Lollapalooza is coming up. As always, Glorious Noise will have a posse roaming Grant Park in search of warm felafels and cold beer. Along the way we try to stumble across some good music. There are a lot of bands on the line-up that we don’t know much about. So we threw out some questions to help us all get to know the Lollapalooza line-up.
Answers from Nik of The Jezabels below…
1. What’s the best part of playing festivals?
At a festival, everyone seems to be up for anything! The prospect of playing to people who have never heard of your band is always very exciting for us. When you’ve finished your set, you can run around the festival and watch other bands that you’ve never seen before. It’s essentially an awesome musical orgy.
2. What’s the worst part of playing festivals?
From the bands perspective, it’s always very nerve racking to play any show without a proper line check. You always have limited amount of time to get your gear set up and plugged in, then BOOM, you’re off. If something’s not working – too bad! Figure it out while you’re playing, it’s a bloody festival!
3. Have you ever attended a music festival as a fan?
Plenty! It’s a pleasure to watch other bands without the stress of knowing you’ll have to go on stage and perform too. I watched Modest Mouse at the Governor’s Ball in NYC as a fan – I squeezed my way up front and got well rowdy. It was great fun.
4. Other act(s) you’re most looking forward to seeing at Lollapalooza?
Well, we’re up against Florence and the Machine as well as At the Drive In – if no one comes to our stage when we play maybe we can cut the show short and watch them!
5. Who is the worst band/entourage member to sit next to on the van/bus?
In our own group? Probably me, I love eating sunflower seeds in the van and everyone is rightfully annoyed by the little shells that end up in our van. Outside our band? Once I sat next to the lead singer from Interpol on a festival shuttle bus and tried to start a conversation… I don’t think he was interested in talking to me! (fair enough, it was an early start!)
6. What’s the last music purchase you paid for with your own money?
Just recently I purchased, the new Smashing Pumpkings record, Oceania, Disintegration by The Cure, and The Bends by Radiohead. I’ve loved The Bends for a long time but somehow lost the music and the CD, it was time for a re purchase and a re discovery of one of the great alternative rock albums of the 90s.
7. What’s your favorite thing about Chicago?
The architecture I think – it really feels like you’re in a comic book when you’re walking around the city! Also, I love so many bands that hail from Chicago, like Braid (actually from Champaign, IL but close enough!), and anything the Kinsella’s have done, especially Make Believe – that band is incredible.
8. How has Lollapalooza’s radius clause (no shows within 300 miles six months before and three months after) affected your touring schedule?
It doesn’t seem to have affected us too badly – honestly, it seems a bit funny for that rule to be applied to a band like us, we’re not really big enough to draw people away from the festival with out own show! We have European dates lined up after this North American run, like Dockville (Germany), Puckle-Pop (Belgium) and Frequency (Austria). As far as groogle maps indicates they’re over 300 miles away from Chicago!
9. Got anything to say to fans in Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, and Ohio who can’t make it to Lollapalooza?
Get more creative! Sell your shoes for a ticket and hitch hike to Lollapalooza! No excuses!
10. Finish this sentence: Perry Farrell is a _________.
person who wears flashy pants.
Playing Sunday, August 5 at 6:50 PM on the BMI stage