'THE APOCALYPSE HAS ALREADY HAPPENED'

Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson has been the genius, foul-mouthed voice of working-class Britain for more than a decade— now he’s eyeing up the fate of the planet.

- Martin Robinson

Stockpile your beans, build your bunker, arm yourself to the teeth, the apocalypse is not now, it was last week. “We're living in the post-apocalypse,” insists Jason Williamson at the Rough Trade offices in Notting Hill.

The Sleaford Mods frontman, a much friendlier, warmer character than appearances — and, well, his words — might suggest, is mulling over the world events which have informed the band’s new doomsday concept album, The Demise of Planet X.

“Planet X is a conspiracy theory,” he explains. “Where a planet either collides with Earth or glides by but causes massive climate repercussions. But it’s like it's already happened. We've already been laid to waste. Now what have we got? Much is the same. Artisan Scotch eggs are still being baked, Pret's still open, but everyone's on tenterhooks. You know when you press your finger on your phone screen your apps start shaking? People are like that, aren't they.”

Actually, Sleaford Mods have been wearing sandwich boards declaring the end is nigh for years. Originally from Grantham, not Sleaford, Williamson and producer/instrumentalist Andrew Fearn have been a soundtrack to the UK's “enshittification” since 2013’s Austerity Dogs. A gonzo shoestring electro-punk-hip-hop underpinned Williamson's Johnny Rotten meets Wu-Tang invective, as they operated as lone working-class voices calling out social and economic collapse. Tracks like Jobseeker, detailing Williamson's gig economy experiences, and a blitz of furious, hilarious, obscene albums followed.

By the time of Spare Ribs, a hit album during lockdown, they were so on the zeitgeist they were practically mainstream. Iggy Pop devoted whole 6Music shows to them. They were touchstones to young acts like Dry Cleaning and Amyl and the Sniffers. Damon Albarn, The Prodigy and Robbie Williams declared worship. Robert Downey Jr too.