artists » Jimmy Smith of Foals

No one quite knows what tag to give to Foals…indie, psychedelic, pop… but the tags not important, they just need to be listened to. Lighting up ipod’s all over the world, the four lads from Oxford have so far had an amazing year, from sold out dates all over the UK, including the legendary Astoria in London, then hitting the US and Japan. Today the guys are in New York’s Bowery Ball Room, which is where Vox caught up with Jimmy to find out how they’re enjoying the tour, their reaction to the Radiohead comparisons and how Vox fits in with their sound.

Vox: I heard “Balloons” on the radio this morning on the way in here; satellite radio, and I was like “Oh! Cool!” They have a channel called “Left of Center”, it’s like an “introducing new bands” kind of station. So for anybody else who doesn’t know about you guys yet, how would you describe your music to somebody that has never heard of it before?
J: It’s indie, in a sense, in that it’s five white guys playing guitars and keyboards.  And, there’s dance beats in there so it’s dance-y, but it’s also heavily influenced by African music; like afro beat stuff.  Like Femi Kute and Public Image Limited from the drumming and the rhythms, and the weirdness.  We kind of pride ourselves on making pop music.  Essentially we’re a pop band, but it’s kind of weird, you know.
VOX: I’ve seen you compared to Radiohead all over the place, so how does that feel?
J: Well, they’re my favorite band ever, so, it feels a bit strong, to be honest.  I don’t think you can really compare anyone to Radiohead.  I think it’s purely because we come from Oxford, that that sprung up.  Like one newspaper did this thing like “Oh! Foals’ the new Radiohead.”  And that’s like killer to any band really, but it’s a complement, you know, because they are amazing.
VOX: So tell me how you first learned about VOX.  Was there someone who played it before that?
J: It ties in with the Radiohead thing. I saw Johnny Greenwood playing one. He had two of them, I think.  I remember they looked awesome.  It was like an obsessive thing.  I was like “wow, that looks cool,” and obviously, his guitar sounded amazing tone-wise; it sounded perfect.  Then I think I tried some out, because we needed to buy new amps.�
VOX: How would you describe the VOX AC30 amp in your own words?
J:  I’d say its very warm, because we play really clean guitars, and the difference between mine and Yannis’ guitar sounds is that his is very clean without much growl and woomf to it, whereas with mine there’s a bit of edge to it so if you hit something hard it will get a little bit overdriven, but you can control it, perfectly, and I really like that. It sounds live, even in the studio, you can make it as clean and as beautiful as you want. Just turn it up for that overdrive sound. I just like it, the sound of it is awesome.
VOX: Who are some of your musical influences?�
J: Radiohead, Public Image Limited, and we get influenced a lot by German techno.  When we started out we wanted to make techno music with guitars; like minimal techno.  Band-wise, like Liars we love a lot, Fugazi (who I’ve only recently gotten into in a big way properly, I’ve always listened to them).  There are five of us and we all listen to different stuff, but we’ve all got a collective idea of where we want to go.
VOX: So the new album came out in March? How’s that been working out? How’s everybody receiving it?
J: Great! It’s doing real well, over here. It did really well in England. Way better than we ever thought. It went to number 3 in the Billboard charts. Everything’s going better than we could ever imagine, and the fact that we’re here and touring America, playing the Bowery again, is incredible.
VOX: Out of everything, what’s been your most memorable show so far?
J: There’s the Astoria in London, which is the biggest show we’ve ever done off our own backs. Everyone’s played there, and it’s always like the big gig for a band that’s coming up.  It was crazy, there were about 1700 kids going absolutely ballistic, it was amazing. Then there was the R.E.M. show we did at the Royal Albert Hall recently, which was great (a bit weird though as everyone was sitting down). There’s too much to think of.  Just coming over here, this is already turning into an amazing experience. Just touring America, seeing it all.  Japan’s coming up as well and Glastonbury…
VOX: So is this the first real tour, the first time you are going to be doing everything?
J: Definitely. We’ve been over to Seattle, and Austin, and New York.. But now, we are doing everything…so please come and see us at some of the shows.
Following this interview the band rocked Glastonbury and their worldwide tour is still going strong. If you want to get along to see them on tour the dates are listed on their Myspace at www.myspace.com/foals and their fantastic debut album Antidotes should also be checked out.

Interview 24th April 2008.
Location: New York City
Interview by: Jenn Plonski.
Words: Jenn Plonski & Grace McHale