Spotlight On... The Foot & Leg Clinic

Do you remember Glasgow band The Wife Guys of Reddit? They've been a wee bit quiet for a while, but they're back and with a new name: say hello to The Foot & Leg Clinic. Their first single under the new guise – Where did all the fruit go? – was released just last week, with their debut album, Sit Down for Rock and Roll, due next month. While on the surface, it appears not much has changed beyond the name, as the same four pals – Niamh R MacPhail, Arion Xenos, Angus Fernie and Elise Atkinson – are making the same delightfully wonky, indie-pop. But catching up with Niamh and Arion we find out that, actually, quite a lot has changed for the four.

It’s been a few years since we last heard from you, so I guess a good starting place would be to ask what you’ve been up to the past few years and why the name change?
Niamh: We've been in the mountains, detoxing...
Arion: No, haha. We caught COVID on our last UK-wide tour a few years ago and Niamh unfortunately developed Long COVID and other health problems from that, so after playing some dream shows like Paris and the historic "music-festival-slash-indoctrination-camp Bingo Fest 2024" [Bingo Records label head Lloyd Bent's words] we pulled back our live schedule to focus energies on the album. We've never had so long to sit with our songs before – throw in a name change to get Reddit off our backs and the resulting thought spirals have been legendary!

So why The Foot & Leg Clinic? What inspired the new name?
Niamh: We love feet, plus there used to be a foot and leg clinic beside the school where Arion and Angus [keys] met. We always wanted to write a song about it, this is the next best thing.

In your updated bio you’ve said you’re taking a new approach to the creative process, so I’d love if you could expand on that. What are you doing differently this time round?
Arion: For our first couple of years together as a unit we were very much doing the indie-band-by-numbers thing – playing as many gigs as physically possible, cranking out EPs/singles/covers, not saying no. Illness and beareavements have recontextualised our priorities pretty quickly, we've been spending a lot of time with family. We also want to respect Niamh's disability (which makes traditional touring really difficult for her now) so we've been totally focused on finding new ways to channel our live dynamism at our own pace. The record also won some Creative Scotland funding, which has meant we've been able to collaborate with creatives we really admire on it – it's not just been us fiddling around with knobs and hoping for the best!

You’re coming back with a bang and alongside the new name and new creative process, you’re gearing up to release your debut album. Announced alongside the release of lead single Where did all the fruit go? last week, I’d love to know more about the single and what inspired it?
Niamh: Everybody had been listening to Holiday Ghosts, I'd just discovered the Wikipedia entry for 'botanical sexism', Arion wanted to see how many fruits he could list in a song, and the rest is history. It turned into something a bit sadder about lost opportunities and the general shiteness of living in Keir Starmer's Britain, but we're super proud of it as one of maybe five of our released songs to have an actual chorus.

How does it fit into the wider themes across the rest of the album and was there something in particular that inspired Sit Down for Rock and Roll?
Niamh: We didn't set out to make a thematic record or anything, but it's an album shaped by change on a personal and societal level, which is apparent on listening. There are songs about the bad insurancemen burning down Glasgow's listed buildings, childhood friends, the allure of the endangered craftsperson, and how to reckon with artistry in a body that doesn't feel like yours anymore. We're in this weird acceleration cycle right now where everything feels like it's moving too quickly – while some of the song subjects are quite specific, I think most people can relate to that feeling.

Sonically, it’s a wonky slacker indie album at its core, but it's incredibly dynamic with some quite exciting off-piste moments, so musically I’d be interested to know who some of the artists are that inspired its sound?
Niamh: We're kind of obsessed with Wales in the same way that millennial men are obsessed with Japan, so a lot of H. Hawkline, Chwaer Fawr, The Bug Club, Bitw. Arion got really into Ween around the time that we were recording vocals, which you can hear in Hot Air and The Mariposal Antidote. Otherwise – Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, Yo La Tengo and Quincy Jones by way of the Austin Powers soundtrack.

Beyond the record, what does the rest of the year have in store for The Foot & Leg Clinic?
Arion: Elise [drums] just got back from Brazil so we're going to take our time practising up and finding our groove as a four-piece again, playing a few shows over the summer, and cleansing the palate by working on something quite different for us. We're really looking forward to that. Also, Angus will hopefully have a new knee by the next time you see him!

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Where did all the fruit go? is out now; Sit Down For Rock and Roll is released on 13 Mar via Bingo Records

Follow The Foot & Leg Clinic on Instagram @legclinicband