WHITE MISCHIEF
So, is Lady Gaga joining Fat White Family? And what have Phil Oakey and Maxine Peake got to do with it?
n the most unanticipated cultural conjunction since Sylvester Stallone revealed himself as a supporter of Everton football club, Lady Gaga declared allegiance to disruptive London rockers Fat White Family – joining the band backstage after the recent Fat White Family show at New York City’s Le Poisson Rouge on May 4, and sending images of the group to her 59 million Twitter followers. “I fucking love this band,” she said after the show. Fat White Family guitarist/songwriter Saul Adamczewski recently missed some of the band’s live dates for a spell in rehab, while frontman Lias Saoudi told MOJO the band’s current album, Songs For Our Mothers, has recurring themes of “Nazis and smack”. Such subject matter hasn’t stopped fellow musicians being drawn to one of the most compelling groups of the moment. Mark Ronson and Sean Lennon were also at the New York show. Lennon has worked on the forthcoming debut album from Adamczewski and Saoudi’s other musical outlet, The Moonlandingz – a conceptual collaboration involving the experimental synth group Eccentronic Research Council, who feature the actress Maxine Peake. Peake has a starring role in the video for previous Moonlandingz track Sweet Saturn Mine, while the album features guest vocals from The Human League’s Phil Oakey and Randy Jones, the latter best known as the cowboy figure in the Village People. “It’s coming out. It’s done,” Sean Lennon told MOJO of the Moonlandingz album. “Working with the Fat Whites was spontaneous and chaotic, but since I’ve known them those guys have matured a bit. There were no total disasters or mishaps. At first we just decided to go in the studio in the way you might decide to go out for a drink. I don’t know how I’d describe my place, but much of it is has to do with making sure everything gets recorded, you know? But we’ve gotten better at recording with each other. At first it was pretty raucous and haphazard [but] they’re very interesting people. They’re not how you think they’re going to be at first glance.” After the Fat White Family’s New York show Lady Gaga accompanied the band to Lennon’s house. A jam session ensued, with Gaga playing drums and the Fat White Family joining in on guitars and bongos.
IRoy Wilkinson
Fat White Family play London Brixton Academy on Saturday, September 17, 2016, with support from the Georgia garage-rockers Black Lips.