Yannis & The Yaw, the collaborative project between Foals’ frontman Yannis Philippakis and the late multi-genre drummer Tony Allen, has just released the third single from its highly anticipated EP, Lagos, Paris, London.
Greek-born Yannis Philippakis is best known as a founding member of the award-winning indie rock sensation Foals. The band shot on to the scene with their 2007 release, Antidotes, which peaked at number 3 on the album charts and featured singles like ‘Hummer’ in the coming-of-age classic, Skins. Since then, the band have won multiple awards, including the prestigious Best Group Award at the Brits back in 2020.
While this is Philippakis’ first musical side project, Allen – who was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria – was no stranger to international collaboration, having been one of the founders of the Afrobeat genre and the drummer and director of Fela Kuti’s band, Africa ‘70, between 1968 and 1979. More recently, Allen collaborated with Britpop legend Damon Albarn, working on the likes of Gorillaz, as well as the supergroups The Good, the Bad & the Queen and Rocket Juice & The Moon.
The EP project was started in 2016 when a mutual friend of Philippakis suggested he collaborate with Allen. However, the project was halted and couldn’t be completed due to the global Covid restrictions that emerged a few years on. When Tony sadly passed away in April 2020 aged 79, Yannis felt it was his duty to complete the project and bring it to life, releasing the first two singles from the release, ‘Under the Strikes’ and ‘Walking Through Fire’, earlier this year.
The latest release from the project, ‘Rain Can’t Reach Us’, is a seamless blend of Afrofunk and British alt-rock. It begins with periodic, somewhat ominous percussion and then bursts into a punchy beat, featuring Yannis’ distinctive, husky vocals. Originally referred to as ‘The Tornado’ due to Yannis’ perspective that the track felt “like a gale blowing through your house”, the final track’s title, erratic and unpredictable sound and lyrics—along with a music video pointing towards escapism from environmental destruction—only serve to reinforce the duo’s everlasting relevance in such a rapidly changing world, combined with their respective long-standing industry prowess.
Despite the project originating from a unique partnership between two musical greats, Yannis plans to reimagine the concept of Yannis & The Yaws in the coming years, fostering new creative alliances with musicians from around the world. Though the details of these future collaborations remain unknown, this release cements a level of faith that Yannis will continue to push the boundaries of contemporary alternative music in the UK scene with whatever he has in store.
Yannis & The Yaw’s first EP, Lagos, Paris, London, will be released on August 30 2024.
Words by Ruby Brown
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