Lias Saoudi: Its difficult to quantify something like that, really, because its just your nature. Ultimately, it all comes back to the central philosophy that emerged when they first started messing around after Lias Berghain trip the casting off of outside pressures, an emphasis on release. And that might not have happened had not the pandemic thrown such a fright into everyone. The second surprise is his appearance. Saoudi, the frontman who has masturbated on stage, written a song about Harold Shipman and once smeared himself with his own excrement during a gig (The rest of the tour sold like hot cakes after that), is still as provocative as ever. Javi Aznarez drew a wonderful cartoon. If youve got 50,000 followers, then youve basically got a little TV channel. Im off.. To the four winds was scattered my collection. Given the complete absence of any kind of social life I was incredibly studious and this proved easy to accomplish. What do you think concerts will be like when people are allowed to gather in larger groups? [Heroin] was never the one for me. [4], On 10 March 2014, Fat White Family issued their first single, "Touch the Leather", on Hate Hate Hate Records. I feel like an unresolved human being. PKM: That makes sense. So it really did get kind of monstrous as a result. I took to rendering my own image in charcoal, gouache and oil paint posturing like Egon Schiele whom I severely admired. Fat White Family will be back in NYC this week for CMJ, having been added to the NME showcase at Glasslands on Wednesday (10/22) with Public Access TV, Bo Ningen, Twin Peaks, Happyness, The Wytches, and Girlpool. Family: Opening Hours: Monday - Wednesday: 1630 - 0000 Thur: 1630 - 0100 Friday: 1200 - 0100 Macbeth followed it in November. For me, the reins were off. For the others, too, the project was a release. Please whitelist our site in order to continue to access The Quietus. I think having pals like that around constantly can breed a certain kind of entitlement in you if youre not careful. Thats more like it. They met up sporadically, about once every month or two. Youre not from a middle class background. Artist Jeremy Deller meets Jonny Banger, founder ofSports Banger: a rave/fashion/food bank/political activism collective whose latest clothing collection bears the label The People Deserve Beauty. [12], On 9 January 2019, Fat White Family announced that their third album, Serfs Up!,[13] would be released on 19 April 2019 on Domino Records. [18] It is nominated for the 2023 Penderyn Music Book Prize. We were dedicated to that. Lias Saoudi: Oh, sort of like auto-fiction vibes? Everywhere I looked. As soon as we got some live gigs we started getting it together a bit more, says Quinn. ", Talbot also revealed that those comments did make him angry, "I do hold on to those grudges. Or did I think I was laying things away for a rainy day? THIS IS WHATS COOL! Life doesnt work like that. I didnt have to consult with [bandmates] Saul [Adamczewski, lead guitarist] or Nathan [Saoudi, keyboard player and Lias brother], I didnt have to deal with hype. Heroin just f***s everything up. Harmer pitched a tent in the graveyard at the end of the road. You cant get a bunch of people in a building together to celebrate music with a lot of alcohol and the rest of it and expect them to follow social distancing. The Grass Arena by John Healy https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/aug/05/biography, 5. I went to this gig last October. But this was just spellbinding, it was such a dense experience. It was a bit heavy, that. Its not a bad show, you know., Enjoy unlimited access to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial, He pauses. Everything was all mixed up. Co-written with lucidity and humour by singer Lias Saoudi and acclaimed author Adelle Stripe, Ten Thousand Apologies is that rare thing: a music book that barely features any music, a biography as literary as any novel, and a confessional that does not seek forgiveness. The kids in Cookstown, Northern Ireland, had few pastimes outside of . As well as the unparalleled joy of keeping the publication alive, you'll receive benefits including exclusive editorial, podcasts, and specially-commissioned music by some of our favourite artists. Since forming in 2011, Fat White Family have released three acclaimed albums of insalubrious post-punk and are known for their provocative live performances. It was sort of like rehab, says Saoudi. I certainly wouldnt vote for him., Saoudi performing with Fat White Family in 2019. During the first UK lockdown, Lias began contributing a series of unflinching autobiographical pieces entitledLife Beyond the Neutral Zoneto the online cultural hub, The Social Gathering. Hes just finished his solo album, which we sort of collaborated on. PKM: The Indian novelist Kamala Markandaya said that in order to write about something, in order to get it done, she had to be infuriated. Hed never had that much interest in electronic music before, but a couple of my mates who dressed like characters from The Matrix were real techno heads, so I thought Ill give it a go. It ended up being completely transformational. The book, which will be published early next year, tells, a press release says, "the sordid and thrilling story" of the band, from their formation in 2011 up to now. An artist has an ability to draw the line amid the chaos and mess of human experience and thats the end of it, he says, glass back down on the table. The one thing that you can be sure of is that they will exploit it to their own nefarious ends as much as they possibly can. You just quietly curse the day you were born until its over, channel that self-despising energy, and then its the end, he says. Its different, now. PKM: You cant learn that dynamic online. