Introduction
If you haven’t yet stumbled across the electrifying sound of Fomies, consider this your official wake-up call. The Swiss surf-punk psych-rock band has been pushing musical boundaries since 2017 — blending fuzz-drenched riffs, hypnotic grooves, and a DIY spirit that’s impossible to ignore.
With seven albums in just eight years and their latest record “Liminality” turning heads across the underground scene, Fomies are proving that relentless creativity still thrives in modern rock. We sat down with the band to talk about their unstoppable work ethic, their fantasy-inspired artwork, and the journey behind their ever-evolving sound.
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Interview
Inside Fomies’ Work Ethic & Creative Process
I’d love to first talk about your incredible work ethic… seriously 7 albums in an 8 year span of time is serious devotion. What is the secret to getting so much music out there but also keeping the quality?
Time haha, we did a lot of recording during Covid, a few of us were still studying at this period so we had a bit of time. Now it has changed a bit with all the touring and our jobs on the side. We’re in a situation where we just can’t live with off of our music.
It also takes much more time that than before but we’re figuring it out. Musically speaking we do a lot of jams and try to record everything. Sometimes I come with riff and we jam around that, Jacob also has some cool bass lines, anyway we just try to play a lot during rehearsal or during residency. It depends of the mood and if we have gigs to prepare.
Local Scene, Community & Inspiration
This is becoming my new favourite question… Can you name a few local bands that we really need to check out?
Definitely SGATV, one of our favourite bands from Switzerland, there’s also Beurre, Mord Fuzztang, Doom! Noo Yelbek, Leopardo, Sun Cousto, Zayk, Chaufau, Batbait, I mean there’s so many great and hard-working bands here that’s don’t get enough recognition, that’s crazy.
The Fantasy Worlds Behind Their Album Artwork
The artwork for your albums is varied and without a doubt some of the best I have come across… Who comes up with the ideas of what each album cover should look like?
Thanks a lot! We usually reach out to artists we like and that’s simple, we send the tracks and give them « carte blanche ». There are a few discussions but that’s it. We like to see what they imagine listening to our music.
We’re super fans of fantasy worlds such as Lord of the Rings, the Magic card game, The Witcher, or video games like Fallout. The artwork and lore in these are crazy and we try to replicate this with our covers. Yeah, we’re geeks, fun fact when we drive into a Mountain pass, we play the Howard Shore theme (LOTR) in the car lol.
Read our interview with Cam Cole and find out how he went from busker to superstar!
Evolving Their Surf-Punk Psych-Rock Sound
If someone was to take a deep dive all the way back to your first album. Which song would you recommend they check out and why?
For the first album, our self-tilted, I’d say Fungus, the rest is dogshit haha. We don’t like going back on old stuff like this, we were too young when we recorded that lol.
The logical follow up to that is how do you think your sound has developed over time since that album?
Much more fuzz and a lot of listening to sleep! The gear helped but Patrick the synth player came for Reversal, it changed our sound a lot. Also the way we play changed by listening to other things than super-fast punk music.
Your 2022 album included a little gem of a song “Ego Trip”. I’d love to know though in your time within the music industry, would you be able to describe a small story of a time someone had a bad ego trip around you. (No need for names!)
Woaf, there’s a lot here in Switzerland. We worked with people who thought they were right about everything, and these ones were not that friendly, I don’t know why we did that but we quickly stopped. Now we’re lucky to have such great people working with us, that’s a dream !
The Fun Side: Cocktails, Jokes & Fuzz
If Fomies were to create a cocktail what would it be called , and more importantly what song of yours would you recommend people have in the background while sipping it!
It would be a Long Island Iced Tea with dry ice, we could call this “the Door of Durin”! And for the song I would say The Onion Man, super happy of this one! You’ll have a huge hangover though.
From “Reversal” your 2021 album I can’t get enough of that fuzz at the start of “The Endless Joke”. I want to know though what is the funniest joke you have ever heard?
This, when we recorded that song, our super friendly sound tech Gerard told us “Is that a joke” when we first played the demo of this song hahah, then we changed it a bit and it became the song you know now!
What are the ingredients to a perfect Fomies song?
We don’t know, we don’t have these ingredients yet!
Future Plans, Tours & Dream Collaborations
“Lakeside Fever” sounds both excellent as in the song, but also a terrible holiday! I’d love to know if you could travel the world for anything music related (A show/festival/ musical pilgrimage) where would it be and why?
Not so much now because we take our vacations to tour haha. We don’t have artist recognition in Switzerland and that sucks. But we love that festival Beaches Brew on a beach in Italy, and its free! We saw King Gizzard, Osees, Ty Segall, Kikagaku Moyo, man what a time, no bullshit.
Read our interview with Suzi Quatro! Find out all about her tour next year.
Finally we come to your most recent album “Limitations” on that album the 2nd song “Reflections” has had serious attention! I would love for you to break down the song for us, what inspired it etc? Also why do you think its hit off the way it has ?
It started as a joke jam first and then it stayed for some reasons, super simple stuff and we enjoy playing it. We try to do a lot of different part in a song, looks like it’s not worth it then if these 3 notes riffs got this much attention lol. I don’t know how it got there, maybe because it’s simple, for the not so crazy minds, I don’t know!
I’m intrigued, why was Colossus split into 3 parts?
We thought it was better for listeners, we had all these parts in one song but we felt it was too much for some brains, so we split it. I think we made the right choice but maybe one day we’ll make a giant song and have our own Dopesmoker who knows. If you got the vinyl, it feels just like one song though, so buuuuy it !!!
I guess if we follow the same album timeline we are looking at 2026 or 2027 for the next album. Do you have any ideas at all about what that looks like or something you can tell us about it?
We have a few ideas yes, but we have prioritized touring over recording this year. We’ll try to write during the winter, we’ll see how it goes! But we don’t want to have a super precise agenda for composing and stuff.
A fun one to end things! If you could pick anyone dead or alive to jam with the band for a day who would it be and why?
Easy, Ozzy, he’s just the best.
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