Gig review: Fat White Family at Rough Trade

At Rough Trade on 28th April, we were treated with an intimate performance littered with lead singer's Lias Saoudi’s off-beat remarks and snarky comments, accompanied with the rapport from fellow Fat White Family member Alex White and Lias’ "emotional support animal" Anna McDowell. Saul’s departure, we are told, for this time, is permanent. It comes as little surprise considering the well-documented feud between Saul and Lias over the years. Both artistic visionaries in their own right, their own creative temperaments unfortunately fuelled an acrimonious relationship that was embroiled in a tryst of creative differences.

Saul wanted to take Fat White Family’s sound in a more radically different direction, exploring more drone-like soundscapes inspired by No-Wave pioneer Glenn Branca which required very little, if any, lyrics. Lias, on the other hand, was starting to familiarise himself with prose and was formulating a career for himself as a poet, and as a result, Forgiveness is Yours was birthed.

Embedded in cynicism and sardonic wit, we can see Saoudi’s burgeoning talent as an aspiring narrator emerge. Far gone from Fat White Family’s notorious antics, engaging in debauchery and the like, this new chapter shows a more sophisticated approach from the group.

Lias’ lyricism has matured whilst still managing to maintain its abrasive and eccentric sound that helped the group establish their cult following in the first place.

I think what first struck me about this gig was the general atmosphere in the build-up for Fat White Family’s set. The audience was all crammed into the dimly lit room, awashed with red light. Already, we were predisposed to the knowledge that this gig was intended to be an intimate space where we would be a mere spectator to Saoudi’s storytelling. 

The set commenced with Lias spouting some spoken-word poetry from the track Today You Become Man – you could definitely cite the Mark E. Smith influence. Set to a jarring soundscape of boisterous percussion and nihilistic lyrics, this was a dark track chronicling a traumatic circumcision done to Lias’ brother in which he was taken to the mountains in Algeria at five years old to have the process done unanaesthetised … the song was made to sound as unpleasant as possible.

Saoudi sprawled these lyrics with these deep streams of consciousness, splattering his heavy social criticisms with his scathing vocals. The rambunctious rhythm created by the discordancy of the instruments was accompanied by Lias’ manic spurting of the lyrics to encapsulate the anxiety and trauma of this piece … here, we could see an element of darkness that pervaded his poetry set, almost as if he was trying to say "I know something you don’t ..." 

This was a great piece to open with as the audience immediately were hypnotised with Saoudi thrusting us right into his dimension of storytelling.

Religion for One was another track on the setlist. Stripped down and melancholic, this track was incredibly beautiful. I could see a number of influences in this specific performance. Alex White was playing a tune on his flute that was very reminiscent of the track And I Love Her by the Beatles. I really liked how entrancing the addition of the flute made this song sound. Lias, on the other hand, sung in a very Leonard Cohen-esque way, his voice filtering through the instrumental like warm honey.

The Activist was another worthwhile performance from the set! Here, all three teamed on vocals. Anna McDowell provided some very Karen Dalton-like vocals which I thought harmonised beautifully with Lias’ drawl and the acoustic guitar. This was a very pretty tune and I liked how this served as an example in showing the group’s versatility: a prime focus on Fat White Family’s lyricism rather than their known tendency to rail against formula and convention.

We were also subject to performances of their beloved tracks such as Touch the Leather — a rehash of the post-punk song now stripped back to a mere melancholic, acoustic-style ballad. A mellow sounding guitar juxtaposed with Lias’ raucous screeches made for a very compelling and emotive experience and one that I was glad to bear witness to.

Their other track Hits, Hits, Hits had more of a psychedelic influence… and I was totally here for it. Feeling like an acid trip, this was the perfect song to disassociate to. Alex White’s hypnotising back-up vocals (“hits, hits, hits”) were sung in this slowed, low-pitched dark echo — kind of sounding like the last words you’d expect to hear before you’d meet God! 

This was then encountered with Lias’ lead folky vocals that together, then descended into an almost animalistic chaos. Lias’ screeches really added to this cacophonous primal nature which I really liked; to me, it sort of showed how he had lost control by the end of this song and was relinquishing all responsibility ...

Fat White Family also performed Garden of the Numb: this was perhaps my favourite song of the set. Lias’ adoption of a more southern drawl was reminiscent of a hybrid between Townes Van Zandt and a young Jonathan Richman which made me appreciate this cowboy style even more.

I also think Anna’s accompaniment on this live rendition sounded so angelic (her voice trailing off throughout created a very dissociative effect reminding me of the Velvet Underground’s ‘Loaded’ era!) And then I love how towards the end, Lias’ just completely goes ham on his instrument, spurting noise and interrupting this lull with an abrasive shred on his acoustic guitar, sort of like he was waking up the audience after entrancing them into a sleep-like state. It was here, that we were met with this precarious sentiment we associate so fondly with the group and these incisions of harsh noises inserted into a more mellow piece really showed Fat White Family to be a group that is not afraid to be changing it up.

Overall, we the audience, were subject to a deeply personal listen that let us a little bit more into the weird and wonderful world of Saoudi, and I for one was more than happy to come along for the ride.

Fat White Family performed at Rough Trade on 28th April 2024. Photos: Jade Vowles