Future Of The Left

Scrappy Welsh noise rock trio Mclusky was one of the bright spots in the British indie scene’s post-Brit-pop hangover, releasing three appealingly noisy albums — 2000′s My Pain and Sadness Is More Sad and Painful Than Yours, 2002′s Mclusky Do Dallas, and 2005′s The Difference Between Me and You Is That I'm Not on Fire — before an acrimonious split in 2005, apparently due to intra-band tensions related to an incident on the trio’s 2004 American tour when the band’s van and equipment were stolen. During the same period, Welsh electro-punks Jarcrew released two albums, 2002′s Breakdance Euphoria Kids and 2003′s Jarcrew, also splitting in early 2005, reportedly due to the drummer finding religion. While Mclusky bassist Jon Chapple went off to form Shooting at Unarmed Men, the trio’s remaining members, singer and guitarist Andrew Falkous and drummer Jack Egglestone, hooked up with Jarcrew singer and keyboardist Kelson Mathias and bassist Hywel Evans to form a new fusion of the two bands. Evans quickly left to start his own group, with Mathias moving over to bass and, after experimenting with a variety of tongue-in-cheek names, the remaining trio debuted as Future of the Left in the fall of 2006. Remaining with Mclusky’s label, Too Pure Records, Future of the Left made their recorded debut with a double A-sided single, “Fingers Become Thumbs” and “The Lord Hates a Coward,” in January 2007. Two more singles, “A Dead Enemy Always Smells Good” and “Small Bones Small Bodies,” followed in May and September. Future of the Left’s debut album, Curses, was released in the fall of 2007. A live album, 2008′s Last Night I Saved Her from Vampires, became the band’s 4AD debut; early the following year, the single “The Hope That House Built” signaled Future of the Left’s heavier attack on their second album, Travels with Myself and Another, which arrived in summer 2009. The following year, Mathias left the group, and Oceansize bassist Steve Hodson joined the fold for some live shows before a permanent replacement, former Million Dead member Julia Ruzicka, was announced. That year, the band also added a new guitarist, Jimmy Watkins, who also joined Future of the Left in time to record the band’s third album, The Plot Against Common Sense, which was released in June 2012. The group’s fourth album, How to Stop Your Brain in an Accident, was funded by fans via a PledgeMusic campaign and was released on Future of the Left’s own Prescriptions label in October 2013. Having met their funding goal in a scant five hours, the bandmembers were converted to this new way of funding their recordings and decided to do the same for their fifth album, The Peace & Truce of Future of the Left. Announced in December 2015, this one met its funding goal even more quickly, in just three hours. Released in April 2016, it saw the band once more back to a trio, following the departure of Watkins. ~ Stewart Mason