Foals have revealed that plans are afoot for side-projects and solo albums from within the band – including frontman Yannis Philippakis’ long-awaited record with Fela Kuti icon Tony Allen.The Oxford band were speaking to NME for this week’s Big Read cover story to launch their upcoming seventh album, ‘Life Is Yours’.Philippakis first revealed that he had been at work on a side-project with Fela Kuti percussionist Allen back in 2017, before telling NME of his plans to finish the record in April 2020 – just weeks before the icon died.Yannis has now revealed that he has plans to return to Paris, where Allen was living, to finish the project later this month – as well as discussing how the drummer’s passing shaped his own creative outlook during the writing of ‘Life Is Yours’.“In relation to Tony, it was understanding that even though he’s gone physically from the world, the music that he made will go on forever,” Philippakis told NME. “When I’m gone, the songs will hopefully live on.”He added: “There’s an alchemy in looking at music in that way.
It’s not just about what’s happening in the room; we’re building this body of work to be left behind. It’s realising that this is a full vocation.”Foals guitarist Jimmy Smith also shared that he had been writing a wealth of his own material – with plans to release a solo record in the not too distant future.“I’ve been writing over here [in LA].
I’m trying to do traditional songwriting with my friend,” Smith told NME. “It’s fantastic. It may sound horrendous, but we just sit down with two acoustic guitars and just write.
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