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Interviews: Artists Gear Up For Latitude

17th July 2008 | by Aidan Williamson

With one of the more impressive indie-based line-ups this year, Latitude looks set to be one of the highlights of the season. Ahead of the third year for the event, a few artists stopped what they were doing long enough to answer a few questions on the run up to their appearances.

Think this all sounds rather interesting? Fancy checking it out? Then tough, it's one of the few to actually sell out this year, so y'know; Better luck next year, or there's always eBay.

The Questions:

1.) Who are you most looking forward to seeing at this year’s Latitude festival across the Arenas (Obelisk, Uncut, Comedy, Theatre, Literary and Poetry, Film & Music) and why?
2.) What aspect of Latitude Festival interests you the most and why?
3.) What can people expect you to bring to the festival and do you have anything special planned?
4.) If you weren't doing this what would you be doing?
5.) What is your favourite colour Sheep?

The Bands:

This City - The Lake Stage
1.) "There’s quite a few good bands playing this year. I’d love to see Sigur Ros again, having never seen them at a festival I think this could be a whole new experience. But there’s also Crystal Castles, Foals, Seasick Steve, Murder By Death, Interpol, and a few others in there I’ll check out. I doubt I’ll go near the Theatre, Literary and Poetry stages. But if I get the chance I’d definitely check out Bill Bailey and Rich Hall. Michael Nyman might be quite good, I like some of his stuff. That said it is a festival so I’ll probably miss them all!"
2.) "It seems like there’s a lot do there. There’s so many different kinds of stages and things going on, so I’m quite looking forward to seeing how that will all work. I’m just really llooking forward to taking it easy and actually watching some bands."
3.) "We all love running about and getting involved in our live show. We always try to play with a lot of energy and get the crowd going. The more the crowd get going, the more we will! As far as anything special planned, we may have some new material and the short shorts might make an appearance at some point, but I guess you’ll just have to come check us out!"
4.) "If we weren't playing Latitude this year we would probably be hanging out with our friends in Brighton, drinking beer and causing trouble! We’re also working on the album at the moment so we should be in the studio soon getting some demos etc recorded."
5.) "Black with chrome!"

Metronomy - Sunrise Arena
1.) "British Sea Power, Sadler’s Wells dancers, Franz Ferdinand, The Breeders, Julian Cope, Grinderman, Interpol...plus many more."
2.) "Last year I really enjoyed sitting in on the BBC 4 recordings. It's also nice to see that the headliners are a bit more diverse than at most festivals. The boat that takes one across the lake is also a highlight, because it is exciting."
3.) "Well, last year we played in the daytime. This year we are headlining a stage, so I think people can expect us to bring their evening to a nice end. We'll try and do a party set and perhaps trick Sadler’s Wells into dancing for us."
4.) "If I wasn't in a band I would be a driving instructor."
5.) "Off white."

Nick from Fields. - Uncut Arena
1.) "We will be looking forward to seeing Sigur Ros as it will remind Thorunn of home. One of the best things is just to wander about and discover things as they happen. It is nice not to have a plan sometimes. I expect to be enjoying some spoken word in a cidery haze. Is ‘cidery’ even a word? It is now."
2.) "The coloured sheep. Do they get a choice in what colour they will be?"
3.) "We shall probably bring a tent so we can stay the entire weekend. As for our performance we shall be bringing an entirely new set of material and a Somerfield bag full of cider. Expect some form of psyched up cider-fuelled carnage."
4.) "Probably attempting to recreate Latitude on the roof of my east London flat with elaborately spray painted pigeons, some acoustic guitars, ‘the ha ha bonk’ joke book and a Somerfield bag full of cider."
5.) "It is tempting to say black as I can relate to that but really I would rather see a gold sheep. Can you do one with stripes? Pink/gold/black. That would be good. What colour does the sheep want to be???"

Dirty Tim – Theatre Arena
1.) "I'll have a play on with my theatre company Dirty Protest, so I'll catch as much theatre as I can. I can't wait to see what Drywrite do with the guilty project, and The Factory boys are bringing their awesome Hamlet which is different every time. Joel Horwood's the next Dennis Kelly in my book, so I'll watch his Nabokov piece with pen and paper in hand. Theatre aside, I've got to see Carol Ann Duffy, Hanif Kureshi because I love their work. I've seen Kureshi before and he's a curious guy. Comedy I really want to see Tim Minchin and Hans Teuween because I keep missing them. Music-wise I have to see I am Kloot and the Breeders. I can't believe I'll share air with the Deal sisters. Saying all that though I'll probably miss all of those and spend the entire weekend in the woods with my shirt off making friends and losing property. And I'll still think it's value for money."
2.) "I love the fact that the festival has the widest range of arenas other than Glastonbury, but the arenas are still intimate spaces. I've been every year since the start and can remember some performances as if they were yesterday because of intimate venues."
3.) "We're writing a site-specific play for The Woods arena. I've written act one, and I've opened it up to the public and writing community in Wales to finish the play for me. So I don't know what's going to happen in the end but I can tell you the first act is going to change the landscape of British theatre. Or if it doesn't, it might just make you stop walking towards the Sunrise arena, sit down and listen to a story rather than a song."
4.) "The only thing that would stop me coming to Latitude would be incarceration or three ex girlfriends buying tickets to go. And being as I've killed all three of them and put their heads in a draw-string and buried them in the garden, I'm pretty sure I'll be free to come."
5.) "Puce."

Lisa from Bearsuit - The Lake Stage
1.) "I think we're most looking forward to seeing bands like the Breeders, Go Team , Black Kids, Johnny Foreigner, Clinic, Crystal Castles and Joanna Newsom. The whole festival has a really good line up of established acts but we're also looking forward to watching all the up-and-coming gems on Huw Stephens' Lake Stage. It's often the ones you've never heard and stumble upon accidentally that really blow you away."
2.) "I like the fact that it's not just about music - that there's comedy, theatre, poetry, cabaret, art and all sorts of other stuff going on too. It's a very eclectic festival. I also like the fact that it's quite intimate and not too big."
3.) "We always try to put on a good stage show. Not only do we play an array of instruments - flute, cornet, keytar, keyboards, samples, violin, accordion, theremin, as well as drums guitar and bass - but we also have some special new outfits planned. I don't want to give too much away but they're pretty spectacular and shouldn't be missed! If we can be lowered onto the stage on wires and harnesses we will be."
4.) "To be honest we'd probably come for the weekend even if we weren't playing. Being from Norwich it's right on our doorstep."
5.) "Neon blue"