Festival Q&A:
Skinny Lister

Who else are you excited to see?
It’s always fun to hang out with our label mates Beans on Toast and Will Varley. There’s normally a huge amount of booze consumed when we’re all together so that’ll be good and no doubt we’ll share a few whilst watching The Stanglers and Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip. We recently saw the latter perform with James Yorkston and KT Tunstall, which was a great gig!

What’s your best festival memory?
As a punter I really enjoyed a late night treasure hunt at Secret Garden Party. We were in pursuit of ingredients for a mojito cocktail. A helium balloon was tied to our wrists and the object of the game was to keep that in one piece whilst seeking out the ingredients. We were chased and rugby tackled by terrifying zombies, quizzed by witches around a fire, took part in an interactive play involving the birth of a demon and it all felt pretty real at 3am! It was so funny to see Dan taking out poor civilians in the quest for a refreshing drink. Hopefully nobody got hurt in our desperation to succeed!

What are your festival essentials?
I’ve been known to turn up to Glastonbury with just my handbag so I don’t need a great deal, to be honest. I do have a coat called Frank, aptly named after Frank Gallagher from Shameless. Whenever that coat goes on you know it’s time to party.

How does playing a festival differ from playing your own gig?
I actually joined the band to get into festivals for free. Before being in a band and getting in legitimately I’ve been known to break the occasional entry – not that I recommend this! It’s good to support people’s efforts to put on such a massive party! The band even used to get into festivals with our instruments and play in the pathways if we didn’t have an actual gig. Things are a bit different now! Having played main stages at gigs like Coachella in California and Hurricane and Southside in Germany it’s a much more professional (ish) affair. The crowds are great though.

What’s your favourite part of playing a festival?
It’s a great chance to play in front of new people that haven’t heard of you before but are hellbent on having a good time. A great environment for fun. I love just walking around the festival arena soaking up the creative environment.