More about: FEET

Arguably the most exciting band in indie rock, the quartet hive-mind FEET are back with their new EP Walking Machine, out this Friday (6 August), and it's a fun four-track romp full of indie swagger. FEET have undoubtedly musically progressed since their 2019 debut What’s Inside is More Than Just Ham, a delightful yet arguably erratic record. With the band living together in a North London flat since late 2019, isolation of being stuck in lockdown has allowed FEET to progress their sound to how they want it to be. 

Ahead of the release of Walking Machine, we caught up with FEET frontman George Haverson and drummer Ben Hookings. As I compliment their funky '60s inspired décor whilst they speak on Zoom from their flat, George explains how it was recently renovated for the BBC Three show Flat Out Fabulous as he waits for Ben to come out the shower. 

Apart from drummer Ben, FEET met whilst studying at Coventry University in 2017. “Coventry is a bit dead to be honest,” begins frontman George. “We love the city, and it gave us a platform to go off, but it’s not the most exciting place in the world. Because the nightlife and stuff round there isn’t really up our street, we all gravitated towards each other because we were all into bands and guitar music. We started with covers of The Libertines and Red Hot Chili Peppers, and I feel like when a lot of bands start out they all sound soft and indie. You either start as a punk band or a melodic indie band. Down the line you start to walk into something different.”

“When I joined as we started recording the debut,” adds drummer Ben. “Most of the stuff had been written but it seemed very inconsistent. It was a mix of influences like Hall and Oates to the Beastie Boys and then to Rage Against The Machine and Beach Boys.”

“The lack of coherence back then was definitely evident on the album.” Says George. “It was so fun to record and create it, but I honestly don’t think it’s aged as well as we thought it might.”

Walking Machine is an absolute step-up from the debut album as it contains four brilliantly consistent and accomplished tracks. The band describe their recent sound as a brand new genre they call 'Crease Pop'—but what is it? “Crease pop doesn’t particularly mean anything,” explains George, “But in our secular world, there’s a lot of contexts we don’t give people. In my mind when you’re in a guitar band like us you either relate to the standard indie band or post-punk sort of stuff. Neither reflect what we want to do musically, so rather than telling people what genre we’re not, we thought we might as well come up with a phrase to tell people. In my mind, crease pop is a bit of both of those things, but it’s just creased pop music.

“You can have your hard stuff, there’s a few tracks on the new EP that have bollocks. Like Buzzcocks: they’re pop songs with a bit of grit. It’s having that grit without being too preachy and post-punk like IDLES. You can have a hard song about a creased subject, like Library on the new EP.”

FEET didn’t invent crease pop with ease, though. Throughout lockdown last year, the band lived together and experienced serious cabin fever. A whole batch of songs that were supposed to become a second album were scrapped after a sobering practice room realisation that it was far from sounding like a cohesive second record, something they grumble over when it comes to looking back at their debut. FEET needed to find their feet. 

“That time was just masses of arguments with each other and nothing really going right.” explains Ben. “There was a moment where we realised something might have clicked and that was a great feeling. I am glad you said that the new EP is more cohesive, because that’s exactly what we want.” 

“We’re bringing in a new era” adds George. “That shows with the title of the EP too: we’re walking forwards and away from the first album’s lack of coherence. I want our music to be recognisable, so when people hear a second of our songs, they will know that it’s FEET. That’s what we’re heading towards, and it takes time. Walking Machine is the closest we’ve got so far, but there’s ways to go. We’ll still be playful, but I’m excited for the music we make after this EP. I’m happy with how it sounds: the debut is usually the stepping off point but for us, this EP is our stepping-off point. We want to release another one after this, and once we’ve developed and sound like we want to, then it’s time for album two.”

With the entire band living together like a hive-mind, FEET’s songwriting processes seem like they come with ease, but alas, the band disagrees. “It’s evolved so much,” explains Ben. "We were stuck in this house for a year and eight months, and we’re still stuck. We’ve tried starting from different elements, different rooms, and a lot of it fails massively. I still don’t think we’ve nailed that to be honest.”

“I don’t think there’s a perfect formula to it,” adds George. “Someone presents an idea and if it falls into the laps of everyone else, it works out. Everyone knows what they need to do almost immediately. The best songs are the ones that take the least amount of time to write, because it just clicks with everyone. We step on each other’s toes: it’s like trying to read a book with five other people. Someone needs to catch up, someone gets distracted, but it works out in the end.”

On the final track of the new EP titled ‘Arena’, the lyrics see the band criticise the music industry and the way record companies thrust fresh vulnerable talent into the limelight without letting them adapt and find their own feet. “It’s hard to have a valid opinion as we’re five white men.” Says Ben.

“We’re the nuclear family when it comes to being in a band,” George continues, "And that shouldn’t be the case but it’s reality. Who am I to say that I want to play an arena, because there’s plenty of people who aren’t in my position who want to do the same thing. For me, ‘Arena’ is about the model of the music industry rewarding bands and music that get on a gravy train. I notice that when bands are big enough to play arenas, the quality starts to drop. Everything that was exciting and kinetic about what they did first gets diluted. It seems major record labels are picking up talent when they’re so young. There’s no cultural excitement. The labels throw a 17-year-old into an academy and expect them to write amazing songs. For music to have impact culturally, it needs to be in an environment it can grow in. It has a scene and community around it which makes it more interesting.

“In my mind, the “arena system” where you go up playing bigger and bigger venues with the bigger ones all being commercially owned, that doesn’t grow organic and interesting music. The cream floats to the top in this industry. What I’m seeing is the cream that’s backed by a major label, plays the game, and does your TikToks and everything, that’s what gets to the top now. It’s not necessarily about quality anymore, but maybe it never was.”

Walking Machine arrives 6 August via Nice Swan Recordings.

More about: FEET