Nottingham’s post-punk duo aren’t ones to hold back on the state of the nation – and their new album, UK Grim, is no exception. Here, Jason Williamson and Andrew Fearn talk about politics, their pasts – and hitting their stride in middle age
“A lot of these politicians, they’re not evil. They’re just very detached,” says Jason Williamson, singer and lyricist of the Sleaford Mods. “I’d like to say it’s not just bounteous privilege, but it is. People like Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, they’re incredibly cut off from the world. They’re not serial killers, they’re just ignorant of others. They treat people like they’re asking for change… Here you go, have a bit, tossing a coin while they’re eating a sandwich, looking at their mobile phone. I’ve visited Eton, there’s loads of places like it, and if that’s all you know, then you’ve definitely not had to worry about pulling a tenner out of the bank…”
“I watched this great video and it said that we’ve gone from a nation of people who considered Britain to be Great, to Little England,” says Andrew Fearn, the band’s musician. “Nearly everything’s imported. We don’t produce anything. We’re becoming like a little holiday island that doesn’t do anything. Even countries like Russia are doing better than the UK. But the point is: we’ve called it on ourselves. Our generation didn’t like Great Britain or the flag, we’ve always dissed our own country, so we’ve self-prophesied, in a way.”
