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Glastonbury 2011: Wolf Gang

Paul Simon, the stone circle and jamming at sunrise

Posted 23rd June 2011, 6:55pm in Interviews


Wolf Gang talks Paul Simon, the stone circle and jamming at sunrise before he heads to the Eavis' farm this weekend.

Hello, who are you and what do you do?
My name is Max, I'm a solo artist with a project called Wolf Gang. I write songs and perform with a band of four other guys. On stage I sing and play guitar and piano.

Have you played at Glastonbury before? Please describe the first time you played.
I've played once before, a couple of years back. It was the first time I had been to the festival. I did a little set in an acoustic tent somewhere with just with my guitar. It was fun and fairly relaxed, people walking by would pop in and listen. I played for about half an hour, then spent the next two days losing my mind. 

What extra-musical activities will you be making the most of?
We'll have to wait and see. I think with regards to the non musical aspects of Glastonbury, it's best just to see what happens and chance upon a situation. 

Whose set will you be making an effort to see this year?
Paul Simon. I'm a huge fan of 'Graceland', and can't wait to see the man himself hopefully singing a few of the songs off the album…I'm actually also looking forward to seeing Beyonce, you just know the show will be amazing and her band will be ridiculous...

Will you be sticking around for the whole weekend? 
Yeh, going to rock up on Friday I think and leave on Monday, get my money's worth…With Glastonbury there's too much good music going on to risk missing. The difficult bit will be trying to stay sober until after we've performed...

What do you listen/do behind the scenes before you go on stage?
With festivals it's usually pretty hectic right up until a few seconds before you go on, people rushing around and setting instruments up etc, but right before we play we'll get together as  band and  have a little laugh before going on stage. 

What's the most surreal experience/encounter you've had at a festival?
Last time I was at Glastonbury I ended up at the stone circle around 5 in the morning and I met a group of Rastafarians who were jamming with some instruments. I asked to join and ended up playing bongos for a couple of hours, off my nut. We got quite a crowd actually, it was fun! 

Where can we find the best food?
There's good food everywhere! Hippies seem to know how to cook really well. I walked one night with a friend right to the outskirts of the festival, and we ended up in some veteran encampment of people who had been going to glastonbury since the 70's, and possibly never left, and luckily they accepted us and cooked us amazing food in return for a song on their guitar. It was pretty magical actually, eating and playing under the stars surrounded by all these leathery wizened faces, lit up by the fire…

How will you be planning your set?
We've got a few shows in between now and the festival, so we'll hone our set and make sure we're happy with it before taking it to the stage at glastonbury. 

What one thing should everyone see/do at Glastonbury this year?
Watch the sun rise from the stone circle.

Finally, are you playing any other festivals this summer? If so, what are they?
Yeh, we're playing V Festival, Bestival, T In The Park, Secret Garden Party, Lovebox, and a few others, plus some European festivals, should be a cracking summer! 

Wolf Gang plays Glastonbury's Leftfield stage at 6pm on Saturday 25th June
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