Fucking Fat White Family Surviving Against the Odds
Discourse: Fat White Family's Lias Saoudi Discusses Survival, Music Industry Struggles, and the Album "Forgiveness Is Yours"
The departure of guitarist Saul Adamczewski during the creation of their fourth studio album Forgiveness Is Yours almost sank Fat White Family. Frontman Lias Saoudi explains this turbulent journey, discusses the state of indie rock, their label Domino, and industry issues...
INTERVIEW: Ben Homewood PHOTO: Louise Mason
Are you fucking amazed that the new album got completed after Saul left the band during recording?
"Honestly, it's a fucking miracle we got it done. Our interpersonal bullshit reached breaking points, and with Saul gone for good, it left us a bit unanchored and at risk of never being finished. It's a mess when characters bleed into each other, especially in unhealthy ways. But hey, that's what makes a good band, right? It's sad when the naive optimism of youth gives way to bitter hatred."
So, indie rock tropes are the band's downfall?
"We were the sensationalists, the iconoclasts back when low-life indie rock was still a thing. But the world has moved on, it's a dead medium now. Maybe it's a consensual hallucination enforced by capitalist oppressors. Or is it the alt-right, trying to muddy the waters with fake fan clubs and unwitting agents? Who knows?"
Your contemporaries like The Wombats and The Kooks are still going strong...
"Haven't heard of 'em! Maybe they're part of Elon Musk's Martian colony, for all I know. Or perhaps they're sixties holdovers, kicking it with the Kremlin and the CIA. Who the fuck remembers, anyway?"
Is the band getting any closer to the commercial success of Arctic Monkeys or Wet Leg, being on your second record with Domino?
"Domino is how bands like us get by these days. They'll reallocate funds to keep the bleeding heart projects alive just to keep indie rock from fading away entirely. But I'm not thinking about sales. This album is more personal, more about the words than the music. It's more of an art project than a money-making scheme."
Have you learned more about the industry since signing to Domino?
"It's a fucked-up world when artists like us can't pay the fucking rent with rock n' roll. It's hard to believe people like Dave Berman used to make enough money to buy Texas with their sales. Nowadays, you sell 4,000 London tickets and you're still doing side gigs just to make ends meet. This life is endless precarity, just like the rest of us."
What frustrates you the most about the industry?
"The industry is convinced it doesn't owe you a fucking dime for your art anymore. It's devastating, terrifying how little they're willing to pay. Dozens of venues are closing while arena tickets soar, marking the death of an era - one that survived from the '60s through the present. We're entering a new age of blandness."
"Perhaps the challenging interpersonal relationships within the band and Saul's departure during the creation of our fourth studio album, 'Forgiveness Is Yours,' can be compared to the industry's dedication to certain genres, like indie rock, over others, even when they become unhealthy or commercially stagnant."
"Just as the band struggles to thrive in the current music landscape, many artists struggle to make a living, suggesting a deeper problem within the industry, where artists are expected to create for the sake of preserving the art instead of financial success."
