Jamie T and IDLES on their huge Finsbury Park gig: “It’s gonna be a celebration”

23 June, 2023

Jamie T

A year after returning with his comeback album ‘The Theory Of Whatever’, Jamie T will play the biggest headline show of his career at London’s Finsbury Park next weekend (June 30) with special guests IDLES.

Ahead of the gig, Jamie and the Bristol band’s Joe Talbot spoke to NME about how they met, their mutual appreciation, what to expect from the “celebration” of a gig and how they’re starting a soul band with Willie J Healey.

For Jamie, the gig is set to be a family affair, with his parents both set to be in attendance. “I never really tend to get people down to shows, and my parents have only seen two gigs of mine ever, at Brixton Academy and Ally Pally, but this is important so I’ve got everyone down,” he told NME.

“I’ve been doing this for 17 years now, and it seems like the right moment to get everyone together,” he added. “Family and friends and celebration. I don’t know what’s going on after this show, but I certainly feel like it’s a moment to get everyone down and enjoy it for once, rather than feel like it’s going to war.

Check out the full NME Q&A with Jamie and IDLES below…

Hi Jamie and Joe – you two seem to have a strong mutual appreciation. When and how did you meet?

Joe Talbot: “We met through Willie J Healey a couple of years ago. Willie’s known Jamie for a while and I’ve been a huge fan of Jamie’s since he started the circuit a long time ago. I don’t know if you remember this Jamie but you video called me from Willie’s phone and I shit my pants!”

Jamie T: “I remember you being in the back of a cab!”

Joe: “I think I met Willie’s mum that day. We try and hang out and do wholesome things. On the way back, I met Jamie in the back of a Mercedes! Ever since then, we try and chat as much as possible. Jamie, unbeknownst to the public, is probably the most prolific musician I’ve met… he just never releases any of it!”

And were you a fan of IDLES before you met Joe, Jamie?

Jamie: “Absolutely! I was going through a couple years in my life that were very… you know, I’ve been doing this a long time now, so I tend to keep music at a distance. I don’t really give a fuck. But then I heard IDLES and I certainly gave a fuck!”

“We’re in the same world I suppose, but it’s funny how you end up meeting the people that you actually admire. It’s very serendipitous.”

Joe: “I definitely have exactly the same thing. You can kind of manifest it.”

What did the two of you bond over when you met?

Joe: “The last time the two of us hung out, we were at Jamie’s house, and we were talking about Micachu and the Shapes. Do you remember that?”

Jamie: “Oh damn! I’ve just been moving my records and I saw that one – it’s one of the best debut albums I’ve ever heard in my fucking life!”

Joe: “I think [the time when that came out was] the last most exciting time in British music. In that period, a lot of stuff came out and it inspired me to no end. When you’re honest with your music or you’re transparent as much as possible, the things that have influenced you come out. As a musician, you feel those influences even if other people don’t hear them. It could be stuff as wanky as frequencies or whatever, but it is these things. That’s where there are bands’ bands. I’m not gatekeeping here, but I think there’s some untold magic there.”

Jamie: “That whole shit with Micachu and the Shapes, I must have had that conversation with three or four people, musicians of the same standing as you.”

jamie t live
Credit: Getty/Andrew Benge

Finsbury Park will be your biggest gig to date, Jamie – how are preparations going?

Jamie: “I’m excited! We played outside in the dark once at Benicassim years ago, but I’m looking forward to playing in the dark outside. Then the fuckin’ money you pay for the lights actually works! I’m just excited about it. It’s certainly something that won’t happen again. It’s gonna be a celebration.

“It’s lovely to start thinking about it a bit more, and I’ve got rehearsals tomorrow. Stuff is slowly gearing up a bit. I want to do [the gig] in a way I want to do it and I want to be me about it. I wanna really enjoy it. I’m a bit nervous though so I’m gonna spend the whole day before my set helping my friend build a studio though! I’ve been told that I have a car all day to take me around, so I said, ‘My mate wants me to sort his studio out so I’ve got some drums and shit!’

“The other day, I went to see Florence + The Machine at The O2 and Willie J Healey was supporting. After his set, I sat next to Willie and watched Florence and I thought, ‘This place is fucking huge!’ And then it dawned on me… this is 20,000 capacity which is less than we’re doing [at Finsbury Park]! Then Willie turns to me and says, ‘Joe said to me, do you want to start a soul band with him?”

I was going to ask if any collaborations between the two of you were on the cards…

Joe: “I’m going to make this public because I went round Jamie’s house and he must have played me about 60 tracks of his thousands and thousands of hours of music he’s created with people. If I make it public in an NME interview, we have to fucking make it and we have to fucking release it or you’re just going to be playing it back to me in 10 years and I’ll think, ‘Whatever happened to our soul band?!’”

Have you got in a room together, or was the last you spoke of it at Jamie’s house?

Joe: “Not at the moment, because I’ve been finishing something else and have been very busy, Willie’s been very busy. Jamie’s got a million ideas, Willie’s got a million ideas and I’ve got a million ideas. The Venn diagram, I found when I was at Jamie’s house, that I think would be amazing and ballistic, is soul music.”

Jamie: “We’ll get on it!”

At Finsbury Park, you’re also joined by Kojey Radical, Hak Baker and Biig Piig – are you longtime fans of them Jamie?

Jamie: “I was playing Glastonbury a few years ago and I was sat in a portacabin backstage and I was just there on my own with Hugo White, and Kojey just knocked on the window and said, ‘Play me the guitar!’ So he came in the room, and said, ‘You don’t know who the fuck I am, but I’ve been repping you for years!’ I play him the guitar and somehow we then ended up doing a few chats together and became firm friends.

“Kojey is from the same source of inspiration of me, and it’s the same with Hak. I’ve got loads of shit with Hak that no-one’s ever heard. Hours and hours of material. I’ve managed to develop a group of people around me that are really wonderful musicians who inspire me, and hopefully I inspire them.”

IDLES at Glastonbury 2022 (Picture: Phoebe Fox for NME)

IDLES are currently on tour with LCD Soundsystem – how have the gigs been going Joe?

Joe: “LCD are what you want [as tourmates]. You look up to certain artists but when you meet them they could be nothing like what you want them to be because they’re not your fucking pet. They’re a human being, and in a working environment when you’re touring it’s just loads of different people all working their ass off to make something happen. So even if they’re sound as fuck they might just fucking hate touring and you might not see them. But this has been an absolute dream. It’s quite the opposite. They’re all beautiful people.”

And your own Adam Devonshire has been drafted in on bass for his favourite band!

Joe: “Their bassist, who is the !!! [Chk Chk Chk] bassist as well, he’s a bit under the weather so had to pull out of a couple of shows and everyone’s pitched in. Dev is one of the biggest LCD fans and he’s doing a couple of tracks live with them on this tour. Their bass tech, a couple of their other techs and Dev are rotating and playing a couple of songs each. I cried the other night. We were playing a show in New York and I was just watching my mate play in his favourite band covering his other favourite band. It’s just the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. It’s magic.”

Last time we spoke, you said work was underway on IDLES’ fifth album – how is it all going?

Joe: “Really, really fucking well. It’s the best record we’ve done by a country mile. All right? Fuck the king.”

Jamie T and IDLES play Finsbury Park alongside Kojey Radical, Willie J Healey, Hak Baker and Biig Piig on June 30. Buy tickets here.

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