“This is insane. It’s amazing,” says a stunned Marius Paxcows, frontman for Future Idiots.
Last week the four-piece Swedish punk-pop band released an album that would unwittingly land them in them in the hot seat with Blink-182 fans worldwide. After releasing three albums of original material, Future Idiots recorded Neighborhoods & Morningwoods, covering Blink-182′s 2011 album “Neighborhoods” in its entirety.
Just days after releasing the record, the foursome found their name all over international music press. It appears that Blink-182 fans fall into two categories; those who appreciate the cover album and those that believe it is sacrilege.
Outrage over Future Idiots’ cover can largely be attributed to a written statement that accompanied the album’s release.
“To put it succinctly, the reason behind recording this album was to demonstrate how the original record should have sounded. That’s not a slight towards Blink-182 either. The fact that fans were disappointed with Blink’s latest album shows the kind of high standards that the Future Idiots and the fans hold the legendary trio to.”
“I know that that sentence came out a bit wrong,” confessed Paxcows to CBS Local via phone this morning.”That was a bit cocky, I know.” Having met the wrath of Blink fans, the singer says the above statement was not theirs, explaining it’s not the way it [the album] should sound, it’s the way it could sound.”
Formed in 2005 with three original releases under their belts, Future Idiots are known locally as Blink-182 fans, often covering the pop-punk legends. “The idea was born because lots of people were writing to us saying please cover those songs and make them sound like old Blink-182. It’s not like we came up with it. It’s more of a request,” explained Paxcows.
According to the singer, many Blink-182 fans have been “hateful,” saying that the main problem is that many believe his band doesn’t have the “rights to do this” and “Blink-182 should sue you, they should should end your career!”
Blink diehards, unfamiliar with the recording industry have mistakenly claimed what Future Idiots have done is illegal. Providing that lyrics are unaltered and licensing fees are paid, any artist can cover an other artist, legally.
After fans of both bands expressed criticism about Future Idiots selling the cover album, band representatives took to Facebook saying “the hate towards selling the album is weird. There was hundreds of hours put into the record by the guys in the band and myself. Also, there’s an incredible amount of money that gets put into cover albums. We’re barely going to break even on it, so yes, we’re selling it.”
When asked if Future Idiots would perform the album live in concert, Paxcows pondered for moment, “That is nothing that we had planned but if people want us to do that, of course we would. We never thought we would get this big of a response.”
–Jay Tilles, CBS Local
