When a band reaches a certain level of success, all the rules that applied at the start of their career are off. The fans are committed for the long term so the band can play around with their sound. This is where Bristol punks Idles find themselves as they enter fourth album Crawler.
New single The Beachland Ballroom, unexpectedly, is a post-apocalyptic, wall of sound waltz. Vocalist Joe Talbot’s punk pronouncements and growls still firmly in place but this time over a slow soul song, played out over the speakers of some old ruined ballroom on a crumbling seaside pier.
Idles are at a place few bands with their spit and sawdust origins currently end up arriving at and now they’re about to have fun with it. New album Crawler is released on 12th November 2021.