My First Time explore the urge to escape on new single 'Paris, Texas'•

deBasement have announced their new EP 'HARDBODY' and shared teaser track 'CUT THE LINE'•

Mura Masa and Ledbyher join forces on break-driven new single 'Needja'•

Beck and Sierra Ferrell have teamed up for a new version of 'Ride Lonesome'•

Baby Queen turns the spotlight on herself with new album 'I Hope You Don't Remember Me'•

Cara Delevingne has released new single 'Need It', co-written with Fiona Apple•

Empress Of has announced her new album 'Dream House', featuring Blood Orange and Cecile Believe•

Ravyn Lenae weighs up an old flame on new single 'Saturday Night'•

Cruz Beckham has announced his debut EP 'Wear & Tear'•

Brandon Flowers has 'Plans' ahead of his solo return 'Thrasher'•

Carly Rae Jepsen has dropped her new single 'On Wires' ahead of double album 'Day and Night'•

Charli xcx has shared ‘Wink Wink’ from her upcoming album, ‘Music, Fashion, Film’•

Phoebe Bridgers heads to the Renaissance fair in her new ‘Lost Boys’ video•

SOMBR explores self-worth on his new single, ‘My Body Isn’t Ready’•

Blondshell has announced her third album 'Violins'•

Audrey Hobert has unveiled a new video for 'Sex and the City' as she begins her headline tour•

The Dork 2025 Readers' Poll nominations are in, featuring CMAT, Turnstile, Wolf Alice, Djo, Hayley Williams and loads more•

flowerovlove has released her first-ever first Christmas track, 'wishlist'•

Mighty Hoopla and Olly Alexander have announced Trans Mission, a concert for trans solidarity•

JADE has announced a deluxe edition of her debut album, 'THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY! THE ENCORE'•

My First Time explore the urge to escape on new single 'Paris, Texas'•

deBasement have announced their new EP 'HARDBODY' and shared teaser track 'CUT THE LINE'•

Mura Masa and Ledbyher join forces on break-driven new single 'Needja'•

Beck and Sierra Ferrell have teamed up for a new version of 'Ride Lonesome'•

Baby Queen turns the spotlight on herself with new album 'I Hope You Don't Remember Me'•

Cara Delevingne has released new single 'Need It', co-written with Fiona Apple•

Empress Of has announced her new album 'Dream House', featuring Blood Orange and Cecile Believe•

Ravyn Lenae weighs up an old flame on new single 'Saturday Night'•

Cruz Beckham has announced his debut EP 'Wear & Tear'•

Brandon Flowers has 'Plans' ahead of his solo return 'Thrasher'•

Carly Rae Jepsen has dropped her new single 'On Wires' ahead of double album 'Day and Night'•

Charli xcx has shared ‘Wink Wink’ from her upcoming album, ‘Music, Fashion, Film’•

Phoebe Bridgers heads to the Renaissance fair in her new ‘Lost Boys’ video•

SOMBR explores self-worth on his new single, ‘My Body Isn’t Ready’•

Blondshell has announced her third album 'Violins'•

Audrey Hobert has unveiled a new video for 'Sex and the City' as she begins her headline tour•

The Dork 2025 Readers' Poll nominations are in, featuring CMAT, Turnstile, Wolf Alice, Djo, Hayley Williams and loads more•

flowerovlove has released her first-ever first Christmas track, 'wishlist'•

Mighty Hoopla and Olly Alexander have announced Trans Mission, a concert for trans solidarity•

JADE has announced a deluxe edition of her debut album, 'THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY! THE ENCORE'•

Hype-THE BEST NEW NAMES, FIRST

Upset-DORK'S HOME FOR ALL THINGS LOUD

Festival Guides-YOUR ESSENTIAL FESTIVAL COMPANION

Hype-THE BEST NEW NAMES, FIRST

Mixtape-DORK'S BEST NEW TRACKS

Play-DORK'S NEW MUSIC FRIDAY EDIT

Upset-DORK'S HOME FOR ALL THINGS LOUD

Playlist Covers

Playlist Directory

Before Doors-LIVE SESSIONS

Music Video Directory

Down With Boring-THE DORK PODCAST

Chart Attack-UK NUMBER ONES, DISSECTED

Dork Radio

Live

Live 24/7

Dork Radio

FIDLAR: "The state of rock and roll music right now is fucking boring" | Dork

Down With Boring

Join thousands of music lovers getting the best new tracks, exclusive interviews, and breaking news delivered straight to your inbox every week.

In print now

June 2026

Latest issue variants

Dork, June 2026 (Bleachers cover)

Bleachers

Dork, June 2026 (Myles Smith cover)

Myles Smith

Dork, June 2026 (Towa Bird cover)

Towa Bird

|

Privacy Policy|

Cookie settings

© 2026 The Bunker Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Advertise on this site.

Home
Features
FIDLAR

FIDLAR: "The state of rock and roll music right now is fucking boring"

There's never a boring day in camp FIDLAR.

FIDLAR: "The state of rock and roll music right now is fucking boring"

Written by

Artists

Published

25 Jan 2019 • 10:57 am

Attempting to tear that up, their third album ‘Almost Free' is untethered and unbothered by any traditional rock cliches. Working with super-producer Ricky Reed, it is a riot of sound and influences, a finely balanced mix of garage punk riffs and hip-hop beats, and it launches FIDLAR into a whole new period.

