SLEAFORD Mods have become unlikely musical stars by offering a grimy, splenetic soundtrack for our austerity/idiocy crippled times.
The Notts-brewed band has existed in its current form since 2012, with Jason Williamson (vocals) and Andrew Fearn (tunes) gradually perfecting the art of distilling authentic 'broken Britain' angst into joyously cathartic outbursts of primitive drums 'n' basslines-powered rage and incredulity.
The last five years have seen the pair striking a discordant chord with disaffected listeners far beyond their Midlands base, a groundswell of momentum which propelled the last two Sleaford Mods records, Key Markets (2015) and English Tapas (2017), into the Top 20 without the aid of anything approaching a traditional 'radio hit' – the latter Rough Trade-released LP even earned the pair coveted spots at Glastonbury and on Jools Holland.
For their sixth full-length record together, Eton Alive, Williamson and Fern have returned to their independent roots by putting it out themselves via their newly created Extreme Eating label.
The album's pleasingly jittery/groovy lead single Kebab Spider has already been well received, but with just under a month to go until the official release date of February 22 and a 33-date tour of Britain and Ireland due to kick off at The Limelight in Belfast next week, Williamson admits the Sleafords are feeling the extra pressure of being a DIY act once again.
"It's been quite stressful, really," he tells me. "I mean, we're both really proud of [the album], it's really good, it's strong, but it's been quite a job getting it off the ground independently after being with Rough Trade.
"I think we left prematurely, basically."
Having jumped ship after just one album and a couple of EPs, the essential promotional and marketing donkey work once taken care of by the label is now entirely the band's responsibility once again.
Despite having effectively penetrated mainstream conciousness with their last two albums, the battle to ensure their new music reaches fresh ears doesn't get any easier – as Williamson candidly explains.
"It's a great album, but we're worried it might get a bit lost because the 'campaign' started too late," he tells me. "You need a good year to plan an independent release at a professional level – and we're a bigger band now.
"Before, we had like a buzz behind us, and now we're an established band with a core fanbase. So you've got to drum up extra interest because people aren't necessarily running after you now, you know what I mean?
"The industry tends to run after things that are fresh and new just to keep itself turning over, so you have to drum up any extra fanbase that might be attracted to the music – and it takes a long time to do that."
It seems that the imminent Brit Awards present another pothole in the road for the Sleafords' album release campaign, as major labels prepare to gleefully pump money into TV and online promo for their nominated releases.
"We always seem to release an album around this time – which is f***ing stupid, really," chuckles a bemused Williamson. "What happens is that there's a resurgence in unit sales for all these other bands and corporate acts, which almost drowns the Top 20 so that your record gets knocked back.
"What cleverer bands do – well, not cleverer bands, s****er bands – is they wait until there's a real lull in releases so their album gets to, like, number four and everyone goes 'Oh my God, they're brilliant!' when they're not: it's just that nobody else has released anything."
Apparently it costs about £10k to enter the Brits: "No way, f*** that," says Williamson, who points out that the Sleafords did put in for the Mercury Prize two years in a row only to be "totally snubbed".
"These awards are now so gentrified – it's not like it was 25 years ago," he says. "I won't deny that the Brits are good for business, but the trend over the last 10 years has been solely corporate acts. You're not getting any indie acts in there, you know what I mean?"
"There's no real 'grass roots' bands in there, it's all real kind of 'safey-safey' stuff."
He adds: "I think everyone is talking about Idles this year, but no – they are just as connected to that bulls**t."
Currently contenders in the Brits' public-voted Best Breakthrough Band category, Idles are just one of an ongoing outbreak of punky/post-punky guitar bands who have been name-checking Sleaford Mods as an influence and/or fingered by the music media as some sort of post-Sleafords 'movement'.
Williamson is not having it.
"It's nice that people are influenced by us, but they just don't get it, you know what I mean?" he says of the currently fashionable Bristolian guitar botherers.
"I dunno, I've been told not to say anything about 'em – so, 'no comment'! [cue much laughter in the background]."
As for the album itself, the duo can have few worries about alienating the faithful with Eton Alive: while wilfully lean in terms of its musical arrangements, Sleaford Mods continue to tease the boundaries of their band's established sonic blueprint without blunting their primal and primitive edges.
For example, mid-tempo tunes like Firewall, When You Come Up To Me? and Negative Script find Williamson doing some more actual crooning, as the pair dabble with funk/r'n'b/soul influences while exhibiting what John Peel might once have described as 'dangerous hints of melody'.
They are pleasing counterpoints to the likes of the record's harder-charging moments like Flipside, Subtraction and the aformentioned Kebab Spider, while consumerism-sceptic tune OBCT is notable for being the moment this duo join the elite squad of acts who dare to deploy the devil's second-favourite instrument (after pan-pipes), the Kazoo.
The unexpected eruption of said 'novelty' instrument on this mid-paced dirge offers a genuine laugh-out-loud moment, mainly because it sounds so utterly perfect over the rumbling post-punk bassline.
"The mood of this record is a bit more subdued, a bit more heavier, darker," comments Williamson.
"It's a bit more depressing I think, but there's also humour in there and more poppier stuff too. But what I really wanted to try and catch is the current kind of 'static' kind of atmosphere you've got [in Britain].
"People are just beaten by 'austerity fatigue', as my wife cleverly put it the other day."
Indeed, the frontman says he's proud of the way his band have provided a soundtrack for Britain and Ireland's austerity years.
"Whatever happens to Sleaford Mods going forward, hopefully we'll be remembered for that," he says.
"But we're not dead yet."
:: Sleaford Mods, Thursday February 7, The Limelight, Belfast. Tickets available via Limelightbelfast.com.
