Watch Idles Rip Through Cover of Beatles’ ‘Helter Skelter’ at Abbey Road Studios

British punks Idles delivered an explosive cover of the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” during a recent livestream performance at Abbey Road Studios in London.

The performance got off to an endearingly clunky start, with a few members of Idles flubbing their opening cues. But the band soon latched onto the relentless lead riff of “Helter Skelter” and proceeded to take what’s already one of the Beatles’ heaviest tracks to a place packed with ear-scratching feedback and ground-shaking drums. It was all capped off by the kind of howling vocal performance from Joe Talbot that can only be delivered — as he does — while writhing on the floor.

Idles’ cover of “Helter Skelter” closed their third and final set in a series of livestream performances delivered over Saturday, August 29th, and Sunday, the 30th. (The band even made some cheeky merch to mark shows, pairing a photo of the famed Abbey Road crosswalk with the caption “Haven’t been there, got the shirt.”) During the other two sets, the band covered the Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” and the Strokes’ “Reptilia,” while they also played a handful of songs from their upcoming album, Ultra Mono, out September 25th via Partisan.


Earlier this month, Idles shared an animated music video for one Ultra Mono cut, “Model Village,” directed by brothers Michel and Oliver Gondry.