Festival Q&A:
The Moods

Who else are you excited to see?
The variety of music at this year’s Rec Rock Festival is great. As well as many different type of bands there are also performance poets. Being from Manchester and hanging around the music scene, I’ve come across Salford’s own, JB Barrington, a fresh up-to-date working class poet of the spoken word. He is deffo on my list to go and watch and considering acts are being added to the line-up all the time it’s going to be an exciting weekend.

What’s your best festival memory?
Having been to many festivals over years, it’s funny – I don’t hold too many memories of them. Watching Faithless as the sun went down over V Festival springs to mind and watching REM at T in the Park was one to remember. But somewhere between watching bands, having a few drinks, dancing in and out of rave tents, chatting and meeting new people, the festival as a whole becomes a bit of a haze. Knowing you had a good time is the important thing. Remembering it is the hard part.

What are your festival essentials?
Carved turnip
2 litre bottle of Tequila
9 Cadbury’s Creme Eggs
Fire extinguisher
Football socks
Camping chair
Rizla, lighter, tobacco
Cheeseboard, cheese knife and fruit
Scotch eggs.

How does playing a festival differ from playing your own gig?
Playing your own gig differs massively from playing a festival because if you’re playing your own gig indoors at a set time you kind of only have to worry about being ready to perform when the time comes. We as The Moods love everything about playing a festival – wondering if our tour bus is gonna turn up, if we have packed all the equipment and band members, trying to get to the venue, which is usually in the middle of nowhere, getting all your gear to the right stage, hoping there is time for a soundcheck. Our band love the chaos of a festival. The step into the unknown works perfectly for us as well, as most festival goers are already geared up for a good time and good music so the energy between the band and crowd is already high.

What’s your favorite part of playing a festival?
Our favourite part about playing a festival is playing to a new crowd that has probably never heard or seen you before. And meeting fellow musicians and performers backstage is always a good experience.