As The Whippet Beans release their highly-anticipated new single, ‘Icehawk’, Georgina Shine caught up with singer, songwriter and lyricist, Fraser, to speak about world domination and more.
Give me some insight into your new release, ‘Icehawk’. What can listeners expect?
Our glorious new single is a mighty powerful anthem proclaiming and outlaying the incredible back story to the world’s greatest superhero, Icehawk. He may not have the fancy powers of some other superheroes, but he has a pure heart and the coolest costume. If it wasn’t for Icehawk, we’d all be speaking Mathriganese by now. It’s a sumptuous, luxurious slab of rock and marvel and DC are already rumoured to be fighting over the movie rights. If you listen carefully, you may even hear the debut of the ‘V sharp’ chord which is an extremely dangerous new sound that we always use liberally and responsibly. You may not have heard of Icehawk yet, but all of the kids will be wearing ice white tights this summer.
How are you feeling ahead of your headline show at Little Buildings?
We can’t wait to play at Little Buildings. It’s our first time there and we’ve heard loads of good things about it. It’s a proper music venue there for the love of music. And intimate shows are always a sweaty blast. Snap tickets up for this one if you can and we’ll see you there. We like most little buildings in general: bus shelters, kiosks, booths, tents, even those little green monopoly houses; we’re not keen on mansions, shopping centres or the Eden Project.
If you could play a headline show and select any two other acts as support for the gig, who would you choose and why?
I’d choose They Might Be giants and NOFX, 2 very different bands united by their penchant for singing about quirky, untouched subject matters, often educating, always amusing, consistently melody-rich, and never following anyone else’s paths. We could spend the day drinking fine coffee and visiting dusty museums with the two Johns then play an incredible triple-bill show and party way too hard into the night with Fat Mike and co afterwards, audience invited along, of course.
What can fans expect next from you? Will there be any tour or album announcements in the near future?
We’re launching a Whippet Beans sports clothing range in the summer starting out with badminton helmets and swimming slippers. Sport has always been close to our hearts as the band originally met when we all played on the pro golf circuit. We’re also working on a potato waffle recipe book and a new fragrance exclusively for parrots. We hope to set at least 1,000 Guinness World Records by next year, be the first band to play a show on Mars (acoustic), form a deeper understanding of the kumquat and its role in eastern cuisine, get banned from as many shoe shops as possible and utterly ruin the super bowl… then just general global domination and a nice brew afterwards.
You can listen to ‘Icehawk’ now on all major streaming platforms.