The Idles frontman Joe Talbot shared a story on SPIN’s Lipp Service podcast about how a creative jigsaw puzzle ploy snagged his band the role of opening act for the Foo Fighters.
Back in 2017, as Idles was riding the wave of their debut LP’ Brutalism,’ they learned they were among a handful of bands considered to support the Foo Fighters at their O2 Arena show in London. The vocalist revealed:
“They had a shortlist of five to ten bands, I think. And apparently… They pick the bands themselves; they had the shortlist. We found out, and we thought to get ahead of the bunch, we’d make a puzzle – like a jigsaw puzzle – with a photo of our bassist on it. In his pants. It just said: ‘Pick Idles.’ I just built the box and wrote, ‘If you build it, they will come’ on it. And they f*cking did.”
Idles On The Move With New Album ‘Tangk’
With their latest studio album, ‘Tangk,’ already out, Idles is set to embark on a global tour starting February 29 in Porto. The tour promises to bring their new sounds across the world, concluding in December at Manchester’s O2 Apollo. Talbot’s vision for ‘Tangk’ was clear from the onset, as he told NME last October:
“When I started this album, I said to [Mark] Bowen: ‘I want to make people dance, I want people to feel the love that I need in my life, I want to make people move, I want our music to be infectious again – and I want it to be infectious in a way that makes people feel, not think. I want to feel part of something electric again.’ I wanted to elaborate and transgress from 2021’s ‘Crawler,’ which was the start of something new for us. When something feels as electric as ‘Crawler’ did, I just wanted to continue it and to evoke a sense of purpose with what we are as musicians.”
Released on February 16, 2024, through Partisan Records and produced by Nigel Godrich, Kenny Beats, and Idles member Mark Bowen, ‘Tangk’ has been met with critical acclaim. It was promoted with singles like ‘Dancer,’ ‘Grace,’ and ‘Gift Horse.’
