Ep 136: Foals’ Yannis Philippakis on collaborating with icon Tony Allen, his love of gardening and what happens next with Foals

Frontman with one of Britain’s biggest modern rock bands, Yannis Philippakis recently launched Yannis & The Yaw – not so much a solo project, more of an experiment in collaboration. Dial back seven years and Yannis spent time writing songs with one of his heroes, the icon drummer Tony Allen – godfather of Afrobeat and distinguished collaborator with everyone from Damon Albarn to Air. The result is a posthumous project – Allen died in 2020 – titled ‘Lagos Paris London’ released in August 2024.  Yannis goes deep with host Greg Cochrane about his “cross generational” bond with Allen, and the other legendary artists he'd love write with Yannis & The Yaw. Plus, he discusses the evolving future of his band Foals, chats about his passion for gardening and why he’s writing music for some contemporary theatre productions.  You can watch clips of the podcast online now, just give us a follow on Instagram @midnightchatspod. Links to stuff mentioned in the episode:  More Yannis? He joined us on episode 64 of Midnight Chats back in 2019 Check out the videos for Yannis & The Yaw tracks ‘Under The Strikes’ and ‘Walk Through Fire’ Further reading: Yannis on his love for gardening, interviewed in The Telegraph  The Confessions theatre production Yannis wrote the score for in 2023  From 2023: Original bassist Walter Gervers rejoins Foals, via NME Credits: Interview by Greg Cochrane  Editing by Stuart Stubbs  Mixing and mastering by Flo Lines Artwork by Kate Prior Video by Robbie Hamilton See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.