Album Review: FEET - 'What’s Inside Is More Than Just Ham'

How fitting for FEET’s debut album to end with the line: “I’m just taking the piss.” The eclectic five-piece from Coventry can be misconstrued as doing this in their songs, a lot of the time. On more attentive ears, the things that FEET ramble on about strike as sheer genius 

‘What’s Inside Is More Than Just Ham’ is a a bit of a loaded dice of an album title. Somewhat confusing by not giving any inkling as to what lies beneath the obscure title, instead leaving a part of you that cannot help be enticed to judge what is on the first page instead of judging the book by its cover. This is the secret to FEET. Take everything with a pinch of salt, and be blown away to Alfalfa County, Oklahoma. The melancholic opening moments of ‘Good Richard’s Crash Landing’ switch to whimsical post-punk before you’ve had a second to contemplate the aural explosion — it is a perfect summation of what lies in store for the rest of the album. 

It is undeniable that the songs they have chosen to release as singles: ‘Petty Thieving’, ‘English Weather’, ‘Ad Blue’, ‘Outer Rim’ and ‘Dog Walking’ are absolute bangers, but there is also a whole host of others that are well worth paying attention to – ‘Chalet 47’ taps into psychedelic punk influences a-là HalfNoise, and allows other band members to dominate in their quirky vocal capabilities. The album’s eponymous track is an ode to the most ill-advised festival food – The Hot Dog – and album closer ‘Wiggy Pop’ seems to completely sum up FEET as musicians. We often talk about the state of the music industry, but if guitar music lies in the hands of FEET (well that was a confusing thing to write) then the idiosyncrasies should be welcomed, not worried about.

Words by Tyler Damara Kelly

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TOUR DATES

IN-STORES
OCTOBER
04 Coventry, HMV (Signing)
07 Nottingham, Rough Trade (Live+signing)
08 Manchester, Fopp (Signing)
11 London, Rough Trade East (Live+signing)

HEADLINE TOUR
OCTOBER
19 Cardiff Swn Festival - Clwb Ifor Bach
20 Bristol Rough Trade
21 Bedfordshire Bedford Esquires
22 London The Camden Assembly
24 Tunbridge Wells Tunbridge Wells Forum
25 Ramsgate Ramsgate Music Hall
26 Brighton Patterns
27 Southampton Heartbreakers
29 Norwich Waterfront
30 Nottingham The Bodega

NOVEMBER
01 Manchester YES
02 Birmingham The Castle & Falcon
03 Liverpool Sound
05 Leeds, UK Hyde Park Book Club
06 Newcastle Think Tank
07 Edinburgh The Mash House
08 Glasgow Stereo
09 Dublin, IE The Sound House