Q + A: FLORENCE + THE MACHINE
IS: When we first started making music together I had a mpc machine which made beats. It was my idea to make a song. So she came to my studio, i made beats and she sang. She felt like she was the robot when she pressed the play button. And my machine was actually my mpc. So we were together the robot & the machine. So when we set up a group it became “Florence + The Machine”. I was the machine because I was the one who had the machine and who always had the ideas.
DS: You’ve been touring a lot lately. I last caught you at the Primavera festival at Spain and you guys were amazing! How does it feel to work with Florence? Can you tell us about your relationship with her? Do you have any interesting/funny memories together that you can share?
IS: Yeah it was a weird day because one day before we were in Leeds playing for a university ball and we finished at 3 am. And then we had a flight at 7 am to fly to Barcelona. We were really tired when we are there. Our plane was delayed so we were all over the place. But I’m glad you enjoyed it! I definitely remember writing “Dog days days are over”. I had my mpc machine, I don’t play guitar and i didn’t have a proper keyboard. We only had drums and I was like “how are we gonna do it” she was like “yeah we are gonna make a record!”. One night she bought drinks and she was hitting the walls to Express the beats in the dog days are over. The first time we played in Glastonbury she had a clown dress and she forget one of the song’s lyrics and it was fun! She is crazy & amazing. Now we are really good friends. I think I should keep a diary about all these stuff. I have lots of photos. I think i should make it a book.
DS: You co-wrote and produced many songs on the Lungs album. What inspires you most when you are writing? How did you feel when the album won a Brit award?
IS: It’s amazing. I’m a workaholic. I still didn’t have a real break and think about the success but it’s amazing we’ve done so well thinking that we are just learning to make a song. We created a song in a small studio and now hundreds of people are singing that song.
DS: Can you name some bands you love?
IS: I really like Jimmy Hendrix, early Janet Jackson. Marianne Faithful, led zeplin are my current discoveries. But I also listen Lady Gaga and Rihanna. I always keep an eye of everything. I even listen to Justin Bieber! I listen to everything people put in front of me.
DS: What are your future projects? Who would you like to collaborate with?
IS: I always wanted to work with Rick Rubin and David Grohl. Beyonce would be cool! I’m really with my studio and the people I’m working with.
DS: If you were to organize a festival, who would be your headliners?
IS: The XX, for sure! They are great. We recorded with them before they got really big, about a year ago. We toured with them and it was fun. Yeasayer would be also nice.