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Foals drummer Jack Bevan has said that the band are likely to start writing new material later this year after their 2020 tour plans were cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The band had been due to tour globally, including UK and Europe dates, this year, but the vast majority of those shows have now been rescheduled to 2021.
Speaking to The Guardian about how the pandemic has affected Foals, Bevan said that the unavoidable decision to axe their touring plans “hurts” as festivals “account for approximately 80% of our income”.
“The impact on artists is huge, but it’s also devastating for people who aren’t talked about so much – the road crew and the venue staff, who may not fall into the furloughing scheme,” he said. “We’ve been selling fans Foals T-shirts to support the crew. We’ve actually sold 3,000, which helped tide them over for a few months.”
Bevan also said he felt sorry for emerging bands who would have been promoting their debut albums this summer, saying “they’ll be hit the hardest” by the coronavirus’ devastating impact on the music industry.
“If coronavirus had happened to us the year our first album came out, or even our second, it would have crippled us,” he said. “We might have been dropped by our label. But because we’re more established, we’ve been able to take a year off touring.”
While Bevan revealed that, because of lockdown, “this is the longest I’ve gone without playing the drums since I was 14”, he said that Foals are now aiming to get back into the studio later this year.
“Our initial plan was to spend 2020 touring, then go back into the studio next year. But I think we’ll probably start writing later this year instead, and get back to touring next year — if we’re allowed.”
Speaking to NME at the NME Awards 2020 back in February, Bevan said that Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis had shared a “very exciting” song idea with him that sounded “like if Jean-Michel Jarre and Led Zeppelin had a sexy baby”.
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