Below, Feeder singer, guitarist, songwriter and co-founder Grant Nicholas previews Red/Black, the latest album by the enduring, hard-to-pigeonhole Welsh rock band. It's released on April 5.
Black/Red, Feeder’s twelfth album, is a double that completes a trilogy begun back in 2022 with Torpedo.
I’m influenced by all sorts of things, from prog rock to classic rock to pop and punk. I’d always wanted to make a double album, and it feels like the time in our career has finally arrived. We’re probably at the point that we can get away with it.
Its eighteen tracks are connected more by a unity of sound than by a discernible concept?
I do have definite themes in my writing, such as relationship stuff and what’s going on in the world, so there are certain commonalities in the songs. I like to tell stories. I especially wanted this one to take the listener on a bit of a journey.
There’s certainly a sweeping flow throughout, despite things being broken into two halves.
Thanks. We had considered making the last one a double, and at the last minute I got cold feet; was it too much? Albums don’t hang around the way they used to. So this time I decided to be brave. Plus it was a way of ending the trilogy.
Did anyone in Feeder’s organisation or record label try to dissuade you from that and push for a single album ?
[Laughing] Not really. With doubles you always get the classic line: “Wouldn’t it be better to lose the filler and make a classic single album?” That’s something I was completely aware of. It was in the back of my mind all along. Besides the obviously commercial songs, I think Black/Red has important album tracks, even if you won’t hear them on daytime radio. Some heaviness is a big part of our DNA, but also I’m a song guy. There are melodic moments too, because that’s what Feeder is.
Introduced by the words: ‘Let’s grow old, stay young at heart’, the wistful yet euphoric Lost In The Wilderness is a song that could resonate with many Classic Rock readers. Many of us are reaching an odd time in our life.
That’s so true. That song really sums up the way I feel. It’s almost like a follow-up to Just The Way I’m Feeling, which was quite a big hit for us [in 2002]. Both of those songs have a real simplicity that connects with people. Lost In The Wilderness is going to be the next single.
Would you be miffed if I said the track ELF has a ring of Coldplay to it?
Not at all. I hadn’t really thought of that. It’s the ‘woo-oooh’ harmony in the chorus. That little falsetto thing goes all the way back to Polythene [Feeder’s debut, 1997]. It’s something I’ve always done. But we’ve toured with Coldplay. We’re a band that can tour with Queens Of The Stone Age or U2. We’ve got a real breadth [of sound] and dynamic, and somehow we get away with it.
Now that the trilogy is complete, what’s next?
There’s another album on hold; some leftovers that are quite different – a bit catchier and bouncier. Half is mixed already. But this a big statement for us. I really hope it connects with people.
Will you do what some prog-rock bands do and play the whole of Black/Red live?
I would really love that, and it’s something we may do down the line. You’d maybe have to do a special [standalone] show; maybe two nights at Shepherd’s Bush, and record them?
2024 marks Feeder’s thirtieth anniversary. Do you have any plans to celebrate that?
We will do something, whether it’s going back and playing a particular record in its entirety, which we’ve never done before, or maybe recording our first live album. But right now, who knows?
Feeder are currently on tour in The UK. The run ends in April, but the band have festival shows lined up throughout the summer. Dates and tickets can be found at the Feeder website.
