One of Britain’s most inventive bands, FEET, took some time to chat with us following the release of their new album ‘Make It Up’ and ahead of their performance at Manchester’s Neighbourhood Festival on Saturday 5th of October 2024.
Hi FEET. Thanks for chatting with us! We’re big fans of your most recent album ‘Make It Up.’ Can you tell us about the inspiration behind it?
Production wise we wanted to try a more raw, stripped back style rather than our more polished debut. This direction wasn’t necessarily intentional but we fell into it, as a lot of the themes of the album have that sort of strange longing feeling you feel in your mid to late 20s or devoting your life to a creative venture when there’s no guaranteed success (but still doing it anyway).
Your debut album ‘What’s Inside Is More Than Just Ham’ was released in 2019… do you think your creative process has changed much from then until now?
Yes and no, George (singer) always does the lyrics, so that’s a good constant to have. Music wise it’s very much a collaborative and democratic process so that’s stayed the same from the first album. Maybe the way we choose to write has changed, we used to say yes to everything in the studio, sometimes without thinking about a ‘coherent’ sound within an album so I think this time round we’ve tried to present the album with that old school approach of it being one cohesive piece of work with an obligatory ballad and faster punkier one thrown in there for good measure.
If someone has never heard of you before, what song of yours would you point them to?
I would probably say ‘Greasy Boy’, from ‘Make It Up’. Probably because it contains a lot of elements we like to have in our songs, satirical lyrics, hooks in the chorus and guitar parts, not unnecessarily complicated, rough around the edges but with a bit of niceness chucked in there. We like our sound to fluctuate so we don’t end up being pigeon hole’d into a certain genre (which obviously happens anyway). This doesn’t come from a snobby angle, but instead we just don’t want to be labelled into a sound so we can continue to try new things within the writing and recording process, and not feel bound to write an angular spoken word punk song or a softer poppier sing along sort of song.
You’ve been on tour with artists such as Inhaler, Willie J Healey and performed at Hyde Park supporting the Rolling Stones … what do you take away from sharing the stage with artists like these?
Like any support band you try and note some tricks that the headline band do that you can subtly nick and turn into your own… Inhaler for example take their stage persona and mould it into their day to day life, they really live and breathe it and I think that’s one reason why people really look up to them. Willie also does this, but really encapsulates that DIY workhorse attitude in indie music. This attitude was what attracted us to forming a band in the first place… a lot of bands say that these days but it’s true.
‘Are you more “front row” or “back of the venue” kind of gig-goers?’
Don’t think we’ve quite got enough timber on us or lost enough hair to be those 6 Music dads at the back of the venue, so probably somewhere near the front.
You’ll be performing at Neighbourhood Festival 2024 on Saturday 5th of October. Are you looking forward to it?
Of course, we’ve played it a few times in the past and this is our Manchester date on our album tour, a city which has always shown us a lot of love so we’re buzzing.
What are your festival necessities?
If you’re camping, definitely some wet wipes, bog roll, bum bag, hip flask, wrap around sunglasses, maybe some ear plugs if you’re feeling boring.