Bristol’s IDLES are a potent hash of outrage, bleak humour and avant-garde noise making.
I have a ’72 Strat that is an old war horse. I can’t tune the A-string without pliers
Given the lyric ‘the best way to scare a Tory is to read and get rich’ on Mother, it’s clear that there’s a political ire at the heart of IDLES - and guitarist Mark Bowen’s abrasive tone offers the perfect canvas for such mantras.
Sound and expression
“I have a ’72 Strat that is an old war horse,” he tells us. “It’s awful but I love it. None of the knobs work and I can’t tune the A-string without pliers - they always tell me to tune up and I have to mime it.”
Unsurprisingly, the band’s debut album, Brutalism, demands your attention.
“I’m interested in the way the sound is expressed,” concludes guitarist Mark Bowen. “And that expressiveness is a bit like those therapies where people dress as animals and defecate on floors.”
- For fans of: Slaves, Fat White Family
- Hear: Divide And Conquer
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![Chris Hayes [left] wears a purple checked shirt and plays his 1957 Stratocaster in the studio; Michael J. Fox tears it up onstage as Marty McFly in the 1985 blockbuster Back To The Future.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/nWZUSbFAwA6EqQdruLmXXh-840-80.jpg.webp)
