Words by Helen Knott
On Saturday 20 February, Fat White Family perform at the O2 Institute in Digbeth – as presented by SJM Concerts.
Doors open at 6pm, with tickets priced at £12 (advance). For direct gig info & online ticket sales, click here.
Fat White Family’s gig at the O2 Institute in Birmingham is the first of an eleven date UK tour – in support of their second album, Songs for Our Mothers, which was released on 22 January through Fat Possum/Without Consent.
Formed in a South London squat back in 2012, Fat White Family have gained notoriety as one of the most raw and wild bands on the live scene. Onstage arguments and nudity, riding a donkey into a venue, pig’s heads in the crowd… it’s all the stuff of legend.
But while they haven’t quite managed to capture the energy of their live shows in either their latest album, or their 2013 debut Champagne Holocaust, there is more going on with Fat White Family than just wanton debauchery. Incorporating lo-fi, psych and post-punk styles, Songs for Our Mothers doesn’t shy away from the difficult subjects. In fact, it covers themes of fascism, serial killers and racism in a manner that revels in crossing the boundaries of good taste.
So are Fat White Family “members of an emergent underclass of literate but degenerate squatters” (Paul Lester – The Guardian) with something important to say about modern Britain? Or are they merely “raw-assed rabble rock as dark, deviant and disgusting as the ’70s” (Mark Beaumont – NME).
Either way, if Elton John is referencing them to show he’s still relevant (and he is) it’s probably not long before they cross over into the wider public’s consciousness. So catch Fat White Family before they go supernova. Or, just as likely, before they self-combust.
Released in December 2015, ‘Whitest Boy on the Beach’ was the first taster from Songs for Our Mothers. Check it out – click on the image/link below:
‘Whitest Boy on the Beach’ by Fat White Family
Fat White Family perform at the O2 Institute on Saturday 20 February, as presented by SJM Concerts. For direct gig info & online tickets, visit http://o2institutebirmingham.co.uk/listings/upcoming-events/29011/fat-white-family/
For more on Fat White Family, visit https://fatwhitefamily.bandcamp.com
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For more from the O2 Institute, visit http://o2institutebirmingham.co.uk/
For more events from SJM Concerts, visit http://www.gigsandtours.com/
