In a recent appearance on Shaun Keaveny’s podcast The Line-Up, ironically reported by the NME, the Foals frontman recounts his lack of memory of his awards speech and a rather awkward encounter he had later in the evening with The Cure’s legendary lead singer Robert Smith: “We were at the NME Awards, which is famously sloppy, and I think that I’d quit smoking, and I was drinking quickly, you know. I was really putting them away. And I get kind of nervous at those things anyway, like I think probably most people do. But, you know, I didn’t feel at ease.” Philippakis continued: “I got battered, basically got super drunk, and then we did win something. We went up there and I gave an interview that I think has been sort of scorched like it’s been taken out. There was video, but and I didn’t remember this until the next day, but I was like I was dancing in it and saying all sorts of stuff, but the thing I remember was looking at like some of my bandmates faces and like, you know, I was performing for the for the interview and for the interview and for the camera and then looking over and just kind of getting these mortified looks. But it was mid flow, you know, no one could stop me… I was just charged and I was going, and then we had to do a photo right after. So we’re backstage there where they were doing all the stuff, and Robert Smith’s there and he’s doing photos, and I’m refusing to leave the room in order to get a photo of Robert Smith. And I just remember one point, Edwin [Congreave, ex-Foals keyboardist], who has now left the band, being like, ‘please don’t embarrass me in front of Robert Smith. Please don’t embarrass me.’ I’m like, ‘I’m gonna get us a photo. Robert Smith!” 

He concluded: “So we did manage to get a photo with Robert Smith, but it wasn’t good. And then the next day I woke up and did not remember the interview at all – or the photo! And somebody in the band had to be like, ‘Oh, yeah, I remember. You were showing off and dancing around’. So yeah, it was all in all pretty bad. And I saw and apologised to Robert Smith recently.”

We feel for you Yannis.

Spotify has come under huge scrutiny in the last few months, with artists including Thom Yorke, Biffy Clyro and more publicly announcing their disdain for the service. Spotify allows users to listen to a wide variety of music for free, unless they wish to pay a small price per month and get an advert free service. Since being launched in 2008, it has gone on to have more than 24 million active users, a number which is ever growing.

Speaking to Channel 4 News, Philippakis stated “”I’d rather somebody stole the record on vinyl than bought it or streamed it on Spotify. Because I think you should listen to music on vinyl, and I think basically anything’s better than that (Spotify).” He went on to criticise the “insulting pittance” that artists receive for their music, saying “It’s like going to a restaurant when the chef and all the waiting staff have worked their asses off, and you leave coppers as a tip, and you don’t even pay the bill. That’s basically what Spotify’s like, I think.” This is another blow to Spotify, after Radiohead and Atoms For Peace frontman Yorke said that it was “the last desperate fart for a dying service”.