FAT WHITE FAMILY – DE LA WARR PAVILION, BEXHILL-ON-SEA 18.5.21
Fat White Family’s reputation for raucous live shows and reckless behaviour accompanies their artistically unsettling recorded output: a broad spectrum from psychedelic country twang to darkly dystopian electronica. The Sussex landscape features prominently in some of their visually striking music videos, and three band members were recently in Hastings to make a film of the process of writing a new album.
“Moonbathing In February”, the resultant fly-on-the-wall documentary directed by Niall Trask, streamed on the band’s website on Good Friday. Its positive reception has prompted a string of socially-distanced shows to further air the material in a live setting. We’re catching the second night of the tour at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea.
Before the show, ticket holders receive an emailed link to watch the film. It’s a ‘short’ of about 35 minutes, and is a surprisingly touching and intimate portrayal of the vulnerability, joy and frustration of the creative process. Lead singer Lias, along with Nathan and Alex, are shown writing and trying out numbers in a variety of locations. The film’s title comes from their decision to strip off and ‘moonbathe’ on the beach at night, doubtless an intense experience at that time of year.
It’s the day after pandemic restrictions were eased in England, and this is the first indoor show I’ve been to in about five months. Arriving at the venue, it’s clear the De La Warr Pavilion team has made every effort to ensure our comfort and safety. The audience is sufficiently spread out to reassure even the most cautious patron, but numerous enough to generate a bit of atmosphere.
It quickly becomes clear that tonight’s lineup is the trio of band members from the film. House left is Alex White, seated at a table bearing his flute, a small keyboard, and a few beer cans. He cuts a tall and elegant figure in a green suit and a frankly magnificent mullet hairstyle. House right, Nathan Saoudi is seated at a Yamaha keyboard, the epitome of indie in a Johnny Marr haircut and a dark Fred Perry top. After a brief instrumental introduction, Lias Saoudi comes on to sit centre stage, brandishing an acoustic guitar and looking particularly striking with a shaven head and a white linen suit.
I recognise the opening number from the film, a spoken word confessional piece with a vibey flute backing. It sounds very earnest, but the confessions become increasingly bizarre and darkly funny as it progresses. “Buried In The Bleak” is from absent guitarist Saul Adamczewski’s Insecure Men side project. The sometimes fractious relationship between Saul and Lias is well documented. I’m not sure whether this song’s inclusion is a warm tribute or a wind-up, but either way it’s a lovely piece, beautifully accompanied by finger picked guitar and a vibrato keyboard that sounds almost like a Stylophone.
“Oh Sebastian” is familiar from the band’s last album “Serfs Up!”, and is introduced as being about Lias’s “former best friend”, who now hates his guts. Extensively orchestrated on the record, this stripped back version with flute, acoustic and three-part harmonies sounds wonderfully mesmeric. “Activist” has an early 1960s folk vibe, and is jokingly credited as being co-written with Bob Dylan.
“Killed A Child”, sung by Nathan, somehow manages to be harrowing and endearing at the same time. The faux Ronettes backing vocals suggest that it’s not to be taken entirely seriously. “Rock Fishes”, another number from “Serfs Up!”, works rather well in this minimal form.
“Force It” stood out in the film with its vaudeville vocal arrangement. I’d be interested to hear how this finishes up on record. “Mortar” is a spoken soliloquy over guitar, reflecting on Alex’s experiences since joining Fat White Family.
“Mustard Seed” is the provisional title for an unfinished song that nonetheless boasts one stunning verse and an utterly magical flute motif in its current form. “Visions Of Pain” is a reworking for current times of “Waters Of March”, written by Brazilian Antonio Carlos Jobim and made famous by Art Garfunkel. Alex provides the bossa nova guitar accompaniment, allowing Lias to concentrate on the impressively wordy vocal.
“Piping” sounds frivolous and sweet with its harmonies and flute. I suspect the mischievous lyric relates more to smoking than cake decoration. Nathan sings lead for “Never Again”, which bounces along on electronic arpeggios. A dramatic backing vocal starts like a deep monastic chant before quickly ascending to a soaring falsetto.
“Waiting For Adam” has a country vibe, whilst “The Archivist”, is a moodily poetic spoken piece over a low electronic drone and ethereal flute flourishes. It is so darkly evocative that the audience seem too stunned to clap before the finger picked introduction to “Moonbathing” starts up. This is a dreamily languid song arranged around guitar, flute and harmony vocals. The trio look like they are genuinely enjoying playing together, and there’s a nice moment where they all exchange conspiratorial glances to insert a humorously inappropriate unit of time into the lyric.
“Some people shy away from moonbathing
They’ll say it’s crazy and it’s cold
But I’ve been bathing just like this
Since I was only seven… seven seconds old”
The applause at the end of the set is as rapturous as could reasonably be produced by this reduced capacity crowd, and the band exit the stage to a brief electronic piece by Nathan. Everyone here seems pleased and relieved to be out watching live music again, and it feels like a privilege to get such an intimate insight into the various stages of the creative process from one of the most strikingly original bands of recent years. I’ll very much look forward to hearing these songs in their final recorded form, and hopefully played live with the full band to a packed crowd before too long.
Fat White Family setlist (7pm show):
‘Confessions’
‘Buried In The Bleak’
‘Oh Sebastian’
‘Activist’
‘Killed A Child’
‘Rock Fishes’
‘Force It’
‘Mortar’
‘Mustard Seed’
‘Visions Of Pain (Waters Of March)’
‘Piping’
‘Never Again’
‘Waiting For Adam’
‘The Archivist’
‘Moonbathing’
‘Billionaire’ (outro)
Lias Saoudi – vocals, guitar
Nathan Saoudi – keyboards, vocals
Alex White – flute, keyboards, guitar, vocals
