You guys have been defined as an indie-rock dance-pop. I know you don’t believe in genre but how would you define your music?
YANNIS: Pop music out of the inside of Rainman’s head.
CONFRONT: I love that metaphor. You guys have been traveling around the world, here in Canada, Japan, Europe… do you feel there is a big difference between the fans?
YANNIS: Like cultural differences?
CONFRONT: Yeah and also in the way they are fans?
YANNIS: Yeah I think so. I think the European crowds share a general like spirit. People in Britain go crazy and I think people in America come more to listen than to be part of it. They are there to observe more than participate, if I can say. There is a big cultural difference.
EDWIN: But we’ve had GREAT audiences all around the world though.
CONFRONT: Of course.
YANNIS: I think that the fact that we’re a very rhythmic band makes it easier for audiences to be part of our music; it transcends cultural difference.
CONFRONT: Of course, rhythm is universal.
YANNIS AND EDWIN: Exactly.
CONFRONT: How are the fans with you directly… any differences there?
YANNIS: Yeah, well, there is definitely more people in Europe than in America because we’re bigger there. We also like to hang out with our fans and chat with them you know.
CONFRONT: Yeah.
YANNIS: And when we started as a band, we played in small parties and small shows so we’re used to being close to our audiences. But now that we’re playing bigger and bigger shows we do start to feel separated from that as time goes by.
CONFRONT: Obviously, it’s not as easy to be casual and hang out with fans and chat
YANNIS AND EDWIN: That’s exactly it; the bigger the band, the bigger the separation.
CONFRONT: I wanted to take some time to ask you another one of our CONFRONT questions. Do you have any guilty pleasures musically?
YANNIS: Tears for Fears… I really love Jump from Van Halen.
CONFRONT: What is there not to love about that song?
EDWIN: Exactly.
CONFRONT: What would you want your legacy to be? I know you mentioned being close to your fans…
YANNIS: I’d like somebody to name a fishing boat after us.
CONFRONT: That’s a great idea; that would be fun.
YANNIS: I know, right? Nothing more than an old fishing boat!!
CONFRONT: Thank you so much guys, this was fun.
YANNIS AND EDWIN: Thank you.
Official Site: http://www.wearefoals.com/
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/foals
To discuss this interview, join the CONFRONT Community. We want to know what you think…
Related Articles:
Find arcitcles with similar tags: confront, confront magazine, edwin, england, foals, music, oxford, yannis