IDLES respond to criticism over “all men” support line-ups

A fan suggested that having all-male support acts conflicted with the band's ethos.

IDLES have clarified that they have support acts with female-identifying members after a fan asked them why the band’s tour supports were “all men”.

Responding on Twitter, the band wrote, “No, not all male”, citing Miss June and City Rose for the New Zealand and Australia leg of their 2018 tour, and Life on their current tour.

They added: “We’ve also curated some bands for our @BRUISERaf after-parties in London that include Souer and Table Scraps (amongst other awesome bands).”

Twitter user @granolapooicide had suggested that having all-male support acts conflicted with the band’s ethos.

Read more: Idles: Snarling punk that encapsulates the state of the nation
In other IDLES news, the band was recently compelled to respond to the Sleaford Mods beef that saw Jason Williamson accuse the Bristol punks of ‘class appropriation’.

Speaking out last month, Williamson said that although he “quite liked” IDLES’ 2017 album Brutalism, some of its lyrics ended up offending him.

Guitarist Mark Bowen and singer Joe Talbot addressed Williamson’s accusations in an interview with The Sunday Times, saying: “If you’re angry about inequality, you have to preach equality as an alternative rather than go, ‘F*** you, you’re wrong’,” he said.

“Because you’re not going to get anywhere with that. The fact that we’re still talking about the same stuff punks were dealing with in the 1970s means that ‘F*** you’ thing didn’t work.”

“There’s no authenticity in just being a prick to everyone,” added Talbot.