FANS tease raucous, radical new EP with title track "Born Into" [Premiere]

"Born Into" retains some of the characteristics that earned them comparisons to New York buzz bands of the early 2000 (their lead singer doesn’t not sound like Julian Casablancas, and celebratory guitar leads still break through the wall of sound from time to time) but their tendency to dive further into fuzz is as obvious here as it was on previous single "If God Is Real". In other words, FANS still make music that sounds like it could be drifting out of a Brooklyn bar, but their recent releases have seen them up the ante when it comes to pure noise. The driving kick-kick-snare beat and crunchy power chords churning along at breakneck pace only reinforce the feeling that you're hearing all of this from the street, through the walls of a basement club that have (mercifully) been poorly soundproofed. The catchy vocal melody will have you singing along before you ever get inside to check out the show.

Recent evidence would suggest, however, that FANS are capable of more than just writing killer hooks. Their recent material shows a growing desire to enter discussions that the bands they're most easily compared to chose not to. Speaking about the EP's themes, the band have said that "social mobility is an illusion" and that "people who are poor aren't valued". Even a cursory listen of "Born Into" reveals a scathing, satirical commentary on Britain's (and, perhaps, much of the rest of the world's) current socioeconomic structure.

The band said: "We've had this song a long time, it was written well over a year ago so it feels good to be getting it out there finally. It's seems to have grown in relevance since we first wrote it which is weird as some of the lyrics are pretty autobiographical, especially the first two verses. The song idea came about from stories my mum had told me about her childhood, loads of funny Step toe & Son kind of stuff like they didn't have duvets and used to have to sleep under my granddad's coat in winter.

"We had the hook line 'I was born into what I was born into' and verse chords but nothing else for the longest time... We were big into The Cult at this time and after trying tons and tons of chorus chord variations we decided to simplify 'Born Into' the same way The Cult's 'She Sells Sanctuary' uses the same chord sequence for the verse and chorus."

Stream "Born Into" below. Catch FANS at Oporto, Leeds on 9 July or the Sebright Arms, London on 13 August.