As they descended on Mad Cool Festival 2022 this week, Foals knew exactly what they needed to do to smash their closing 1am set. âThese sets are always quite fun, because The Killers are the headliners and then weâre sort of doing the party set afterwards,” drummer Jack Bevan tells NME before they take to the stage. “The only sad thing about that is then when you finish, the whole festival finishes, and you donât get to have that hour where you bask in the aftermath of your set. The doors are closed and everyone goes home.”
Guitarist Jimmy Smith agrees: âYeah, then you come back to the backstage area and youâre like, âGuys!â and thereâs no one here. Itâs just tumbleweed and cigarette butts. I also wish someone would move their fucking walkway out of the way [from the stage]. I think itâs either The Killersâ or Imagine Dragonsâ.â Bevan replies: âWeâll just use it. You’ll go up there!â
Unsurprisingly, Jimmy does not make use of the gangway during Foals’ set. But frontman Yannis Philippakis gladly obliges, while Bevan also makes the actually quite-long trip from his drum kit to the very edge of the walkway many a time, even nabbing a gifted shirt from a fan at one point.
Needless to say, Foals were the party that we needed in the early hours of Friday morning (July 8). Before their set, we had a chat with Jimmy and Jack about fanboying over Deftones and Radiohead, their historic set at Glastonbury 2022, thoughts on a new album, solo projects, and Dan Carey’s dub plans for their latest record ‘Life Is Yours‘.

NME: Hello Foals! We just caught you watching Deftones. Did you enjoy their set?
Jack: âIt was pretty great. It was the first time Iâd seen them [live] in like, six years. I just met Abe [Cunningham] the drummer outside, and Iâve gone all shaky because heâs one of my biggest inspirations ever in drumming. Heâs just the best, and he was really nice.â
Jimmy: âI was in a room with Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood for the first time the other day. They played in London and I was too scared to talk to them. I was too tired to talk to them, actually. I was like, âI donât want this to be the day that I talk to themâ. There were lots of other people in the room, or it would have been pretty awkward.â
The last time we saw you was when you headlined The Other Stage at Glastonbury a few weeks ago. How was it for you?
Jack: âThat was fun. There was something about that particular Glastonbury. Obviously weâd never headlined a stage at Glastonbury before, and it felt like one of the most important gigs â maybe the most important gig weâve ever done. With it being the first Glastonbury in three years, and the first night at Glastonbury in three years, the excitement in the crowd all day was palpable. To end the show was pretty exciting, and we got pretty over-excited.”
Did you enjoy the rest of the weekend?
Jack: âWe stayed late on the Friday until about 6am, because we had to go to Dublin for another show. Also, I donât know if itâs my age but Iâm really good for going in hard one night, then I really want to be tucked up in a comfy bed somewhere. I canât do the three-day thing anymore.â
Jimmy: âI felt really sad to leave because the sun had just started catching all the flags. It was sunrise and I was thinking, âAll my friends are in thereâ.â
Jack: âMy last memory was just looking for any food stands open on my way out, and I found a burrito, but the wrap was made out of a Yorkshire pudding. I was delicious and sacrilicious!â

It felt like your new album ‘Life Is Yours’ was written for nights like that…
Jimmy: âWhen we were writing the album, we were like, âWow, imagine this one in front of a festival crowdâ. You always think of Glastonbury, so in some ways it was.â
Jack: âWe havenât done that many festivals since COVID. That was definitely the biggest at that point. Glastonbury is where the mind goes when you think about festivals. It felt celebratory.â
Has ‘Life Is Yours’ made you feel like more of a ‘party band’ on stage?
Jimmy: âI donât know. Itâs just one of the many avenues that we like to explore!â
Jack: âThe set feels really exciting at the moment. It feels really nice having these lighter, dancier, poppy songs because we never had problems in the past with the end of the set. All of the heavier, more intense ones have always slotted in to make a really good end of set. Itâs the first half of the set in the past where we havenât had enough of those lighter, dancier songs. There were a few, like âOlympic Airwaysâ – Jimmyâs favourite song to play – where we played that at basically every show ever. Now weâve got songs that we can poke out in between in those places.â

You released a remix collection during lockdown. Can this album be remixed if it’s already so ravey?
Jimmy: âWell, Dan Carey is remixing it! Heâs doing a dub record.â
Jack: âItâs pretty nuts. Itâs a proper dub record, so thatâs pretty cool. There are some songs like âWild Greenâ that lend itself so well to that.â
Thatâs become a real fan favourite. When are you going to start playing âWild Greenâ live, you lazy, lazy men?
Jimmy: âAlright!â
Jack: âSo up until the record came out, we were only playing a few songs from the album. I think itâs good to play one or two songs before theyâve been released, but because the record came out when it did, we only had about eight shows after that. Weâre going to have a bit of a break and then weâre going to learn all of the new ones, and then weâll start alternating them. For me, âWild Greenâ is going to be a new âProvidenceâ-style live favourite – or at least Iâd be sad if it wasnât.â
Jimmy: âI think we need one more set of rehearsals and then weâll be able to play the whole record.â
Do you think youâll explore this dancey avenue even further on the next album?
Jack: âWeâve sort of been talking about it, but we donât really know. Watch this space.â
Jimmy, we know youâve got some solo material in the can that weâre going to hear soon, right?
Jimmy: âYeah, definitely. Watch this space!â

Jack, would we ever hear a âBeakerâ solo record from you?
Jack: âWell, Iâm actually building a studio in my new house, but itâs going to be the sort of record that I might never release.”
Jimmy: âWould it be too scary?â
Jack: âYeah, it would be too scary! Really demonic moaning and growling!â
Jimmy: âDemonic electronica.â
Demonica? Foals, thank you very much.Â
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