Idles guitarist Lee Kiernan on sick mics and sh*t keyboards

After a short-lived relationship with a ‘shitty’ Casio keyboard and an even briefer encounter with the bass (which he ‘hated’), Lee Kiernan arrived at the guitar, the instrument he now wields for raucous megaband, Idles.

Lee and his bandmates have just followed up their 2018 Q Award with a Brit Awards nomination for ‘British Breakthrough Act’. A sell-out world tour, a controversial and much talked about appearance on Later with Jools and chart success with their latest album ‘Joy as an Act of Resistance’ all adds up to a whirlwind couple of years for the Bristol-based band.

Lee and his fellow Idles first encountered Aston mics when the producer Paul Fraser bought his Aston Spirits along to the recordings for ‘Joy as an Act of Resistance’. The band have been using them ever since, with Spirits, Starlights and Origins all featuring at their live shows.

“It's amazing how the Spirit should be just a recording mic, but it works so well live as well. It's absolutely spot on. Everything about Aston mics is sick. They look sick and they sound sick.” said Lee. 

Read our full interview with guitarist Lee Kiernan here.