Folly Group
Ahead of their hometown show at Scala on 21st March, we caught up with East London post-punk purveyors Folly Group.
The band took us around some of the London haunts that influenced the creation of their debut album Down There! (video below) and we had the chance to chat to them about the tour so far; covering pre-show routines, encountering Cardiff’s self-proclaimed Jedi community, and what fans can expect from the Scala show!
Firstly, thanks for taking us around London and exploring some of the areas that influenced ‘Down There!’ How has the tour been so far? Any stories you’d like to share?
Tour is going great. We’re really glad to be back at it again. It’s been lovely to meet so many fans and all of them have been incredibly nice. Most notable story so far is that a large percentage of our Cardiff crowd were self-professed Jedi and performed a choreographed lightsaber fight to Sandfight. We also stopped the set in Cardiff cause we thought a fight had broken out, turns out they were all mates and we looked a bit silly. Several people were on the floor in our defence. Oh well.
The artwork for ‘Down There!’ features a fascinating map of an underground cave network, could you share a little more about the inspiration / vision behind this?
The artwork was assembled by our extremely talented friend Ellie Antoniou who was somehow able to turn our frankly terrible idea/instructions into a reality. It’s 10 points from London that were significant to the creation of the album and the history of the band turned into a cave network.
You mentioned that your first ever headline show was at Studio 9294 in 2022, how does it feel to be playing Scala on the last date of your debut album tour? Your biggest headline show to date!
Having Scala as the last date of the UK leg is a real demonstration of how things have developed over the last few years. We started this because we enjoy creating together and would never have thought a venue we’ve seen countless other bands we love play would be host to our racket. It’s going to be a lovely way to round off what has been an absolute pleasure of a tour so far.
Does the band have any pre-show rituals or routines that you follow before taking the stage?
In terms of a pre-show routine, we all warm up together in the dressing room and if there’s footie on then that’s on someone’s phone. There’s also a little secret mantra we have that we chant just before stage. The contents of which will never be revealed.
As you gear up for Scala on 21st March, what can fans expect from the show?
Scala is going to be absolutely joyous, we’re really excited to put on a big show for everyone that’s shown us so much love over the years. You can expect a lot of Down There!, some old stuff and potentially a tear or two. Gunna go harder than ever.
Folly Group perform at Scala, London on 21st March with support from EBBB and Pencil.
Final tickets are available here.
