Jehnny Beth is a true visionary. As the frontperson of Savages, the post-punk band who helped transform the music scene of London and beyond for the duration of the 2010s, she has helped pave the way for numerous bands that followed. Since Savages began their indefinite hiatus in 2017, Beth has been active in multiple cultural spheres, balancing her solo career with acting, erotic short story writing, and hosting a music show on French channel ARTE that has helped spotlight the biggest acts of today. In preparation for a headline show at YES in March, Beth discussed her new record, its influences, and her experiences in the music scenes of both London and Manchester.
In June 2020, Beth released her debut solo record TO LOVE IS TO LIVE, an album which incorporates elements of art-rock and art-pop. Her latest release You Heartbreaker, You, however, leans more towards industrial noise rock and nu-metal. “It was a conscious decision”, Beth affirms. “I was on tour with Queens of the Stone Age in America when I had the idea for the record, and I had this strange experience on stage. The best I can describe it is the opposite of an out of body experience, which means that you're going back into your body. I was just suddenly awake, and the connection with the crowd created that change, that shift. And then I suddenly had a vision”.
“Being on tour in America at that time, which would be two or three years ago now, it felt that rock music was going to come back, and was going to take a turn with Korn headlining festivals I was playing and Turnstile on the rise. I saw all those bands, Scowl too, and my friends in Enola Gay from Ireland. I just felt that it was all that music I loved, even Deftones, that was meant to come back. I'm not saying that I was trying to follow a trend at all, it was more of an influence, it was in the air and sort of got into my bones. And then when I started writing with [longtime creative and romantic partner] Johnny Hostile, there was a particular record that stuck with me by an American band from New York called Quicksand. The last record they released was called Distant Populations, and it was one of those perfect records that you find: perfect in sound, intention, and meaning. That was the sound I wanted to find, or get closer to in a way”. “You Heartbreaker, You does have tints of nu-metal, but what Quicksand are very specific about is the mix of New York hardcore from the late eighties and early nineties. But they incorporated the shoegaze renaissance of that time in England, which then led to their first record Split. And then that led to Deftones and all those kinds of nu-metal bands with very seductive guitars. I think TO LOVE IS TO LIVE was my first attempt to get out of the post-punk that was very much Savages, I wanted to explore other avenues. TO LOVE IS TO LIVE was more of an exploration of different types of songwriting, more towards film soundtrack. It took on the sound of this complex journey”.
On ‘Out of My Reach’, one of the highlights of You Heartbreaker, You, Beth asks “how can it be so complex? I just want to see you undressed”, referencing PJ Harvey’s ‘This is Love’. “I completely stole it from her”, Beth admits. “There are a few things like that on the record, there was some Alice in Chains things that I wanted to use as well. “You haven't found a way to kill me yet” is a line from ‘Rooster’ by Alice in Chains. We all do it, I think for me it's important to bring in the people that I feel are pillars in my musical journey and they help me hold the castle together. PJ Harvey has been a friend for many years now, she came to the first Savages shows and became a sort of supporter, and also mentor for years now. So to bring her in feels like my own version of sampling. Nobody’s asked for the rights yet, but maybe they will now from this interview”.
Beth has always been transparent about her influences, and recently performed at the British Library for the ten-year anniversary event of David Bowie's death. She cites Bowie as an influence “for different reasons in different times of my life. When I was a teenager and I discovered Bowie, what really blew my mind was I realised that you could quote Jean Genet or other literature and be cool. That was part of my education, part of my growing up. And then obviously there was the shifting of identity, strongly male but also with a touch of femininity; you could never really place him. And I think that that's something I've always felt close to in my personal life and in my artistic outputs as well. In a way, I wanted to be represented, or represent myself”.
“That day was about Blackstar at the British Library, they asked me to write an introductory text about the album, and then they asked me to perform. It was kind of a dream day, I just felt like I was floating in space performing songs like ‘Girl Loves Me’ and ‘Dollar Days’ with Donny [McCaslin], who played saxophone on Blackstar, and recorded that record with Bowie in the studio. It was just fucking mind blowing to do it, those songs are incredible. ‘Girl Loves Me’ is invented language, he used a mix of Polari and Nadsat. Polari is an old English queer street language, like a slang and you can find books of it if you want to learn the expressions. He mixed that with Nadsat, which is the language in A Clockwork Orange, so I had to learn that and how to translate it. Even in the last months of his life he was inventing, it’s very inspiring”.