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. I can count the times Ive gone to pick up heroin on the street, like, on two hands.. The Absolute Mixture: Shit Art Positive by Matthew Bown. The world wide web became quite popular around the same time. We used to put it on and dance to it and shit. I hate videos that dont have rhythm, some are really elaborate and have a story or whatever, but most of the time I think they detract from the music, says Luke. So that did create a very insidious atmosphere where the worst of everybody was getting propelled and inflamed over the course of years and there was just no get-out clause. Theres every kind of sentiment to be explored. I think that one thing with the writing that I realized, was that it was something that I could probably do, but in order to do it requires a completely different kind of discipline where Im not drinking or drugging at all. Photo by Alex White. was dog shit; that I was into music with guitars. Whod have thought?, Anything with me in it. 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. Why not? He was waiting for the man., What did the band make of the book? 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. I want to thank Jane Ferguson & her team at theObserverfor giving me this opportunity & putting everything together so it all makes sense. You can run too far without your own self-mythologizing. It was on The Big Breakfast, remember that? Lias Saoudi: Most of the new record, some of the old record, and then whatever else we might come up with in between times. Get Lias Saoudi setlists - view them, share them, discuss them with other Lias Saoudi fans for free on setlist.fm! I was chuffed! They released the track as a 12 via More About Music, the label of Paranoid Londons manager Mark Potts, without fanfare and without disclosing their personal identities. He looks healthy and together now a far cry from the increasingly emaciated, tortured figure who haunted the stage as the band he formed in 2011 with his brother Nathan and Saul Adamczewski slowly ripped itself apart, poisoned by drugs, alcohol and ego. Its awful when you get a public rinse down; I should have at least qualified my comments last year. If you dont like something, dont do it then.. It was really nice to just let Decius breathe, says Quinn. The fact that its set in Sheffield somehow really adds to the pain. In 2011 he . Once all that was gone, I had no hankering.". It employs a similar off-kilter aesthetic, shots of Lias buzzing around manically behind contortionist and circus performer Ephyra Ana as she stands perfectly still with an intense Mona Lisa stare, alternating with snippets of the frontman engaging in some enigmatic, submissive ritual. To find out more, click here. I went to a Protestant school as a result. People talk about a blue pill and a red pill, he says. As a wholly independent publication, we rely entirely on our ad bookings to keep The Quietus going. THE SHOCKING LIVE TELEVISION SUICIDE OF A NEWS ANCHOR! Lias choice of clothing in U Instead Of Thought might cross one boundary too many for some, however. Between them they had the entire back catalogue including all the Bootlegs. Macho Music by Peter Gordon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbeJKaAKLos, 4. All good songs have this bit where you cant really half-sing it, youve either got to chuck your lot in or not bother at all. If you love what we do, you can help tQ to continue bringing you the best in cultural criticism and new music by joining one of our subscription tiers. This is the definitive account of Fat White Family's disgraceful and . Its an oxymoron. It gets bandied around a lot, but that is next level Orwellian hideousness there. You get a little place in the country, and a really big garden, and a lot of dogs, and you can do pretty well. Lias Kaci Saoudi is a writer, artist and musician, and the front man of genre-bending iconoclasts Fat White Family. Lias Saoudi is the frontman of rock bands Fat White Family and the Moonlandingz. Happy birthday Yayoi See Yayoi's biggest gallery exhibition yet opening May 12th at . Musician Lias Saoudi discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. But I thought Id choose the last album by David Berman, from Silver Jews, released in 2019. I think that the way the protests have broken out is really hopeful. There are a few things cooking. To find out more, click here. Were not good at talking about our emotions, says Saoudi. It was really packed at the front and they came out and started doing Song 2 and the place went fucking mental. Julian House designedGood Pop, Bad Pop& also brought his unique graphic sensibility to bear on this edition of theNew Review. [6] Pledgers were given the self-released EP Crippled B-Sides and Inconsequential Rarities. But the process of writing Ten Thousand Apologies forced Saoudi, whom Stripe describes as a mix of Harold Steptoe, Oscar Wilde and Adrian Mole, to confront many of the conflicts and resentments he and his bandmates had avoided for years. But you dont have to be angry. I went with my brother and I remember him taking me to the front before they went on. At that point we had an album recorded, so we just started recording another, says Luke. But having that long silence and emptiness of lockdown, going over it all and actually talking about things, I think its been pretty helpful., Were the classic toxic men that everybody keeps talking about. Theres every kind of sentiment to be explored. He began jotting down memories and ideas, the first time since school hed written anything other than lyrics. 