S
o was Splendour In The Grass everything
you hoped or expected?
Yeah it was good. We played quite early and we
were really chuffed with the crowd considering.
We played on the main stage and it’s such a
good festival – I really do think that’s up there
with my favourite, I really enjoyed it.
Did the crowd really respond to the tracks
off your new album ‘My Love Is Cool’ (out
through Sony Music Australia, produced
by Mike Crossey who’s worked with Arctic
Monkeys and Foals) now it’s been out for a
few weeks?
Yeah a few – I saw some people singing words
to one song we haven’t played very much so
that was really cool, you know, being in Australia
so far away, so yeah it was really good.
Any songs in particular you really like
playing live?
Yeah I like playing Lisbon, You’re A Germ and
I always like playing Giant Peach – the more
heavy stuff is fun to play.
Love the film clip for Giant Peach by the way
– have you got a lot of feedback on the clip?
Oh gosh yeah, some people didn’t realise we
were joking and commenting being like ‘this
band are dickheads’ and we’re like ‘Oh shit,
yeah – that was the point!’.
That one shot of you staring down the
camera when you have the flute in the
forest – it’s so Hollywood intense!
Yeah, that shot has come back to haunt me
many times ha.
Highlights for you guys off stage? Did you
manage to bump into Blur backstage?
No I didn’t see them, I think they had their
own little private thing but we saw some other
guys, we saw the Tame Impala guys – they just
played an amazing show and I actually went
down a day early to watch Pond so yeah, it
was good vibes.
Did you get stuck in the mud?
Yeah a few times ha ha!
It must be nice to be at your stage where
you can walk through as a punter and not
get harassed, and catch other bands, and
then go back and play your set?
Yeah we’re at a good stage now.
You guys are all pretty youthful, still in your
20s – can you see yourselves doing the same
thing in your 30s and then 40s and beyond
like the guys from Blur. Do bands their age
still enjoying themselves and playing a solid
set give you a bit of ambition and drive and
a bit of a boost?
Yeah totally I think it’s really important that
you have older musicians who are still making
current music – I think there’s a lot of ageism
within the industry and it gives, makes you not
worry about that when you see … I always
look at older musicians like Nick Cave and PJ
Harvey and like that – they’re not really old by
any means.
Photo Braden Fletcher