Grouplove interview

eFestivals interviewed American indie rockers Grouplove on site at Glastonbury Festival just after their performance on the Park Stage on Friday.

This is an interview for eFestivals, have you ever visited the website?
Hannah Hopper: No
Ryan Rabin: we don't have internet on the road.

Have you ever played Glastonbury before?
Hannah Hopper: No.
Ryan Rabin: first time today.

And have you ever been before?
Hannah Hopper: First time, oh, Sean's been.
Ryan Rabin: Sean's been many times.
Sean Gadd: I'm from England, so this was my festival growing up, and yeah, there's a nice mix here, and it's the best festival in the world for me.

So, are you here all weekend?
Ryan Rabin: Yeah, we leave Sunday night.

And how are you finding it?
Ryan Rabin: We just explored backstage of Park stage for like an hour.
Hannah Hopper: We literally just walked here, so no exploration.
Ryan Rabin: It's awesome.
Hannah Hopper: It's kind of like a combination of camping, high street and music.

So do you have a highlight yet?
Playing, definitely.

So what advice would you give to festival goers?
Ryan Rabin: Wellies. I didn't bring any, and then I had to buy some and they're six sizes too big.
Sean Gadd: Just come with a good attitude and you'll really have the best time of your life.
Ryan Rabin: Or come with a bad attitude.
Hannah Hopper: You won't fit in so you'll stand out.
Sean Gadd: Ryan came with a bad attitude, I came with a good attitude.
Ryan Rabin: It's the shoes, it's the shoes.
Sean Gadd: It's all about footwear.
Hannah Hopper: it's really about footwear right now.

Is there anyone on the bill you're looking forward to seeing?
Ryan Rabin: Wu Tang! And they're playing right now.
Hannah Hopper: They're playing right now, but it's okay this is worth it. And I wish we could see Beyoncé, it's just such a surreal setting. But we're going to miss it.
Sean Gadd: We want to see our friends, Foster the People.
Hannah Hooper: We want to name drop.
Sean Gadd: I want to see Radiohead, their secret gigs just been announced. We're down for that.

Have you done any festivals already this summer?
No this is our first.
We've done some little festivals like South by South West, and The Great Escape, but this is our first like open air festival.

What other festivals are you looking forward to?
Hannah Hooper: Oh God, all of them!
Christian Zucconi: Latitude, Reading, T in the Park, Oxygen.
Ryan Rabin: I've never been to Ireland, so I'm so excited to go to Oxygen.
Christian Zucconi: Optimus in Portugal
Hannah Hooper: Oh hell yeah!

What was the first festival you ever went to?
Coachella
Sean Gadd: Mine was Reading.
Ryan Rabin: I think like an old Warped Tour when I was a kid.
Oh Warped tour! That was definitely my first, when I was like 12.

Which bands and Artists have influenced your music?
Sean Gadd: Pixies, A lot of old school music.
Hannah Hooper: Björk
Ryan Rabbin: Michael Jackson
Sean Gadd: I think we sort of listen to a lot of old music.

Who's the best band you've ever seen live?
Hannah Hooper: Oh man. The only life changing stuff, is like, seeing Sigur Rós.

What's your one essential item you take on tour?
Christian Zucconi: My asthma inhaler.
Ryan Rabin: Deodrant. Ice cream!
Hannah Hooper: Astronaut ice cream. I love that stuff.

So what's been your most memorable festival appearance? And tell us about it.
Probably Glastonbury 2011, 10 minutes before we played it was kind of like an empty field, and then we came out on stage and it was packed. It was crazy and amazing; it was fun to have all that room to run around in.

What's the last music you bought?
Hannah Hooper: Haha, Jason Upton! It's true though!
Ryan Rabin: It's true! He's this really county, down south, country pop artist, and he has this new single that’s all about drinking and driving, and how much fun it is.
Hannah Hooper: We downloaded it as a joke, and we love it now.
And Ludacris drops a sick verse.

What piece of advice would you give to someone coming to Glastonbury for the first time?
Ryan Rabin: Wellies again.
Hannah Hooper: Fake eyelashes?
Sean Gadd: Don't try and climb the wall, because they've made it really difficult.
Ryan Rabin: If you really want to sneak in bring a bunch of really expensive camera equipment and just walk in.

If you ran a stall at a festival what would you sell?
Ryan Rabin: Wellies.
Hannah Hooper: Hover boards! It would be so tight!
Sean Gadd: We’d never have to worry about the mud.

Finally, anything you'd like to say to our readers?
Our album comes out September 5th in the UK.

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