Butterfingers brings Fatboys back

WHEN Butterfingers first burst onto the music scene 15 years ago, it was a pre-PC era where local acts worked hard to carve out a name and would take a punt on a crowd in a massive venue in the hopes it would come together.

Now, 15 years after Breakfast at Fatboys had rap and hip-hop fans laughing, the lads that are Butterfingers are hitting the road, coming to Toowoomba in April.

After vocalist ‘Evil’ Eddie Mark Jacobson pulled off the incredible - a budding artist waiting for a backing band so he could fill his booked set he refused to cancel at The Zoo in Brisbane - the outfit scored strong airtime on Triple J ahead of the debut album, Breakfast at Fatboys.

The first single, Everytime, remains a major favourite for the band, and anyone who knows the lyrics can understand why.

Released in 2003, Jacobson concedes it was written in a different era and, likewise with album sales, there wasn’t the immediate reaction and feedback.

“There was no social media so it wasn’t like there was an immediate reaction that we could feel,” he says.

“We’ve got a track, P*** on Ya, which is like about as hardcore as we got and lyrically speaking, it’s shocking.

“A man of my age listening back... this is pretty hard to swallow in terms of content and language.”

In testament to Breakfast at Fatboys’ place in the Aussie music scene, it’s about to go gold, selling 500,000 albums in 15 years.

It’s the album that holds the band’s classics, with the hits always in demand from live audiences around the country.

Choosing a favourite track isn’t an easy task for Jacobson, particularly when deciding set lists, who confesses to not listening to his own stuff often.

But the big hits, including Everytime, Yo Mama, and FIGJAM, will be “refurbished” for the upcoming tour, he says.

“We usually play the bigger songs in the set anyway, but it was kind of a real rediscovery for me because I don’t listen to my own tunes. Well, not regularly anyway,” he says.

“It reminded me there’s a whole swag of other tracks we’ve done. They used to work really well live and the only reason we don’t play them any more is because we have new material.

“We can’t play everything every single gig. But I love playing songs people love hearing.”

For the 15 Years of Fatboys tour, fans can expect “refurbished” tracks that draw on the original humour, wit and energy that came to be synonymous with Butterfingers from the start.

It helps connect to crowds and, the more they’re into it, the better the band performs.

“Whatever the crowd is into, I’m into,” Jacobson says.

“Playing at the Spotted Cow last time, the front of the stage was tables and people were sitting there with their drinks and stuff like, right there at the stage.”

Butterfingers will bring their 15 Years of Fatboys tour to Toowoomba on April 18, ahead of the release of new music this year.