As the UK’s festival circuit returns after a two-year hiatus, rock and roll stars across the board are dusting off their leather jackets and plugging in their amps as they return to the fields for a long-awaited season of live music.
This Friday, June 24, indie superstars Foals will be taking to Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage to blast hits old and new into the screaming crowd with Jack Bevan bringing the noise on drums.
The drummer, one third of the Oxford-formed outfit, is at home in the kitchen as he is on a headline stage. His lockdown project saw him team up with cult condiment-maker Sauce Shop to create his idea of the perfect hot sauce, christened Holy Fire Hot Honey.
Oozing luxuriously from the bottle, the dark sauce is a combination of sweet and sour with habanero chilli bringing fire to the proceedings and sweet honey acting as the kiss after the kick.
The sauce is part of Foals official merch as they hit the road on their new UK tour. We collared Bevan for a quick chat about how cooking is the new rock n roll.
Food is clearly your passion, after music. What inspired you to collaborate with Sauce Shop?
I spent a lot of time in lockdown experimenting with cooking and getting kind of obsessed, so to be able to create a product from scratch like this is really cool. I’ve always loved hot sauce and was fascinated with these shops in the US that just sell hot sauce and have all different kinds of flavour profiles and ingredients.
Hot sauce is definitely becoming a bigger thing over here now, and once I discovered Sauce Shop (their Buffalo Hot Sauce is so good). I was a big fan and have been buying their products for some time now. It’s actually a bit of a dream to have created Holy Fire Hot Honey with them.
What do you recommend slathering Holy Fire Hot Honey on?
Holy Fire Hot Honey goes really well with a variety of foods, I’ve tried it on all sorts now. My favourite would be covering pizza, chicken wings or anything barbecued with it. I’ve been interested in hot honey and whilst our product is a hot sauce, it’s technically a hot honey because it’s 60 per cent honey with a habanero chilli. It’s spicy and fruity but really sweet as well. You have to work with the sweetness but it compliments so many other flavours.
Can we expect more Foals food launches?
There’s nothing on the horizon, but that’s not to say there won’t be in the future. The collaboration with Sauce Shop has been a passion project that has aligned perfectly with our tour of the new album, and we’ve been able to add Holy Fire Hot Honey to our merch, so it would take something special to follow this launch.
What’s your most used kitchen appliance or cooking tool?
It’s a toss up between my KitchenAid stand mixer and my Instant Pot. I make my own butter a lot in the KitchenAid as well as pasta dough and cake batter etc, but I use the Instant Pot for making rice congee, slow cooking meat and stews a lot too.
Festival season is back in full force for the first time in two years. Which one are you most looking forward to this summer and why?
It’s got to be Latitude, we’re so excited to be playing there again. It was the first major festival we ever headlined and it has grown a lot since we were last there.
What are your three must-have travel essentials while on tour and why?
I bring my Nintendo Switch everywhere. I’m big into RPGs and it’s a great way to kill time on the road. I take my Apple Airpod Pros everywhere too - I cycle a lot and because of the ambient mics I can listen to the road and a bit of music and directions at the same time.
My last one is a steamer - all my shirts get creased in my suitcase so I always need to steam them before a show.
What piece of tech couldn’t you do without?
I’ve had a Brompton for years but they’ve just recently upgraded me to a T Line. It’s an unbelievable bit of gear. So light and it means I can get out and about easily and explore cities wherever I am.
