IDLES' new album Crawler is out next week, and they just shared another track to hold fans over till then. "Car Crash" is a harrowing, near-industrial track based on a real life behind-the-wheel incident frontman Joe Talbot barely lived through. “It’s the horrific, comedown hangover," Joe recalls. "Waking up in the morning and realising the smashes, like, what the fuck am I doing with my life?”
"We wanted it to be as violent as possible to reflect that event," guitarist Mark Bowen adds. "I really wanted it to be this sonic touchstone. We recorded the drums beforehand and put them on a vinyl acetate. Whenever you replay an acetate, because it is kind of like a liquid, it degrades every time. It touches on things being transient and momentary — even a single drum hit. It’s like a memory, when the moment has passed and you deal with the repercussions over and over again, and they morph and change into something else. It’s one of the first times on an IDLES song where we used proper effects on the vocals -- it was Joe going through my pedal board, so you get both clarity and degradation.”
The video for "Car Crash" smash cuts dozens and dozens of shots of automobile mayhem, everything from action movies, to Driver's Ed films, to dash-cam footage. You can watch that below.
IDLES wrap up their North American tour this week with a three-night run at L.A.'s Fonda Theatre that starts tonight, and then heading to San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. They'll be back in NYC to open for The Strokes on New Year's Eve at Barclays Center (tickets) and they start 2022 with an extensive UK and European tour. All dates are listed below.
You can pick up IDLES albums on vinyl in the BV shop.
IDLES - 2021/2022 TOUR DATES
Nov. 3-5: Los Angeles (Fonda Theatre - SOLD OUT)
Nov. 6: San Francisco (The Warfield - SOLD OUT)
Nov. 8: Portland, Ore. (Crystal Ballroom - SOLD OUT)
Nov. 9: Seattle (Showbox - SOLD OUT)
Nov. 10: Seattle (Showbox SoDo - SOLD OUT)
Dec. 31: Brooklyn (Barclays Center with The Strokes, Hinds)
Jan. 16: London (Academy Brixton - SOLD OUT)
Jan. 17: London (Academy Brixton - SOLD OUT)
Jan. 18: London (Academy Brixton - SOLD OUT)
Jan. 19: London (Academy Brixton)
Jan. 21: Cardiff (Motorpoint Arena - SOLD OUT)
Jan. 22: Birmingham (Academy - SOLD OUT)
Jan. 24: Dublin (Vicar Street - SOLD OUT)
Jan. 25: Dublin (Vicar Street - SOLD OUT)
Jan. 26: Dublin (Vicar Street - SOLD OUT)
Jan. 28: Manchester (Victoria Warehouse - SOLD OUT)
Jan. 29: Manchester (Victoria Warehouse - SOLD OUT)
Jan. 30: Manchester (Victoria Warehouse - SOLD OUT)
Feb. 1: Sheffield (Academy - SOLD OUT)
Feb. 2: Newcastle (City Hall - SOLD OUT)
Feb. 3: Glascow (Barrowland Ballroom - SOLD OUT)
Feb. 4: Glascow (Barrowland Ballroom - SOLD OUT)
Feb. 5: Glascow (Barrowland Ballroom - SOLD OUT)
Feb. 18: Hamburg (Docks - SOLD OUT)
Feb. 19: Amsterdam (Melkweg - SOLD OUT)
Feb. 20: Amsterdam (Melkweg - SOLD OUT)
Feb. 22: Berlin (Columbiahalle - SOLD OUT)
Feb. 23: Cologne (E-Work - SOLD OUT)
Feb. 24: Munich (Muffathalle - SOLD OUT)
Feb. 26: Brussels (Ancienne Belgique - SOLD OUT)
Feb. 28: Paris (Elysee Montmarte - SOLD OUT)
Mar. 1: Paris (Elysee Montmarte - SOLD OUT)
Mar. 2: Lyon (Le Transbordeur - SOLD OUT)
Mar. 3: Milan (Fabrique)
Mar. 6: Toulouse (Le Bikini)
Mar. 7: Bilbao (Santana)
Mar. 9: Barcelona (Razzmatazz)
Mar. 10: Madrid (La Riviera)
Mar. 11: Lisbon (Coliseum)
Mar. 20: Bueno Aires (Lollapalooza)
Mar. 25: Bogota (Estéreo Picnic)
Mar. 27: Sao Paulo (Lollapalooza Brazil)
Check out photos from IDLES recent NYC show at Terminal 5:
