Dealing Conversation a Falco-n Punch

Future of the Left released their latest album, How to Stop Your Brain in an Accident, last week and they are currently touring the UK, visiting London on the 13th. Stuart Masson caught up with lead singer and guitarist Andrew ‘Falco’ Falkous.

For starters, can you give a quick description of Future of the Left for those who haven’t listened to you before?

Just a loud rock band who want to play music which is 8% louder than most other stuff you’ve heard but still has melody in it and isn’t shit.

The new album was funded by fan donations on pledge music, did that affect the album making process?

It affected it, yes, in the way that it gave us the money to do the record. It was fantastic to have that money up front and know we weren’t going to be scraping around on credit cards or whatever. It made it easier and more fun and it meant that the recording, for once, was a week in the studio followed by a few days mixing. When we’ve recorded in the past it’s been broken up into weekends or single days, just whenever we’ve had the times off week. There was a certain comfort that allowed us to focus and really get into it.

You reached your target amount in just 5 hours. Did it feel satisfying to know you’ve cultivated such a dedicated fanbase?

Yeah, it was really exciting on one level, but obviously you don’t want to see the whole enterprise purely in financial terms but just as a show of faith it was quite lovely. I would say it was quite a heartwarming experience. A lot of the business experience of being in a band, and it’s increasingly a business, is cold and lonely and depressing. So even though it was something that was just a headlines day, and a lot of the work began from that point, it was still lovely. As much as it sounds false, I will never forget it, genuinely very exciting.

What prompted the decision to have the whole album streaming in advance of its release date?

It’s a question of publicity and also because we had some production problems with the CD production. Unfortunately I can’t go into that because of legal reasons, I’d love to go into that, because I love to pick a fight, it’s one of my favourite things to do. It became a question of the fact that the album wouldn’t be available until the 28th rather than the 21st so if people were going to be talking about the record, we wanted them to be talking about the actual songs, not the fact it was going to be delayed.

You’ve come out in the past and vilified file sharing. What was the story there?

I think it’s important in terms of the blog post I wrote when our album leaked two and a half months early a few years ago, that was specifically about leaks as opposed to file sharing. I’m not the hugest fan of file sharing, I don’t know many self-respecting musicians who are, although some people have convinced themselves that they are. Leaks are a different thing, especially when they happen so early, because people have got into your record, extracted the fat and protein, and moved onto something else, even if they’ve really enjoyed it, a month before your record even exists tangibly. Also, when you release an album, you want a sense of occasion, I wouldn’t go as far as to say a party, but you want it to certainly be an event in your life. When it’s been leaked so early, when it is eventually released, it’s just apologetically farted out into the world.

How did you come up with the voice in Singing of the Bonesaws?

I don’t honestly know. Maybe I hadn’t had enough oxygen to my brain that day. I was listening to the end of the first test between England and Australia in the middle of doing vocal takes and I was a bit nervous, so maybe something in me decided to become really English as a coping mechanism.

Your lyrics are often highly surreal and amusing. What is your writing process?

In general, the lyrics are usually just thrown together at the last moment. Sometimes, when they are thrown together at the last moment they don’t work, and they’re the songs that nobody ends up hearing. More often than not I think it’s really helpful to the creative process to have some pressure. We’ve finished recording for the day, everybody else is having dinner, you’ve got an hour to write two songs, go. That kind of situation brings out the best in me.

You made the unusual decision to release an EP, Human Death, at the same time as the album. How did that come about?

We just wrote a lot of songs that we really loved which weren’t maybe as focused as the record. We definitely don’t see them as b-sides, in any sense. We see them as being part of a slightly more considered musical approach. For example, in the case of Fucked Up Runners, that was kind of our jokey, very self-conscious attempt at doing a song with a kind of Shellac-y guitar sound. To us, if that had ended up on the problem album, it would have sounded too much like a pastiche.

Are you looking forward to getting back on the road and touring the new album?

I am, especially if my back gets better, because I’ve been in agony for the last few weeks. I went to see an osteopath this morning, so if I can stand up straight, I will enjoy touring a lot more. Although I feel lucky to have a job and earn some money, nothing comes close to playing rock n roll.

You’re well known for your on stage rants and putting hecklers down. Is this something you plan or does it come out naturally when you’re on stage?

When I started playing, I didn’t say anything in between songs because I didn’t know what to say and also, when nobody knows who you are, what’s the fucking point in talking? There was maybe a time, when Kelson was in the band as well, when perhaps the talking and people talking back at us from the crowd got a bit too much. There’s a balance to be drawn. You need to remember it is about the rock. There’s some genuinely funny people who come to see us, but sometimes you just find people who know the reputation of the band and just want to be arseholes and make the show about them. If that happens, we just get them fucking chucked out.

Do you enjoy having such a reputation?

No, but it is the way we are. Generally speaking, it’s a good thing in terms of the atmosphere it engenders, but occasionally it becomes a bit of a problem. You just have to have the knowledge and experience to deal with that problem, to understand when it becomes a bit boring. We had a show in Sydney about four years ago where this guy kept shouting the same shit all the time and we kept humouring him and taking the piss out of him. A lot of the people in the crowd enjoyed it, but if you’re a long way back in the crowd, it’s difficult to hear what the heckler’s saying, so you’re only hearing one half of the conversation. That isn’t always apparent to the people on stage, so you need to be aware that the experience for everybody in the audience is not as hilarious as for those at the front, and when people have paid to come and see you, the emphasis is on entertaining them first and foremost.

You often drop a few mclusky tracks into your Future of the Left sets. Is that because you still enjoy playing the songs or is just a treat for the fans?

Yeah, I mean they’re really easy to play and they’re really good fun and I wrote them, so it would a shame not to hear those songs again. Particularly To Hell with Good Intentions and Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues, they really are the easiest songs to play ever written and I love playing them. What is actually quite flattering is that people a lot of people enjoy those songs. What is a bit sad is when the biggest reaction of the night is to those songs, and that happens sometimes. But yeah, we like playing them.

Finally, ever since I first heard Robocop 4 – Fuck Off Robocop, I’ve always wanted to ask you, what’s your favourite film?

I’ve got a few, but probably, if it had to be one, probably Dr Strangelove. I love Blazing Saddles, that’s probably the best out and out comedy. So yeah, Dr Strangelove, that’s my favourite film.

Future of the Left’s new album - How To Stop Your Brain In An Accident, was released on October 28th via Prescriptions