From the July 98 issue of Select

Interview with Keith Allen by Ian Harrison

 

Where exactly did the name Fat Les come from?

Well it started out as Lace Pants, and then became Black
Lace, then we thought Fat Lace or something. And then Fat Les -- a very
funy name. It means anything -- "Oh, that's very Fat Les," "That's not
very Fat Les". This record is pure Fat Les, obviously. Cool Britannia is
fucking not Fat Les. Manchester City are Fat Les, Manchester United are
not Fat Les. So I can see great merchandising oppurtunities -- fabulous
polo shirts and so on.

Wasn't it originally born at a Fulham away match?

Yes, at Bristol City. It was my 40th, and me and Damien and Alex --
Fulham lads, you know -- hired a limo and went. Fulham away have got this
fantastic chant, and 'Vin-Da-Loo' is very nearly that melody, but not
quite. And there was drumming going on, so Alex says, "Fuckin' 'ell,
that's a top riff". It took less than seven hours to record.

Are you out to dull the impact of the England United record?

KA: Not at all. You ask Ian McCulloch and I bet you a pound to a pinch of
shit he doesn't like it either. But he's been cashiered into it, they've
pumped in the Spice Girls to give it some extra, they're remixing it like
crazy, but it's not working. They should've asked me -- I was a bit
peeved they didn't cos I've got a good track record in that department. I
don't get "Three Lions", to be honest, apart from it being rank greed.
Why are they celebrating losing the semi-final to Germany? What the
fuck's going on?

 

Max Wall, black pearly kings... what's with the video?

It's real. The video's about people having a fucking good time, it's
a celebration. You can see it in the people that it's real. It wasn't
rehearsed -- it was just a day out. Paul Kaye's exemplary. And the
video's a homage. I love that video, even though they ripped it off from
Massive Attack. [Returning to previous tack] Vindaloo, man. It's part of
our cultural map, you'd better believe it. Already I know producers at
radio stations are going, "God, it's jingoistic, it's racist". The
witless tits. It's so fuckin' obvious it's not.

Do you hope England win?

Of course I do. Fuck me. It won't bug me too much if they don't
though. I don't think Hoddle's got a world-beating side. It would be pure
Fat Les if they won.

And you're going to auction the cover art...

It's fucking brilliant. Tower Records have given us a whole window
display. The kids who sang on the record are my son's classmates in this
little school in North London, and they're skint so their school is going
to close down. So we're going to get the kids to go to Damien's studio
and make a big spin painting with him that'll include vindaloo,
obviously. Then we'll auction it off and give all the proceeds to the
school.

What's next for Turtleneck records?

I can't tell you because record companies are gonna be fucking
banging on our door, without a shadow of a doubt.