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. Life Beyond The Neutral Zone #8 - Lias Saoudi. Otherwise everything you write is like just absolute drivel. Ten Thousand Apologies: Fat White Family and the Miracle of Failure by Adelle Stripe and Lias Saoudi. In choosing to attack two groups at once I believed I was demonstrating a supreme . Lias Kaci Saoudi is on Facebook. Mandatory school uniform meant that between the ages of 12 to 18 I wore a great big red hand of Ulster out on my chest everyday. Hes not proud of it but at the same time, you know, it was an incredibly bleak period for him. It was that place that Id always imagined moving to London but never really found., In the days afterwards, he started to think about how he could bring that bacchanalian spirit to his own work. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Drugs, alcohol and ego almost tore Britains most provocative band apart, as a no-holds-barred memoir of the group reveals. Theres an incredible amount of stuff in there: Paul McCarthy, Duchamp, GG Allin, who Im an admirer of. Sonically, for me, its kind of like climbing back into the womb. Anyone willing to sweat nuts and bolts on stage like that, regardless of the underlying message, deserves our respect, and for that I duly salute them. And it really was more sporadic. Lias Saoudi. ", "In a way Im grateful to the band IDLES," Saoudi continued. I think thats something Id like to move away from: monotone rage and anger. 1', Music Of The Month: The Best Albums And Tracks Of October 2022, Songs At The End Of The World: An Interview With HMLTD, tQ's Exclusive Monthly Round-Up Playlist: March 2023, Music Of The Month: The Best Albums And Tracks Of March 2023, tQ's Exclusive Monthly Round-Up Playlist: February 2023, Love Songs And Monster Songs: Jad Fair's Favourite Albums, Their New House: House Of All Interviewed, Personal Anthems: An Interview With Heinali. I think if it was more synthetic and Hollywood, it wouldnt conjure up the same terror, but because the 80s production is a bit shoddy it feels more believable. The NYC Downlow is outrageous, anyone would kill to play there, and this is when Decius was a reall small thing that not many people knew about, he continues. ", Yesterday (22 September), Saoudi posted an essay on The Social clarifying his opinion on IDLES. One of the people behind the festivals high-concept clubbing area Block9, Gideon Berger, had been one of those early fans of Come To Me Villa, and he booked Decius for a brief live slot at the zones central queer club The NYC Downlow, which was modelled after New Yorks legendary 80s venue Paradise Garage. It sounds exactly like the reason we got into dance music, but fifteen years earlier says Liam, as he and his brother join Saoudi and I for drinks in a Brixton pub. Theres a scene at the end when Jeremy Irons cuts his own throat in prison, and its just a continuation of that sentiment, he argues. On the night of the terrorist attack at the Bataclan in Paris in November 2015, when Fat White Family were performing at another venue in the city, we are told that Saul had commanded the rest of the band to stay in the dressing room, informing them, Its the safest place we can be. Lead singer of Fat White Family, Lias Saoudi, self-pens a Baker's 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. I dont really belong anywhere, you know? It made me think of London, which was not a place Id ever been but youre almost mourning this place thats not even real to you. So what did he make of Elvis Costellos announcement that he would no longer perform his song Olivers Army because it features the n-word? The same dozen ideas or so present themselves endlessly, or I submit and just hand over the reins to Spotify. 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. Then, one evening lying on her bed alone while she was in the bathroom next door getting ready to go out, Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie came over the stereo, which is basically just a poem about the nature of integrity inspired by Guthries Bound For Glory. One ready to go now, then another to follow quite quickly afterwards.. Theres other emotions I want to explore. It shouldnt be like this, I tell myself, I should care more than I do. We werent trying to package it in that way, but people picked up on that stuff without it being explained or explicit., Meanwhile, the project now known as Decius (named after the relatively obscure Roman Emperor remembered primarily for his brutality; the group employ a Roman laurel as a visual trademark), was remaining casual. Once all that was gone, I had no hankering., He holed up at a friends flat in Streatham during the first months of Covid, where he rediscovered his love of reading and writing. Shirtless, his dark hair tousled after a brisk walk across town, he rolled cigarettes and sipped coffee whilst answering questions with a right good grace. Sitting watching TV, I remember the video came up. I definitely feel like I dont have a tribe.. So its a good time to be just making things, you know? And it doesnt matter which part of the media spectrum you go to, theyre all trying to crank it up to the max, so they can raise their heads above the parapet, above the din. Its not a power that can actually be taken away from somebody. I dont feel like I learn anything about Joe Talbot by listening to Joe Talbot. It's not even a clever bit of wordplay. But then, my mums from the north of England, a working class coal mining family. All that carry on, for me, is circumstantial and social. So when Lias came in it was somebody who didnt have any kind of history with it or established reference point, so it went to other places you wouldnt expect. 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