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Foals Showcase Showdown

Literally the first person I bumped into when I entered Chop Suey for the free Foals "showcase" was Yannis walking in the direction of the door. He didn't get too far before I had him on the subject of their Observer Music Monthly cover and their New York shows. When we got onto the subject of the Chop Suey show he was rather surprised to find out it was being advertised as a "showcase." He found it weird given they're already signed.

On stage were the Heavenly States - with a bit of Hold Steady meandering sing-song talk vocals. Before heading out I googled them only to note that Coldplay's name appeared in their results, something I remarked aloud on. Apparently Sleepy Eyes of Death were really good so I'm bummed I missed them! Yannis said they had an instrumental thing going on.

TV on the Radio played in between sets so I got to sing along with "Ambulance" as Foals took their spots on stage, first sound-checking, then leaving only to reappear within seconds for the start of their set. Hmmm... I wonder why the Brooklyn band would be providing their before show soundtrack?

Playing sans set-list, Foals charged away. Their second song in was "Cassius." Yannis soon took to the drums while Jimmy thrashed around with his guitar, hair apparent (flipping and flopping along with every jolt of his body) and providing top entertainment for how into his chords he was (while actually wearing jeans :).

Keyboardist Edwin rocked a Tiny Vipers T-shirt. I still think it a bit interesting for him to don their T of all acts seeing as their folky sound directly contrasts to his typical techno tastes. Do I want to be signed to Sub Pop just so Foals will wear my [as of now, non-existant] band T-shirt? Kinda. Hahaha.
Jack rocked an actual "Sub Pop" T. Does that mean I should form a label to outfit them? Maybe... hahahaha
He was also in stocking feet, something I'd yet to see before for a drummer.

While bassist Walter was clearly enthralled with his instrument on the left hand side of the stage, I was rather enthralled with how he played it. With his rhythmic  shrugs and arches, his body movements near mirrored the guitar playing of the Gossip's Brace Paine.

There was seemingly a camera mafia in the line directly in front of the stage and a dance-a-thon broke out.

Yannis jumped into the crowd on two occasions to strum his guitar.

Before the close of their regular set with their "love song" "Red Socks Pugie," they played "Hummer"!  They did, they really did!

Then they returned for an encore to appease the very very enthusiastic crowd calling them back out with unending applause and cheers.

Noting they don't do it too often, they luckily had one more song in their bag of tricks. Actually, they also had "Astronauts and All," but I knew there was no way they were gonna be bringing that to life onstage in Seattle.
It was an intense close to an intense set and an oh-so delightful way to dance an evening away.

And all this despite being dazed due to the time difference. You couldn't tell in the least, but many Foals members made a mention of it, Yannis saying the first thing he'd done off the plane was smoke pot, which doubled his out-of-it-ness. Jack stayed up until 12 the night of their arrival in an effort to adjust only to wake up 3 and a half hours later. Towards the end of their set they remarked from the stage how it was breakfast time in the UK.

I asked Jack about the inclusion of "Hummer" afterwards and he said despite how it comes off in interviews, they actually really enjoy it - keyword they - not just him and that it's one of his favorites because it's the track with the most surefire power to make people dance.

"Hummer" Foals MP3

We again spoke of their Observer Music Monthly cover and why the Andy Warhol-Basquait dual idea hadn't become reality. This conversation thread made way for These New Puritans (I didn't know the girl was considered a lead the band) and onto Hadouken who've gone all nu-metal from their origins of that song I actually liked. That song "That Boy, That Girl" whose title I couldn't actually remember at the time, so I sang "Hoxton hero, skinny fit jeans all dressed in pink" before Jack chimed in "Indie Cindy." Who knew we'd be having a Hadouken lyric sing off and that it'd be really fun? Apparently their new video is the worst ever, so I now of course can't wait to watch it. That provided a conversational inlet for me to mention the exploits of Ashlee Simpson's music video for "Outta My Head" which is clearly the best thing to happen to the motion picture since ever. Ever enjoyable Jack has yet to see it. Oh he will. Oh he will...

In the time a woman from the KEXP blog joined our company along with companion Chris/Sebastian/Eugene of Seattle label Sarathon. Last call had already gone out and soon the bar staff were shuffling us out of the main venue area, so we made our way back to the dressing room.

When I was packing my bag for the evening, I first emptied out all the previous contents before putting in my camera, lenses and flash. All previous content except for my hot pink bingo dabber with which I used to stamp people's hands after the show, including a very skeptical Edwin who has never played bingo nor goes bowling. Good god man, have you lived?! I actually asked him that too... hahaha
This led into a very involving conversation of internets, macbook, macbook air and the African nation of Chad leading someone in the dressing room to declare, "Fuck Chad!"
Also populating the room were chocolates with salt on them and a tray of Sex on the Beach brought in by Yannis.
Duncan, their manager (also manager to the Young Knives who are also Transgressive signed), was along for the trip and instantly recognized me, naming the exact gig I'd seen them and him at last. He's got a remarkable memory. He's apparently good in bed too - added by him only semi-facetiously when I asked what his other talents were. Fun times! (until he put out his cigarette in what was left of my third shot of tequila :)
It was fun times all around from Sexual Harassment speak (whose track "If I Gave You a Party"(MP3) I finally got my hands on in MP3 form just weeks ago) to Facebook stalking and onto hype and the Hype Machine talk aplenty until 2am departures. I'm so psyched for when they come back!