Since launching her solo career, Beth’s only Manchester appearances have been supporting IDLES on their 2022 Ultra Mono tour. However, Savages played six shows in the city during their time as a band, something Beth looks back on as “one of the best times I’ve ever had with the band”. “I can't remember the name of the venue, but there was an amphitheatre, sort of cathedral-style of place where we played”, presumably Albert Hall, where the group performed in February 2026.
“It’s a really magical place, but also we've always had a wider audience in Manchester for some reason. O2 Victoria Warehouse with IDLES was a really good show as well, that was an incredible tour. I also know that every Manchester show I've played, Morrissey has been in the audience, but I've never met him. But I also think that's alright, I've heard he’s a very nice man but I don't think we share the same political views. I do respect his writing, and Johnny Marr came to our shows a lot and even lent us a guitar for the second Savages record. I met him a few times, he's incredible”.
Since 2020, Beth has also hosted ECHOES, a music show which has spotlighted artists such as Wet Leg and Fontaines D.C. before their rise. “Kneecap’s first television performance was with us, and on the last episode we had Fcukers. They’re about to release a record, and they're going to be huge. They already are. Die Spitz as well are incredible. I just have to set a side note about the programming on ECHOES, it’s Johnny Hostile who does it, and he has the knack for finding the next big things. Even Geese did ECHOES, and now look at look at what they're doing. I think ECHOES has become a landmark for the bands that blow up after. Even Amyl and the Sniffers, we had to cancel twice with them, but we were supposed to have them a good few years before they became who they are now, and they did the last show with Fcukers.”
When asked how she balances so many different creative facets, Beth stated “I do and I don't. It depends, but I'm the kind of person who likes movement, it helps my creativity. I like to meet to work with a variety of people, especially when I admire their work. Last year, for instance, I was in the middle of planning the release of the record and I was called to do a movie in Brazil for a month, and it felt at the time that it was impossible to do it, but when I did it, it was possible, and everything's possible if you want to do things. Music demands a lot of focus, it demands that you are truly present and as an artist, that you are here and not somewhere else. So I try to be conscious of that and to privilege my intention and my focus for what it demands”.
“I think performance is my first love. The first time I was on stage, I was four years old, because my father was a theatre director and we went on tour in Russia for several weeks. I had a small part in the play and I remember that life as being what I wanted my life to resemble later on, which it kind of has. Being on tour with family and being on stage feels very much where I’m freest, and I'm better in life when I can be on stage as well. Being on stage demands a lot, it demands sacrifices because it takes a lot out of you, but I know that I'm better from doing it. Anything good for you hurts first”.
At the beginning of the year, Beth facilitated the release of ‘Paranoid / Prayer’ as a double single to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Adore Life, the second and final album from Savages. “If it enables people to remember the band, then I think it's positive”, she states. “I think Savages had such an impact when it existed, it influenced a lot of young bands who are active now. It even started bands, I read that the Irish band Sprints started because of a Savages show. When we started we were in a time where people were saying rock music was dead, it was before IDLES and Fontaines D.C. arrived, and the music scene in London felt very boring and quite twee, to be honest, and very safe”.
“The only band I liked at the time was a Japanese Dadaist punk band called Bo Ningen, and you would actually be scared for your life when you went to see them play because they'd be swinging their guitars around, it was incredible. I become really good friends with them and I used to go to all their shows, I just fell in love with them. So when we started Savages, I had this need for a band that I couldn't see anywhere else. And it turned out that at the time, the only people who could hold a flame in London were a bunch of women and Japanese guys with long hair”.
Beth herself might not be making Japanese Dadaist punk music, but You Heartbreaker, You is nevertheless a modern rock masterpiece. Post-Savages, Beth has carved a place for herself in a variety of genres, industries, and creative spaces, and doesn’t show any sign of slowing down. She wears her influences proudly on her sleeve, but also isn’t afraid to applaud her own successes, displaying a confidence that is very much needed in the music industry of today. Everything Beth does is exciting, and if the live reputation gained by Savages during their time is anything to go by, her own solo show at YES is not one to be missed.
https://open.spotify.com/album/7tr3cQyR38oOHQzIVwZ3IY?si=PuchoegMS9-MFLmHe7Petw
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