Joe Talbot (musician)

Talbot was born in Newport, Wales and raised in Exeter, England. He met Idles bassist Adam Devonshire at sixth form college in Exeter, before moving to Bristol alongside Devonshire, where they studied at the St Matthias Campus of the University of the West of England and decided to start a band.[4] Following university, they went on to open the now-defunct Bat-Cave Night Club in Bristol.[5]

When he was 16, Talbot's mother had a stroke and was paralyzed, and after the death of his step-father, he became her primary caretaker, until her death in 2015. Her passing was followed two years later by the stillbirth of his daughter Agatha Talbot.[6] Talbot's mother and first daughter are primary subjects of Brutalism and Joy as an Act of Resistance respectively.

Talbot at Haldern Pop Festival 2017

Talbot has released three studio albums and many EPs and singles with Idles.[7] His music has been described as punk rock,[8] and post-punk,[9] especially due to its passionate nature and political lyrics, which have criticized right-wing news networks such as Fox News and The Sun,[7] (during the Joy tour, Talbot was known to shout "Don't read The Sun, it'll give you cancer" at shows before the closing song, Rottweiler) and outlined social issues such as depression, white privilege,[10] and toxic masculinity.[11] However, Talbot has rejected all of these genre labels. In 2017, he was quoted saying: "We're not a post-punk band. I guess we have that motorik, engine-like drive in the rhythm section that some post-punk bands have but we have plenty of songs that aren't like that at all."[12] At a 2018 concert in Manchester, he said: "for the last time, we're not a fucking punk band".[13]

Talbot appears on the track Wish on Anna Calvi's fourth full-length album Hunted.[14] In 2020, he collaborated with Jehnny Beth for her debut solo album, To Love Is to Live: he co-wrote and recorded vocals on the track "How Could You". Talbot also sang guest vocals for fellow Bristolians Turbowolf on the track Capital X from their 2018 album The Free Life.

Additionally, he is the subject of the song Blood Brother, by Bristol-based band Heavy Lungs, whose vocalist Danny Nedelko is the namesake and subject of the fourth track on Idles' second record Joy as an Act of Resistance.[15]

He cites The Strokes, The Streets, Thom Yorke, Battles, The Walkmen, Joy Division, The Horrors, and The Fall as influences.[16][17]

He is married to Beth Talbot, with whom he has a daughter.[18]