STYLE. GROOMING. INSPIRATION. ADVICE.
your browser is not supported
To use ASOS, we recommend using the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge
STYLE NEWS
Festival Gear: Glass Animals
By Matt Glazebrook, 20 June 2014
The festival summer season is already well underway, and whether you're Glastonbury-bound next week or have your sights set on one of thousands of other big weekenders taking place over the coming months, we've got your back with our round-up of the artists' festival essentials.
Up-and-coming Oxford foursome Glass Animals are relative festival-season freshers, but their R'n'B-flecked tropical indie is summery, smooth and ideal for a gentle bop in front of a sun-baked new bands stage. We caught up with frontman Dave Bayley and found out what he's packing for a season spent trekking the boutiques and big bashes in support of debut album ZABA, released earlier this month.
Picture: ASOS
What can't you live without at a festival?
Chocolate Hobnobs and peanut butter sandwiches – a totally accidental discovery by us, but they last for a while in a hot tent and are packed full of energy. Don’t bring cheese – it sweats. A cosy sweatshirt for when it gets way cold at night: it's also useful to roll up, spray with deodorant and tie around your face as a makeshift gas-mask when going to the portaloos. You need a waterproof jacket – I’ve got a Patagonia one. I’m cursed at festivals, it always rains on me. And a really old brick Nokia phone for mega battery life.
Which festival(s) are you going to/playing at this summer?
Bestival! Latitude! And some others that we can’t announce yet. But they’re all good ones.
What's been your favourite ever festival moment?
Seeing LCD Soundsystem at Reading when we were 15 and wasted was epic and is up there. Also, I loved Animal Collective at Glasto. Playing-wise, OFF Festival in Poland took us by surprise. That was ace.
Describe your fail-safe festival outfit…
Some old but structurally sound jeans, Vans (they can last through anything), my waterproof jacket and the sweatshirt I mentioned earlier. I also have a homemade onesie made out of a sleeping bag – you could wear that the whole weekend. Unzip a bit if you’re too hot, then sleep anywhere.
Do you have any festival horror stories?
[Bandmate] Joe [Seaward] and I went to a festival once and camped in the fork in the main path coming out of the main arena. We thought it would be safe as we were next to a big mound of sand. But the mound ended up being the 24-hour meeting point for wasted nutters. Our tent was vomited on, set on fire, walked over. Sometimes we’d come back and there’d just be someone we didn’t know sitting in it rolling a spliff. More recently our tyres got slashed in Barcelona at Primavera festival. But we made up for that by (accidentally) stealing the Vaccines' cake.
Got any survival tips for festival first-timers?
Talk to strangers. Don’t camp near anyone who looks like they might start a drum circle. Don’t pitch your tent near the portaloos. Befriend the tent next to you if they have lots of beer.
Picture: Glass Animals
Glass Animals are playing Glastonbury next week and a bunch of other festivals after that. Their debut album ZABA, and super-summery single Pools, are out now.
