The aesthetic of what THE FEVER 333 does live is an important part of it, too – the videos of civil rights protests over the years, wearing a sack over your head. Will you be able to do all that at Download?
Yeah, I fucking hope so. I don’t really have much room to compromise anymore, because I feel it’s all equally contingent pieces of the representation of this project, so I’m thinking that we will. Even if they tell us no in the beginning, we’re going to push pack and say that that’s the package deal and that’s what you get if you get THE FEVER 333. So I think we will (laughs)!
To say you’re not going to compromise is probably an understatement. If anything, this project is about doing exactly what you want and need to do, right?
Yeah. I just feel like in art generally – maybe because of the monetisation of it now, or some weird shift culturally, people feel like they have this weird sense of authority of artists, and that, to me, is completely antithetical to what it means to be an artist. So, I think once the general public or promoters start to realise they’re booking artists again, they won’t be that taken aback when someone says no, because this is their art. This is what they asked for, so this is what they get.
This kind of goes back to the previous question about politics in a festival setting, but if somebody misses the point or the message of your performance, does that bother you? If, say, they’re just there to go crazy in the pit and not think about the deeper issues your songs address, is that a problem?
No, it doesn’t bother me. Because the whole point is for people to be free and be whoever and whatever they want to be in those moments. I’m really just offering them a moment – if they choose – to open up. It’s an offering, but by no means is it an imposition. If you don’t want to have a socio-political conversation with me, that’s absolutely fine. You can get whatever you need to get, but we are there to offer more than just music.
The music is also influenced and inspired by the specific history of America and the systemic racism of the USA. Do you think that people can relate to that in the same way if they’re not from the States?
Absolutely. I think that, honestly, the problems we face in America and that we discuss in this music are transcendental because there are similar issues happening all over. We have our border issues, right? And you guys have Brexit and refugees fleeing throughout Europe. There are so many issues that may dress themselves differently, but the root of what we’re discussing is very similar. Not to mention that everything we’re discussing in America is going to affect the rest of the world. So, I’m really kind of touching upon it thinking that we might be the root of certain things that do affect people all over, but ultimately these issues being discussed are shared around the world. I was in Canada the other night and talking to some people and I brought up the indigenous population there that’s been displaced and subjugated in Canada, and some people were a little shocked, some people didn’t know and other people were very thankful, because these are things that aren’t being discussed. I actually have a British background myself – my mum being from Scotland and stuff – and there are many things I’m aware of that people may not think that I am that I probably will bring up. Again, it’s just to have the conversation – I’m not there to chastise or admonish anyone for not thinking about it or doing anything. I’m literally just going, 'Hey! Here’s this thing, and if you so choose you can acknowledge it.'