Foals party on at New Slang in Kingston (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Foals party on at New Slang in Kingston

4:06pm Tuesday 27th November 2007 in News & Previews By Nancy Groves

If 2007 is remembered for one thing, it may be as The Year of the House Party. They have certainly had their fair amount of press over the past 12 months - both bad and good.

Firstly, there were the MySpace/Facebook fools who advertised their bashes online, only to run crying to the tabloids when their homes were trashed by gatecrashers. Like, duh!

Secondly came the more welcome craze for cool indie bands to play live in your living room. Oxford math rockers Foals, for example, who even aped their legendary house parties with a cameo on Channel Four's Skins.

"The house parties have certainly been a highlight of the tour," says lead singer Yannis Philippakis, voted 45 in NME's recent Cool List.

"The only problem is that it's become a massive hassle to make it worthwhile. We used to send out messages on our Myspace and we wanted them to be a really special occasion. But now with tour managers and the record company, it's all a bit intense."

Ah, the perils of success! So it's back to regular Foals gigs for the moment, like Thursday night's headline spot at New Slang in Kingston. That, and an invitation to play on Later with Jools Holland.

"It was definitely the most scary thing we've done," says Yannis of last week's guestspot, when the band gave awesome renditions of Red Socks and new single, Balloons. "We all used to watch it and so many bands we respect have played it, so we didn't want to screw it up."

Sharing the bill were PJ Harvey, Estelle, Stereophonics, King Creosote and, according to Yannis, "some Algerian band, only I didn't see them as I was outside having a cigarette". Damon Albarn was also in the audience - so pretty much the dream party line-up!

"It's just one of those shows that crosses into so many different fields," he says. "We were really nervous but basically, we got wasted really quickly and played everything at double speed!"

Nerves aside, Foals are standing pretty firm these days. Personally requested by Bloc Party as support for their European tour, they will also rejoin Kele and crew for their Christmas dates at Alexandra Palace. What does Yannis make of the hoo-ha surrounding Bloc Party's latest single, the distinctly europoppy Flux? Kele loves it, critics hate it and, according to a recent interview, even some of the band aren't keen.

"I don't know," shrugs Yannis."Certainly from our perspective, you are always going to alienate certain people when you change things. I think what they are doing is valiant. Instead of just recording another Banquet, they are trying to progress."

"We're already getting s*** for not including Hummer on our record," he continues, referencing Foals' debut album, due out in the New Year. "But you can't focus on what people want you to do. You've got to do it your way."

The Foals/Cut off Your Hands/Cage the Elephant, New Slang @ The Works, St James Road, Kingston, Thursday, November 29, 9pm, £6/ £5 with flyer. see myspace.com/newslangkingston for more details.