ROCK’N’ROLL CONFIDENTIAL
Joe Talbot
Idles’ front-dynamo talks love, lyric-writing and liking Chris Martin. And he’s not scared, right?
s

No sweat!: Idles’ Joe Talbot wants to make you laugh and scream.
Tom Ham
IT’S 8.30PM AND Joe Talbot is on parenting duty, code-switching between caring dad and rock’n’roll fire-starter as he answers MOJO’s questions. It fits, given the tough-tender combination that Idles have made their own since their 2017 debut Brutalism; with this year’s Tangk, produced by Radiohead associate Nigel Godrich, they found new ways of stretching out their incendiary explorations of love, politics, friendship and masculinity. “I want to make people dance and I want to make people love,” says Talbot, keeping a careful eye on the door in case his wakeful child materialises. “I want to make people laugh and scream and see themselves in the mirror of our albums.”