STACK #187 May 2020

MUSIC FEATURE

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INTERVIEW

SLEAFORD MODS performances was at art gallery Nottingham Contemporary, as part of a tribute to Saturday Night And Sunday Morning author Alan Sillitoe. (Turns out Sillitoe‘s son, David, directed their Mr. Jolly F-cker film clip.) Of this gig, Williamson recounts: “It was a Bryget Chrisfield got herself a faceful of remorselessly candid and cosy recollections when she rocked up to meet JasonWilliamson (words) and Andrew Fearn (beats) of hallowed UK electronic-punk duo Sleaford Mods.

W hen STACK arrives at the designated interview location – a neighbourhood café in Carlton North, a trendy inner-city Melbourne suburb – Sleaford Mods are already seated at a table with two other lads who turn out to be their tour manager and sound man. Wordsmith Jason Williamson‘s vibe is exactly as expected (very intense geezer), but beatsmith Andrew Fearn has a disarmingly sunny disposition that takes yours truly by surprise. This Nottingham punk duo absolutely blew the roof off The Croxton the night before this interview, and their simple gigging requirements of mic-plus-laptop made us wonder what they request from venues in advance in terms of stage set-up. “Yeah, nothing, really,“ Fearn allows. “Some beer...?“ Williamson ponders, “Yeah, just a table and beer innit, really.“

“Someone‘ll always come out and go, ‘Do you need to load your stuff in?‘ And we‘re like, ‘No‘,“ Fearn chuckles. “At festivals, [the tech crew] love it ‘cause they get a li‘l break, you know?“ At the aforementioned Sleaford Mods gig, we noted a posse of peeps – right down front, stage left – spitting every single syllable back at Williamson. “Same in Sydney,“ Williamson enthuses. “Normally, at most gigs, you get people mouthing the words, but they‘re doing them completely wrong.“ Fearn continues: “And we‘re looking at them going, ‘Oh, yeah?‘“ Williamson admits, “You can‘t look at them, it puts you off! You‘re like, ‘Wha‘?“ Then Fearn grins, “You can see their brain going, ‘Oh, no! I thought I knew it!‘“ Williamson guffaws and then Fearn insists, “It‘s really cute, though.“ One of Sleaford Mods‘ first ever public

weird one, ‘cause [eyeballs Fearn] you‘d turned up, and you looked really pissed-off, and I said, ‘You alright?‘ And you were like [puts on moody voice], ‘Yeah‘.“ Fearn interjects, “I hated that place, though.“ Williamson continues: “But by the end of it we were steaming, weren‘t we? And I remember you come boundin‘ over after the gig and went [employs one of his famous ‘dickhead‘ voices], ‘Oi, Evenin ‘ Post wanna interview ya!‘ Like we‘d made it,“ he laughs. “It was surreal, though!“ Fearn defends. “It was like a vigilante attack; an assault on the venue. It‘s a bit hoity toity, d‘ya know what I mean?“ Lunch is served and some kind of salad is placed in front of Williamson (we would‘ve put

86 MAY 2020

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