Robert Ackroyd
Most famous for: Playing guitar for Florence and the Machine, and “dating” Katy Perry briefly
A
s the guitarist for Florence + the Machine, Rob
Slash last summer [2010] when Florence + the
Ackroyd has had a whirlwind few years. From
Machine shared a festival bill with him".
the beginning of the band's formation, where
Florence was, Rob was. He's never been missing at any
set, whether arena or small acoustic. Without Rob, the
Florence + the Machine, surprisingly, was the first
band isn't the same. His career with the band and
band Rob played with. Until he met Flo, he was, "at
literal relationship with the music industry have no
best, a bedroom guitar player".
doubt changed him from the man that Florence met
"We met through mutual friends and it was fortunate
six and a half years ago.
timing as Florence was looking to expand her gig.
Other than Matt Allchin of Rum Shebeen, Flo had
been almost singing acapella as her act", Rob told
Gibson guitars.
Florence’s manager later linked her up with various
producers in London in order to get some ideas
recorded. One of the first sessions was with Stephen
Street. Rob was working for a production company in
Soho at the time, so had to sneak out with his guitar
hidden to go and record with Florence. How did he
truly become part of the machine though? Mairead
Nash, Florence’s manager, called Rob one morning
and invited him down to the studio whilst Florence was
recording vocal takes on an early version of “Bird
Song.” Dev Hynes (Lightspeed Champion) and Rich
Mitchell (Chapel Club) were both in attendance
playing guitar and drums respectively, and Rob ended
up playing ukulele. "Real cool!" says reminiscing Rob.
He and Flo have always been close (some fans often
From a young child, Rob was always into guitar. It was
allude to a more intimate relationship), but that's
the likes of Izzy Stradlin and Slash that really
simply because they were the originals. Rob has
glamorized the guitar for Rob though. They got Sky
supported Florence from the start, and has even carried
TV in the Ackroyd household quite early for two
her on and off stage after injuring her foot in Australia!
reasons: The Simpsons and MTV.
"In the early ’90s it seemed like every weekend was
Guns N’ Roses weekend on MTV and I was galvanized
by Slash. I (kind of) fulfilled my dream of meeting
THE FLOW MAGAZINE ISSUE 6 | APRIL 2014
14 | P a g e