You made some of the best new music I saw at the Great Escape festival. How was it playing there?
Great Escape is a good thing to do, there's always people there and most of the time it's people who've never seen you before which is how we like it. It was a bit if a blur cus we did 4 shows in 2 days and drank a lot but we had fun.
I saw you at the Sound Republic party. Did the different gigs vary?
Yeah, every show's different I guess. We enjoyed that courtyard. In those situations everything's pretty rushed but I kinda like the chaos.
It was good to finally hear some strong politics from the stage, just like the old days …. Tell me what you write about, and how that fits with your often delicate and calming music
We tend to write about things relevant to us. Whether it's about politics or just things we find funny, or disturbing, about human behaviour. I think we're really failed social scientists disillusioned with society at heart. It can sound a bit morbid but once you accept how things are and forge your own little space and morals out it's not so bad. I dunno how it fits in with the music but we usually know when something's right.
Many of your songs are very catchy/hypnotic – I am still humming Nite Life - and could become very popular. Is that an aim? How would you cope with success?
I think every artist wants their work to reach and affect as many people as possible and if they say anything different they're talking shit. I like music that has hooks and I like music that conveys an emotion without lyrical content. I think our lyrics might hinder mainstream success but f*ck it, if it happens then great. I dunno how we'd handle being successful, it's funny cus I've honestly never wanted to be "famous", I think I'd like to be respected for our work but I don't think we'd be any good at being spotted in the street etc, we'd probably end up tellin people to f*ck off.
Amazing videos. Tell me about those
Erm... To be honest I'm not a very visual person so the videos are usually left to the label and directors. All I do is turn up, look like a twat and then watch it once when it's finishes, cringe and pretend it doesn't exist.
Also great to see your punk side project Get Hot…
Ha yeah, it's good to vent sometimes. Get Hot is ridiculous but it's a great excuse to hang out with people we like.
Any upcoming gigs/festivals?
We're doin Bestival and at the moment that's the only thing in the diary. Keep an eye out though cus we're plannin on doin a fair bit after the summer.
And finally, please recommend one of your own tracks and one by another artist, for our readers pleasure
By us I'd say Utopia. It's angry and we really like it even if other people don't. Someone else I'd say 'Alive in the Septic Tank' by Clarence Clarity. It's ridiculous.
Questions from Kevin Hand - @Kevinhand3