Dry The River chat to The Guide at Reading Festival

Amy Danbrowsky • Published 30 Aug 2012 09:30 0 Comments

The Guide spoke to Pete Liddle and Matt Taylor from, in their own words, 'kind of Folkey/indie band' Dry The River, after their set on the NME/Radio One Stage on Saturday at Reading Festival 2012.

They said: "I think it's the biggest show we have done. I think there were 15,000 people there or so, but our manager always tells us there are like 10,000 more people than there were!"

"It sounded like a lot, it was really good fun and we think it went well."

Playing in front of a home crowd for the second year running, with Matt and Pete from Reading and Newbury, they told us: "It's nice man, yeah. Last year we felt the same at Reading - we played the Festival Republic Stage and it was similar. There seemed to be some vocal supporters which was nice! It was good.

"People jumping up and down at our gigs is a rare thing, but there were people clapping, people looking interested in our music... It was great!", they joked, adding: "We've been playing bigger stages and I think we're more comfortable this year than last year, perhaps. It was nice to be moved up a stage, it was a similar crowd, but more of it, so it was nice."

Proposing that, traditionally, a band's festival warm-up is made up of beer and cigarettes, not scales and harmonies, I asked whether these tuneful boys did anything differently, if at all, to hit the high notes: "We should warm up! We listen to German power-metal. We put them on in the dressing room before we go on and everyone's striking rock'n'roll poses! But their vocals are so high that when you sing along it helps you warm up... hilarious hair metal vocals and lots of lunges, plenty of lunging! You have to make sure your jeans are sitting in such a way you're not going to tear them when you do a powerful lunge on stage!"

They seemed coy at hearing of the warm reception they got from the ladies watching, although I think they were just being modest. And that reception got a whole lot stronger when, at the end of their set, guitarist, Scott Miller, whipped off his vest and chucked it into the adoring crowd. So just what is the most romantic thing that's come out of the band's bittersweet tunes: "We have had people proposing to people at our shows and stuff. A couple went down the aisle in Nashville. All our songs are about breaking up with people and having a really depressing time. We're not sure they're wedding songs. You always feel a bit awkward with the engagement thing, playing a really depressing song. It was at a seated show in Nashville where they proposed and we were like, 'wow that happened?' and then we played the most depressing show ever."

And with that, and a quick power lunge for our photographer, they were off to relax before catching At The Drive-In later that evening: "They are my favourite band of all time and I was kind of too young at the time to see them. We get to watch them from the stage. It'll be incredible," they agreed.

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This article appeared in Bracknell News 30 Aug 12

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