Foals find festivals hard going

by Kev Geoghegan
Radio 1 music reporter

Foals admit they have found it tough playing this year's music festival circuit because they are more used to playing in clubs.

The Oxford band kicked off their summer with Radio 1's Big Weekend back in May, struggling a little when singer Yannis Philippakis' guitar wouldn't work on the first couple of songs.

Since then, they have played considerably more successful sets at the Glastonbury, Underage, Field and Latitude festivals and Fuji Rock in Japan.

Philippakis said: "It's the first time we have played so many festivals and we've never really been to many festivals so it has been a real eye opener."

UK tour

The band have Reading, Leeds and Bestival yet to come before they head out on a US and European tour from September onwards.

Philippakis reckons that playing club shows are where the band are at their best.

He said: "We really enjoying playing at night inside so it has been a challenge playing festivals.

"We've got some great bands coming out with us like Maps & Atlases, plus Wild Beasts and Dananananackroyd so some really great British bands are playing with us."

In Japan we started writing some more colourful things so it was pretty inspiring Yannis Philippakis

He added: "Dananananackroyd have one of the most infuriating names but that shouldn't put you off, they're brilliant."

New album

Philippakis has also revealed the band have started work on the follow up to their lauded debut album Antidotes.

Although missing a nod at the Mercury Prize nominations, the album was acclaimed by fans and critics.

A recent posting on their MySpace page claims Foals are "writing new material for...an eager optimistic second record which will sound like the dream of an eagle dying."

But despite the overly dramatic promise, Philippakis insists the band are not worried about setting a high benchmark for themselves.

He said: "I'm more worried about other people's expectations but we know we can make a better record, there's a lot of stuff that we can do better."

He added that their time overseas may inspire the next record:

"It's quite difficult for us to write on the road but we do some loop-based stuff. In Japan we started writing some more colourful things so it was pretty inspiring.

"But being in Japan is like being on this weird trip where you get all these great ideas and then you get back and you realise that they weren't that interesting."