"We're not philosophers," says Sleaford Mods leader Jason Williamson. "We're musicians and that's what we wanna do. I'm not on any crusade."
Williamson is chatting to Hot Press on the occasion of the release of the band’s eighth album Key Markets.
So how would he describe Sleaford Mods?
“It’s just punk,” he says. “After watching us at Glastonbury I thought ‘Bloody hell, I can understand why people don’t like it!’ It’s just coarse English music. The only thing I can compare us to is probably folk music.”
Williamson’s harrowing observations on the current state of the UK has earned his band the weighty tag of the new face of Britain’s working class.
“Yeah, it’s a lot of pressure. It’s also not really the case,” the singer explains. “We’re just talking about our experiences and they just happen to be in the lowest ebbs of society. I’m certainly interested in politics, or at least critiquing politics. I’m by no means the face of the working class.”
“I’m probably lower middle class and to me it’s a real insult to people that are actually bona fide working class,” he continues. “I’m earning a good wage now [Williamson left his position as a benefits clerk at the end of last year] and that automatically pulls me out of that social bracket. I used to have a minimum wage job. It was always about experience and never about class. It’s not so much a pressure – it’s just a bit frustrating.”
His scathing rhymes about the realities of working class life at once shock and amuse and are sprinkled with keen observation and sharp humour. He has a go at Blur’s Alex James (“spitting out cheese by that tool from Blur”) and at original Tory boy Boris Johnson (“Boris on a bike? / Quick knock the cunt over”)
The Liberal Democrats and British Labour Party don’t fare well either. In ‘Face To Faces’ he spits: “New build, new bricks, new methods, old tricks / Nick Clegg wants another chance / Really this daylight robbery is so fucking hateful" and on ‘In Quiet Streets’ snarls: “Miliband got hit with the ugly stick, not that it matters / The chirping cunt obviously wants the country in tatters”.
Barbed lyrics are just the beginning. Jason has gone on the record slagging off Kasabian, Miles Kane, Paul Weller and even mouth almighty Noel Gallagher who he deemed "an elitist apologist, a withered victim of luxury”.
Most recently at Glastonbury he poked fun at Slaves who had preceded them on the John Peel stage. “Did you enjoy the support band? Did you? Who was it? Take That?"
Did he bump into the rival act after his set?
“No, they were hanging about but I didn’t say anything, I’m not interested,” he shrugs. “I don’t like hobnobbing with other musicians too much, half of them are completely pointless. There tends to be a sea of egos at festivals, including myself, I’m not gonna lie.
“Festivals are sterile, I’m not really a big fan of them,” he adds. “I wanted to get in and out. The performance was good, I was happy with that and it was worth doing in terms of the promotional side of things. But I just disagree with that kind of set up completely, I’m not gonna embrace that when I get somewhere, that’d just be stupid.”
As well as Sleaford Mods duties Williamson has contributed to tracks by The Prodigy and Leftfield. “Liam Howlett emailed and asked me if I wanted to do it. I was really happy with the result.” Sleaford Mods’ output has been prodigious, with the duo releasing an album annually for the last five years.
“Yeah, after this one we’ll probably take a slightly longer break,” he muses. “I get the impression that we’ve been in the public consciousness a bit too much and I don’t want to overkill that.”
Never fear there’s no hint of the Mods changing course though.
“It’s really just about being able to bark out my grievances,” Willamson continues. “There’s so much banality out there and I think it’s important to critique that and to go against the consensus.“