Idles reveal how a jigsaw puzzle landed them a Foo Fighters support slot
Posted On
(Credits: Daniel Topete)
In 2017, Idles landed a dream support slot when they opened for Foo Fighters at the O2 Arena in London. Now, singer Joe Talbot has revealed how a bespoke jigsaw puzzle helped get them the gig.
At the time of the concert, Idles had only released their debut album Brutalism, and were yet to become familiar with playing arenas. After discovering they were on a shortlist for the show, Idles brought out all the stops to convince Dave Grohl’s group, and it ultimately proved successful.
“They had a shortlist of five to ten bands, I think,” Talbot said during an interview with Spin’s Lipp Service.
“And apparently… they pick the bands themselves; they had the shortlist. We found out, and we thought to get ahead of the bunch, we’d make a puzzle – like a jigsaw puzzle – with a photo of our bassist on it. In his pants. It just said: ‘Pick Idles’,” he added.
Talbot continued, “I just built the box and wrote, ‘If you build it they will come’ on it. And they fucking did.”
Idles are set to head out on the road once again following the release of their new studio album, Tangk. The tour kicks off on February 29th in Porto, and after dates across the globe, the run set to conclude in Manchester at the O2 Apollo in December.
In a review of their new album album, Far Out wrote: “On their latest effort, Tangk, the band show some willingness to develop and mature their signature sound, but these efforts never particularly feel fully developed or interesting.”
It continues: “The inclusion of slow, piano-based tracks could have provided an interesting opportunity for the band to explore different influences and sounds, yet these are continuously overshadowed by the monotonous tones of frontman Joe Talbot and a constant return to the outdated sounds of their early work.”
Watch Talbot discuss how they secured a slot supporting Foo Fighters below.
