Jack Bevan, Eilish May and Yannis Philippakis were originally in cult math rock band The Edmund Fitzgerald, which did not gain much media interest. The group was disbanded after they claimed that things had become "too serious" and they wanted to have more "fun making their music".
Walter and Jimmy were part of a small Oxford band called Face Meets Grill. They met at and were formed from members of Abingdon Boys School. They played gigs in and around Oxford and recording a debut EP in Hull. After playing Truck Festival in 2004 they separated to follow different paths and careers.
Guitarist Jimmy Smith is the only one of the band members to have completed his degree, at Hull University: each of the band members quit their respective universities including Yannis and Edwin leaving their English courses at Oxford University, when the band signed to Transgressive Records by Ben Mackereth.
The lead singer of Youthmovies, Andrew Mears, originally formed the band Foals, playing as guitarist and lead vocalist. He was present on the band's debut 7" single "Try This On Your Piano/Look At My Furrows Of Worry", but left shortly afterwards to concentrate on Youthmovies' debut album Good Nature.
The band likes to be self-sufficient, so all of the music videos are created by their friend Dave Ma and all of the artwork (excluding cover art of Total Life Forever) is also done by their friend Tinhead.
The band’s musical influences are varied, with the band members citing minimal techno, Arthur Russell, the Irish based math rock band The Redneck Manifesto, Krautrock bands such as Harmonia, and Talking Heads as well For London (previously known as The Jester People) as their main sources of inspiration. Their musical style however can be more directly linked to various genres such as indie rock, dance-punk, post-punk and techno.
In early 2007, the band released the limited edition 7" singles Hummer and Mathletics, both produced by Gareth Parton.[2] "Hummer" later featured on the Channel Four teen drama Skins.
Total Life Forever
In August 2009, Foals started recording their album at Svenska Grammofon Studion in Gothenburg, Sweden. The band's second album, Total Life Forever, has been described by the band members as sounding like "tropical prog" and "like the dream of an eagle dying".[6] The band have described the album as being "a lot less funk" than they had originally planned.[citation needed] The album was produced by Luke Smith, formerly of Clor. The album's title is named after an element of Ray Kurzweil's theory of singularity. The band's frontman Yannis Philippakis has stated a long time interest in futurology with it informing numerous songs on Total Life Forever.[7]
On March 1, 2010, the promotional single "Spanish Sahara" was first played on Zane Lowe's show Radio 1. Foals' new website was updated that night with the release of a video for the track directed by longtime collaborator Dave Ma. On March 6, the Total Life Forever site was officially launched. Puzzles revealed images, lyrics and sound clips of songs from the album, which was all set up by Yannis' close friend Gary Gunn. The last clip appeared on March 12, and resulted with a password entry for the Foals' new website. The site was opened on March 13 and presented the whole new art concept and media including samples of songs, photos and videos. Lead single "This Orient" was released on May 3, 2010.[8] The album was finally released on May 10, 2010.
"Spanish Sahara" was featured in trailers for Entourage 's seventh season, season four of Skins, and BBC One 's Outcasts. It was also used in the soundtrack of the second season of the E4 drama Misfits. It was released as a full physical single in September 2010, featuring an edited remix starring the strings of London Contemporary Orchestra.
The album was nominated for the 2010 Mercury Prize.[9] In an interview with online magazine Coup De Main, Jimmy Smith said how the band members live together on and off the road - heading to Australia to record demos for their next album together. "It's just like touring with your family, it's nice".
i really wanted to post the The Edmund Fitzgerald but i couldnt find a download link.
