Sleaford Mods and Stewart Lee at Rough Trade

An audience member asked Andrew (Fearn) and Jason (Williamson) what gives them cause for hope in such dark times. Jason offered, “I dunno, trainers?” Lee then reflected on how, since covid lockdowns, people seem to need arts and culture more than ever. There had been earlier exchanges about how Sleaford Mods are “necessary’, and then Stewart Lee the comedian, writer, serious music fan, bitterly astute commentator and this event’s discussant just ‘nailed it’ with these words:

So, what was this event? On Tuesday 13 January, Rough Trade hosted a discussion between Sleaford Mods and Stewart Lee, a sold-out small gathering consisting of a conversation between them and then a question-and-answer session with the audience. With their new album The Demise of Planet X out on 16 January, three days after this, the focus was on the trajectory of SM over nearly two decades and how this new album shifts the dial, how the duo are growing but also how much of the essence of the ‘format’ and their approach to making music and performing live can scale up without changing. 

Lee was the questioner and chair and although he is embarking soon on another endless tour (Stewart Lee vs The Man Wolf) this was all about Sleaford Mods and his approach was that of an analytical fan, albeit fused throughout with his deconstructive comedy. The discussion covered Andrew’s presence on stage as a conduit for the audience, how his laptop was more famous, the bizarre rationale for Jason’s savage attacks on the likes of Johnny Marr and Razorlight, and affectionately savage mocking from Lee about Jason’s attacks on Idles.

When Andrew started to dance around on stage, coming out of lockdowns with a different energy, he said some people didn’t like it, and Lee mused “we’ve paid to see him stand still and press a button” – this felt similar to how he projects his audience’s misunderstandings during his own act.  Lee asked Jason whether he uses his drama background to be in character on stage, and was told no, it’s just “like walking into the living room in a really bad mood” and about the risk of cliché – “sometimes my limitations are just there and you have to accept it.”

Citing the now decade old documentary “A Bunch of Kunst’, the theme of how such a precise and unexpansive approach to studio work has been able to stay in place was explored. The range of collaborations on the new album, working with Ben Wheatley, the already legendary Bodega night, the scale of touring, and then landing on the winning formula being that the pair don’t need solo careers because they already have them in Sleaford Mods. Going all the way back to the beginning, the now well-rehearsed story of how Jason and Andrew got together, another classic Lee conclusion, deadpan – “you need to make up a better story than that.

There were a few moments when the three shared common experiences and perceptions, most notably about feeling an obligation now to make art about broader themes, again ‘in these times’ – in Lee’s words, “you’re a trusted brand now”.

When the audience were invited to ask questions, the sense of a community who have lived with the Mods’ journey was apparent, as the Kebab Spider video was discussed, for which many of the extras were present. Related, Lee took the conversation directly to Nottingham, promoting Jason to think aloud about how the early craft that set the template was about combining the rhythmic influence of Wu Tang Clan with the discursive timing of local drug dealers and how, something about being tied up in Nottz is about ‘black comedy all the time’.

The Demise of Planet X is out on Friday 16 January 2026. Sleaford Mods play at Rock City on 27 and 28 January 2026.