Written by: Alex Green
The future of the post-punk band Savages appears to be very much in question.
A source told SEM in September that the band’s future was “significantly in doubt” and earlier this month rumors began to spread that the band was breaking up.
Savages played a triumphant show Friday night (11/25) at London’s Brixton’s Academy and during the performance singer Jehnny Beth told the sold-out crowd it would be, “the last Savages show for a while.”
Savages have always been a transparent band who’s agenda was made clear in the band-issued manifesto that accompanied their debut album Silence Yourself, but Beth’s comment was uncharacteristically murky and ambiguous.
With two albums behind them–their most recent the searing Adore Life–and a debut that prompted SEM’s Dave Cantrell to write: “Taut as a soon-to-snap guitar string, lean, angry, polished and pointedly defiant by equal measure, Silence Yourself is a revelation that has no intention of following its own directive,” Savages are one of the most exciting and energizing outfits around.
Adore Life found the band issuing this statement: “It’s about change and the power to change. It’s about metamorphosis and evolution. It’s about sticking to your guns and toughing it out. It’s about now, not tomorrow. It’s about recognizing your potential. It’s about self-doubt and inaction. It’s about you. It’s about me. It’s about you and me and the others. It’s about the choices we make. It’s about finding the poetry and avoiding the cliché. It’s about being the solution, not the problem. It’s about showing weakness to be strong. It’s about digging through your dirt to look for diamonds. It’s about claiming your right to think unacceptable thoughts. It’s about boredom and the things we do to drive it away. It’s about being on your own so you can be with people. It’s about knowing what it means to be human and what it might mean one day. It’s about the parts and the sum of the parts. It’s about the music and the message: together, one and the same. It’s about bass, guitars, drums, and vocals. It’s about opening-out and never, ever dying. But most of all it’s about love, every kind of love. Love is the answer.”
Earnest and crackling with conviction, Savages wear their hearts on their sleeves, but fans are fearing the worst about Beth’s declaration, though the band hasn’t commented any further on their future.
Savages Set List 11.25.16
Recitation (w/Neil Larsen) Leonard Cohen cover
I Am Here
Sad Person
City’s Full
Slowing Down The World
Shut Up
When In Love
Husbands
Surrender
I Need Something New
The Answer
Hit Me
No Face
T.I.W.G.
Why’d Ya Do It? (Marianne Faithful)
Mechanics
Adore
Fuckers