Foals will be back for a truncated US tour in April. First they'll do the west coast before returning to the UK for a week of promotion commitments and then return for an east coast jaunt.

Expect A HOUSE SHOW in Portland!!!

P.S. look what I spied on my way out of the venue...

(a gig poster for none other than my B.C. "educator" (or one of them) and one for Boys Noize who best be making an appearance at SXSW)

Foals on the Horizon

Quickly a laundry list of opiates and other drugs made their way from his lips as he asked if I liked to party. That would be the oddly endearing Yannis of Foals for you after their Rough Trade in-store in London back in December. And tonight I've ventured up to Seattle to take in their last of three US gigs at Chop Suey.

When I saw them live on my last day/evening in London I was caught in between whether to break it down and dance or stand there in awe of their intensity and musicianship. Luckily the night before, Simon White, Bloc Party's manager had shared a few tales about them culled from joint tour dates and also the fact that they kinda detest "Hummer" for its commercial viability at an aftershow. Therefore luckily I didn't expect it as I didn't receive it in the live setting.

The set was charged, but too many people were apparently too afraid to dance. What's up with that? You are going against nature by not dancing at a Foals gig! Like you literally have to fight your body in order to not to.

There were many cameras and many songs and lighting that trumped real gigs and totally took it out of the in-store atmosphere. Since Yannis had broken his foot/toe just a couple days earlier, he was semi-subdued in comparison to his usual onstage antics according to him, but what I saw was pretty full on energy.

Afterwards they had a signing during which I took in how prominent of a display the Chromatics were receiving up front! Whoo! Night Drive all the way! And who did I spy or rather who spied me? Rhys from Good Shoes!!

I looked up and our eyes met and he made his way over to me. How random! So of course I geeked out and squealed something along the lines, "Oh my god!!!! I haven't seen you forever!" Rhys reminded me of my vocal volume, by which time I'd already attracted the attention of a mother and daughter to him who were fans of Good Shoes. hahahaha. The last time we'd seen each other was in the hotel room of Be Your Own Pet in Glasgow January 2006. That night was entirely too much fun! Oh the memories! Oh the music! That was the first time I'd ever listened to Animal Collective.

He headed out for some beers shortly after and I stuck around to take some polaroids and candid photos of Foals after they'd sufficiently autographed everything being shoved their way.

Yannis came up to me and started chatting without any awareness I'd be taking pics of them in minutes. We talked about their sound during their set and he assured me it's typically much better even though I hadn't heard anything off. We talked about my photos, his foot and a little Observer Music Monthly. Yannis detailed an entire Andy Warhol and Basquiat based concept theme for the cover for them and Lightspeed Champion to be shot in two weeks. I asked how he already knew about it. Turns out he planned it. We now know how that actually turned out to look.

They are a very fun bunch! How much am I loving that I just wrote "fun bunch"? To collect them all for a photo proved to be a task as one would go missing in the store just as another was found. Yannis was particularly unlucky going to look for someone he'd put on the guest list in exchange for the promise of getting them high, hence our exchange up top. By the time I left, the attendee with the goods still hadn't been tracked down. I don't feel too much apprehension mentioning this as they're rather open to discussing their drug dalliances in the press.

In the mean time, Jimmy had "Rock Club" written across his knuckles.

I snapped a couple photos of it at which point Yannis appeared saying, "Look! I can do that too!," taking a sharpy and quickly scrawling a heart on his forearm for me to take a picture of.

We spent some minutes in front of one record set-up before moving to another, which spurred Yannis to remark if we were going to the other set-up (that was coincidentally shorter) in an effort to make him look taller and poking some fun at himself in the height category.

He definitely put himself in a position for attention the entire time - jumping off things and telling me to look and shoot while the rest of the band were happy to comb through records rather under the radar. Friendly, but not nearly as talkative or hyper.

It was really really fun. There were some matching hand formations:

and we ended the interaction with some polaroids. Jimmy, Edwin, Jack and Walter all posed for a brief moment before returning to other activities such as packing up while Yannis grabbed the instant image from my camera the second it started appearing and pulled it out. Running around Rough Trade East, he held it until it developed, then gave it back to me with the observation, "I look like a twat."

So what are we in store for in Seattle? The couplet of New York shows went down an absolute storm and maybe, just maybe there will be a house show. I didn't ask them because I have no space to offer and when I did in London, they mistook my questioning as an offer:

Party at a Sub Pop house?

Here's a song they're unlikely to play:

"Astronauts and All" Foals MP3

Judging by "Balloons," my mom pegs them as a mix between Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs.

Foals Myspazz

Oh, and keyboardist Edwin being named Edwin instead of Edward was inspiration enough to use his name in a story I wrote based on Worms' song "Dead in the Waves." It's a political "thriller" - go read it!

And in related/unrelated, a Basquiat mural was found in an apartment complex in NYC. For $8 million you can own a condo next to the creation, though it won't be there for long. Yearly maintenance fee for living in such luxury? Only $42,000.00 a year!