Related Articles

LIKE THAT? READ THESE✦LIKE THAT? READ THESE✦LIKE THAT? READ THESE✦LIKE THAT? READ THESE✦

LIKE THAT? READ THESE✦LIKE THAT? READ THESE✦LIKE THAT? READ THESE✦LIKE THAT? READ THESE✦

Medium Build has announced new album 'King Of Having Fun' with single 'Armor'

Medium Build has announced new album 'King Of Having Fun' with single 'Armor'

Nick Carpenter's project returns with 14-track LP and new single 'Armor'.

The intervening period between 2015's ‘Too' and today hasn't exactly been a quiet or peaceful one for the world, and the aftermath of those tumultuous times are ever-present in the new record. "There is so much craziness going on in our lives; the world is in chaos. Every time we went to Europe, there was a fucking terror attack in the same country! You end up like, wow, this shit is happening everywhere," explains Zac.

"It’s about growing, and not being scared of trying new shit" Zac Carper With mass shootings in their homeland ("It's almost hard not to get desensitised to it, otherwise how do you get through the day when it happens all time?" asks guitarist Elvis Kuehn), the increase in nationalism and just Donald Trump in general, staying positive day-to-day has become a slog at times.

Travelling the world, the band noticed a pattern beginning to form. The worse it got, the more people withdrew and disconnected from reality, finding comfort in the warm embrace of their phones. That observation informs much of ‘Almost Free'.

Zac puts it more simply, explaining the album title at the same time. "We're free, but we're not free!"

Further compounding Zac's mood, a relationship break-up caused him to start drinking for the first time in several years, an occasion that led directly to the riotous ‘By Myself'.

"All they had in the studio was fancy cider, I couldn't even have a beer!" he laughs, the distance allowing him to find the funny side of his relapse now.

Forget what you think you know about FIDLAR, ‘Almost Free' shows an adventurous side to the band throughout. Album opener ‘Get Off My Rock' kicks the doors down with a bass Beastie Boys-style beat, a clear homage to a group that are still a huge influence on them - as well as sharing a reputation in their early days for being a care-free party band.

Like them, there is an ease now to their shifting of style and genre, a reluctance to get pinned into one box. Adventurous, yet still stripped back to the bare essentials - as Elvis puts it, "You don't wanna make something that's too different, going all over the place to the point where it's not cohesive, y'know?"

Reed was integral. Zac explains: "He comes from the pop world, but he is one of the most punk rock dudes we've met. We take a rock song, and then it's like, okay, how do we make this different to grow?"

"GODDAMMIT ELVIS!" shouts Zac, before they both fall into fits of laughter.

Zac explains their collaboration with K. Flay for one of the album highlights ‘Called You Twice'. "I had just broken up with my girlfriend, K called and said, perfect timing! We ended up going to a bar next door, got really drunk and came back to the studio and just made it there and then."

With the two equally excited about ‘Can't You See', the first song that features both of them singing, talk turns to the year ahead and the challenges that a rock band, even one as future-facing as FIDLAR, face in 2019.

This isn't a case of tired old rock star criticising the festival bookers, just the reality of (in their eyes) a stale rock genre.

"We played with Odd Future in LA, that was cool to find a different audience," smiles Elvis.

Fully aware of the risks in shifting their sound on from their established past, it is the bands' willingness to approach music with eyes (and ears) wide open that has perhaps allowed FIDLAR to keep going where many of their peers have faltered. The final thoughts belong to Zac.

Free from worries, free from pressure, free to explore - and definitely never, ever boring. FIDLAR have got their eyes on the future, and it's up to everyone else to keep up.

Taken from the February 2019 issue of Dork. FIDLAR's album 'Almost Free' is out now.

Words: Jamie MacMillan

Never miss a thing

Get the best new music in your Google feed

Two taps, takes ten seconds. Get Dork in your Discover feed, and tell Google to rank our reviews and interviews higher when you search.

☆ Follow Dork in Discover ↑ Pin Dork in Search

Watch’s Before Doors sessions

Intimate, stripped-back live sessions filmed moments before the doors open. Raw sound, real rooms, no second takes. Subscribe on YouTube so you never miss a new one.

Subscribe on YouTube Watch the latest →

Latest Updates

Medium Build has announced new album 'King Of Having Fun' with single 'Armor'

Medium Build has announced new album 'King Of Having Fun' with single 'Armor'

PUP have shared a year-in-the-making video for 'Concrete' alongside new song 'If This Is It'

PUP have shared a year-in-the-making video for 'Concrete' alongside new song 'If This Is It'

Peggy Gou has teamed up with Ayra Starr for new single 'Wo,man'

Peggy Gou has teamed up with Ayra Starr for new single 'Wo,man'

kwn has released new EP 'and all pride aside'

kwn has released new EP 'and all pride aside'

Deb Never has announced an intimate London show next month

Deb Never has announced an intimate London show next month

PUP have shared a year-in-the-making video for 'Concrete' alongside new song 'If This Is It'

PUP have shared a year-in-the-making video for 'Concrete' alongside new song 'If This Is It'

Handcrafted animated visual arrives with a track recorded during last album's sessions.

Peggy Gou has teamed up with Ayra Starr for new single 'Wo,man'

Peggy Gou has teamed up with Ayra Starr for new single 'Wo,man'

South Korean artist also opens one-day London pop-up The Gou,tique to celebrate.

kwn has released new EP 'and all pride aside'

kwn has released new EP 'and all pride aside'

Eleven-track project arrives with collaborations from Destin Conrad and Ty Dolla $ign.