WORDS: SIOBHAN LEDDY
ILLUSTRATIONS: ANT SAMPAIO, KATIE CHAPPELL & KATHRYN CORLETT
Illustration: Katie Chappell
Fair Ohs might sound like a Peckham takeaway, and you’d be right. However, Fair Ohs are also a pretty awesome band. I caught up with Joe, Eddy and Matt at the 1234 Festival in Shoreditch to talk about being DIY, fat Batmen and small penises.
Are you excited about playing today?
Matt: Yeah.
Eddy: Yeah!
Joe: Nah.
Oh, a little negative. How do you deal with that on a day-to-day basis?
Matt: We only allow Joe to speak once a week.
I see. So, I guess I’ll start with the questions that you get asked all the time.
Matt: Yes, we love Paul Simon. Yes, we used to be a punk band.
Joe: And yes, I have a small penis.
That was going to be my first question, actually. So, obviously it’s tacky to put someone in a box, but if I were to just go for it I’d define you as African-influenced calypso punk. How’s that?
Joe: I’d drop the calypso bit, but yeah. African-influenced punk.
Matt: And to my mum, I’d say the rock and pop section of HMV.
Illustration: Kathryn Corlett
There’s something very beautiful about ‘Everything is Dancing’. Would you say you guys were optimists?
All: No.
Eddy: No, we’re miserable bastards. I’d say there’s a lot more sadness on the album than a lot of people pick up on.
Joe: I think some of it can be happy and some can be sad. We’re only in this because we like each other and we have a lot of fun. We have a firm agreement that when it stops being fun, we stop.
Eddy: Yeah, we make the music because we want to have fun with each other and we’re friends.
Illustration: Katie Chappell
So where do you start when you’re putting music together?
Matt: Basically Eddy will come in saying ,“Ooh, I’ve been listening to a ridiculous band from a place you’ve never heard of.” Then I go, “Ok, turn it down.”
Eddy: It’s basically me being really esoteric and complicated, and Matt going “fuck off” and then Joe will say, “I can work with that!”
Matt: I think we all just appreciate a good tune.
There’s an overriding theme of you all being in it together, which is lovely.
Matt: Well, none of us are making any money from this. We don’t have a label so there’s no pressure to sell a certain number, we all have day jobs…
Joe: Well, some of us have day jobs.
Matt: Ok, some of us … but we’ve all been in bands before and stopped because it started to feel like work. You just end up fucking off band practice.
Joe: I remember when I was ten and started playing drums and agreed with my neighbours that I could practice for one hour a day, and it was the best hour of each day. I don’t know why that should have to change.
Illustration: Ant Sampaio
What would you say are the principals of being a DIY band?
Joe: Don’t have principals. The idea of a DIY band makes it sound like we’ve signed some sort of treaty. We haven’t; it’s just the three of us. Things that other people thought were selling out, we wouldn’t give a shit.
Eddy: I think DIY was probably once really specific, but now, because of the way music has changed, everyone has to be DIY. There’s an American RnB soul band called The Foreign Exchange who are so DIY but they ended up getting a Grammy.
The Everything is Dancing video is pretty weird. Where did that come from?
Joe: It’s not as weird as it was going to be. It was going to be a one-shot, four-minute video of a fat Batman with Robin in the background. It was an idea to annoy someone I know and it got taken much too far.
Everything Is Dancing from Fair Ohs on Vimeo.
If Fair Ohs were an animal, what would they be?
Joe: Bear, bear, otter.
Ah, that’s nice.
Matt: It’s a gay reference; we wouldn’t want to disappoint our gay fans.
Finally, if someone were to give you five grand right now, what would you do with it?
Eddy & Joe: Get drunk!
Matt: Give them a blowey?
Joe: This is the problem with you, Matt.
Fair Ohs’ debut album, Everything is Dancing, is out now.
fairohs.com
Yay Fairohs!
This was fun to illustrate AND i’ve discovered a new band that plays good music. Win win.