IDLES Take No.1 Spot in Album Charts

Massive congratulations are in order for BIMM Bristol Alumni Jon Beavis and staff member Lee Kiernan, both members of the all-conquering IDLES. The band have stormed into the charts this week and have secured Friday’s UK Number 1 album spot – managing to outsell the rest of the Top 5 combined on the midweek Official Albums Chart Update.

Ultra Mono – IDLES’ third studio album – has been powered heavily by physical sales, not only confirming that vinyl isn’t dead, but also proving that we’re in the middle of a post-punk revival, and Bristolian rockers IDLES are the powerhouse driving it. Ultra Mono is their first chart-topping album. Their 2018 Hyundai Mercury Prize-nominated album Joy as an Act of Resistance peaked at Number 5.

In an interview with the BBC, frontman Joe Talbot states that their latest album Ultra Mono is a development of “the conversation we started with our audience”, in which IDLES continue to undercut their rowdy aesthetic to tackle social issues around masculinity, vulnerability, class and grief. This latest release also tackles themes of self-growth and self-acceptance:

“If you really truly start to understand yourself, and you start to love yourself, you’ll have the confidence to listen and love others, and use empathy as a way of killing fascism”

BIMM Bristol’s Principal, Hannah Phipps, had this to add:

‘A massive congratulations from us all here at BIMM Bristol. IDLES are a real example to others about perseverance and hard work paying off in the music industry. In particular, we want to say a huge well done to Jon, as one of our former students, and to Lee, as part of our staff family here at BIMM Institute. We look forward to welcoming all the guys back in for another Masterclass soon to share even more of their experiences with our current students.”

Find out more about our Alumni and their successes, here.