Latitude 2009 Preview: Dear Reader Interview

2009 has been a pretty great year so far for South-African collective Dear Reader.

A new record by the name of Replace With Why Funny, an ever growing fan-base and a Summer full of Festival dates, it seems the band are finally fully gaining the recognition they deserve. 

We've been fans of their alt-folk sound for sometime now and so when we heard they were playing at this years Latitude, we just had to catch up with them and fire a few questions their way. 

Here's what they had to say:

Strange Glue: You seem to be playing quite a few festival dates this summer, are you looking forward to anything in particular about Latitude or do you think that most of the festivals are similar and therefore hard to find exciting?

Dear Reader: Ha! I wonder if anyone would actually answer the latter? (Maybe bob dylan would...) Latitude is special for us because it's our first ever festival outside of South Africa, and so we have no idea what to expect. Also because we're hoping to see Regina Spektor play (and she is someone i mightily respect.) And because apparently not only are there sheep, but they are painted strange colours.

SG: Are there any bands that you wish to catch or is time too tight?

DR: I'm not exactly sure what our schedule is - we'll find out when we touch down tomorrow and meet up with our tour manager. But we're hoping to catch Doves, Passion Pit, Bat for Lashes, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and hopefully a bunch of new things we are yet to love...

SG: Do you think you'll be visiting any of the other interactive events the festival has to offer, such as literature or drama?

DR: Sounds grand. We just got back from the National Arts fest in South Africa and we managed to see a few great plays. Always room for a few more, I say. I think we're probably going to be wandering around a little overwhelmed and just trying to absorb whatever falls across our paths. I'm keen to catch a poetry reading. I've always wanted to see one of those.

SG: Will you be performing any new songs or just songs from your latest album?  Do you have any other special plans for your performance?

DR: We'll be performing mostly songs from our latest album, Replace Why With Funny as well as one new one and possibly a crazy new take on an old one. We're also going to be performing an acoustic version of a South African hip-hop song for Indie Ghetto. (Our Sotho sucks, but we're gonna try anyway!)

Dear Reader: Myspace / Official Site