It’s All About The Music
WHAT IS THE BEST FESTIVAL YOU HAVE EVER PLAYED AT?
“The Exit Festival in Serbia 2002 was unbelievably good, definitely the largest and probably the best crowd I’ve ever played to, 20,000 strong.”
WORST EVER FESTIVAL MOMENT?
“I can vaguely recollect a ‘losing-car-in-the-pitch-black-with-2-heavy-bags-of-records-unable-to-walk-any-further-moment’, but everyones been there right? I’ve also had many bad rain/mud experiences at Glastonbury and one at Homelands (can’t remember the year) – I’d already played on a main stage and I was now playing in the VIP tent but the rain was apocalyptic. It was a time when I was playing vinyl and the stand with all the equipment was sloping to the left so severely it was all about to fall off into the mud but the sound stayed on thankfully, miraculously until the end. Somebody in the crowd carried my records knee deep in mud out to dry land and someone else carried me a long way out to them just before the tent and everything imploded into the quagmire.”
WHERE IS THE BEST FESTIVAL YOU HAVE EVER PARTIED AT?
“Glastonbury because so many of my friends go there and there’s always new music and places to discover…you can get lost for hours there which is quite liberating.”
YOUR FAVOURITE FESTIVAL STORY?
“My husband (then boyfriend) Mark (Jones) proposed to me at The Secret Garden festival in 2008. We were watching Grace Jones perform ‘Williams Blood’ and there’s a line in it where she sings ‘Why don’t you be a Jones?’. Her face was then replaced on the big screens by my name and that line and Mark got down on one knee. Everyone around me seemed to know what was going on but me so to say I was shocked was an understatement. It was very romantic and of course I said yes.”
BEST LIVE PERFORMANCE?
“Grace Jones at Secret Garden Festival 2008 (see above). No-one can entertain quite like her, she’s in a league of her own. The White Stripes at Glastonbury 2005 is a performance that’s stuck in my mind too.”
WEIRDEST OUTFIT YOU HAVE EVER WORN/SEEN/WOKE UP IN?
“I went as Marie Antoinette once but the purple velvet was a bit much for July to be honest. My husband usually dresses as a clown so anything I wear pales in comparison.”
FAVOURITE ‘CAMPING’ MOMENT?
“Never actually ‘camped’ as such but I have stayed in a motor home if that counts? The one time me and Caroline (Prothero) did attempt taking a tent to Glastonbury one year we didn’t actually end up sleeping in it because it was just too hot and generally uninviting.”
WHAT ARE YOUR FESTIVAL TIPS?
“Bring tissues, don’t make any arrangements, make sure you don’t miss the music you want to hear.”
NO.1 FESTIVAL EVER?
“Bestival for fun, Exit for atmosphere, Glastonbury for reunions. Sorry that”s three isn’t it?”
WHAT MAKES A GREAT FESTIVAL?
“Funny friends and fantastic music. Simples.”
WHAT’S THE MOST UNUSUAL FESTIVAL SETTING YOU’VE BEEN TO?
“A fortress in St. Petersburg Russia a few years ago. I remember playing with Tiga and Daniele Davoli and you had to get a speedboat out to it. It was amazing but all these mad flying insects came out and swarmed me because I had a strong spotlight on me and everywhere else was dark. I’m a proper girl when it comes to creepy crawlies so you can imagine the kind of dancing I was doing trying to swat them away whilst DJing.”
WHO WOULD YOU NEVER GO TO A FESTIVAL WITH AGAIN?
“I’d go to a festival with pretty much anyone. The more characters the better I say!”
WORST THING YOU’VE EVER EATEN AT A FESTIVAL?
“I don’t eat a great deal at festivals. I think I may have indulged in the odd “organic” burger but I usually raid M&S Simply Food on the motorway home to refuel.”
WHAT 1 RECORD SEND SHIVERS DOWN YOUR SPINE WHEN YOU HEAR IT AND INSTANTLY REMINDS YOU OF ONE OF THOSE ‘FESTIVAL MOMENTS?
“New Order ‘Blue Monday.”
