Foals (band)

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For young horses less than a year old, see Foal
Foals

Background information
Origin Oxford and Thame, England
Genre(s) Indie rock
Dance-punk
Math rock
Years active 2005–present
Label(s) Transgressive, Sub Pop
Website Official website
Members
Yannis Philippakis
Jack Bevan
Jimmy Smith
Edwin Congreave
Walter Gervers
Former members
Andrew Mears

Foals are a band from Oxford, England. The band are signed with Transgressive Records in Europe and Sub Pop in the USA. A full length album—entitled Antidotes—was released on 24 March 2008 in the UK, and 8 April in the USA. It was originally to have been produced by Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio[1] but the band discarded Sitek's final mix and remixed the entire record themselves because Sitek's heavy use of reverb had given their recording a "spacey" sound that they disliked.[2]

Guitarist and vocalist Yannis Philippakis was recently voted 45 in music magazine NME's 2007 Cool List.[3]

Contents

[edit] History

Childhood friends Jack and Yannis were previously in a cult math rock band named The Edmund Fitzgerald but this was disbanded after they claimed that things had become "too serious" and they wanted to have more "fun making their music." Try Harder Records (Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies, Blood Red Shoes, Jonquil, Tired Irie) are set to release a double CD retrospective of all previously released and unreleased Edmund Fitzgerald material around September 2008.

Jimmy Smith was previously a student at the University of Hull and graduated in Geography. He and Walter Gervers, having been friends at Abingdon School, also attended by members of Radiohead, were in a small Oxford band called Face Meets Grill that split shortly before Foals formed. Jimmy is the only member of the band to have completed his degree—the other four members all quit their respective universities (including Yannis and Edwin leaving their courses in English language and literature at the University of Oxford) when the band signed to Transgressive.

Lead singer of Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies (now Youthmovies), Andrew Mears,[4] originally formed the band, playing as a guitarist and the lead singer. He was around for their first single release on Try Harder Records, "Try This on Your Piano / Look at My Furrows of Worry", but left after several months so he could concentrate on Youthmovies' forthcoming album Good Nature. With the addition of Edwin who plays keyboards, and who Yannis met while working at a cocktail bar in Oxford, the current line up was complete.

The band's influences are varied: they cite minimal techno works such as Monolake's "Plumbicon" and pop act Gwen Stefani as major sources of inspiration[citation needed] whilst it is also noted that certain members of Foals believe that influential minimalist composer Steve Reich is "the best musical act of all time"[citation needed]. In addition, Yannis has stated "we’re definitely fans of the Talking Heads"[5], a band whose influences can be heard in Foals' recordings. He has also said his favourite band is math rock outfit Sweep the Leg Johnny[citation needed].

The band have announced they are to release their third single from Antidotes, "Red Socks Pugie" on 9th June, 2008 through Transgressive Records.

[edit] TV appearances

Foals have appeared on several television programmes, including an appearance in a mini-episode of Skins in August 2007, shown exclusively on MySpace. The episode mimicked their tendency to play house parties. The band has also appeared on Later With Jools Holland, playing their songs "Balloons" and "Red Socks Pugie", as well as T-Mobile's Transmission (Channel 4), The Album Chart Show (E4), and The Culture Show. Philippakis appeared in an episode of Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] EPs

[edit] Singles

Date Single Format Record label Chart position
3 April 2006 "Try This On Your Piano", "Look At My Furrows of Worry" Try Harder —
23 April 2007 "Hummer"
  • Digital Download
  • Limited 7"
 Transgressive —
20 August 2007 "Mathletics"
  • Digital Download
  • Limited 7"
 Transgressive 109
10 December 2007 "Balloons"
  • Digital Download (released 9 December 2007)
  • CD
  • 7"
  • Limited edition etched 12"
 Transgressive 39
10 March 2008 "Cassius" Transgressive 26
9 June 2008 "Red Socks Pugie" Transgressive —

[edit] References

  1. ^ GIGWISE, TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek To Produce Foals
  2. ^ The Stool Pigeon, Foals Get On The High Horse
  3. ^ NME
  4. ^ DROWNED IN SOUND, Foaling around: founders' foibles dissected
  5. ^ NOW Magazine // Music // Music Feature // Foals race-ready

[edit] External links