00:07Welcome to Brighton, the home of Rock, Fish and Chips, Graham and Green's Gangsters and the Great Escape Music Festival.
00:13Think of it as a South by South West for Britain, or Glastonbury by the Sea if you will.
00:17But the best new talent from around the world is descending on the city to see if they can sink
00:21or swim.
00:23NME's got two stages at the festival, plus right across the city there are pubs, clubs and even a fringe
00:28festival staging shows.
00:30We spoke to some of the big talents that are playing this weekend to find out why the Great Escape
00:34is so important to them.
00:35You know, in what is a shocking admission, I actually haven't played in Brighton for quite a long time and
00:41it's good to be back.
00:43I like these festivals because you're able to wander into very different venues and have completely different experiences
00:49and still feel like you're part of the whole thing.
00:52I think it's a great festival and the fact that it's so, you know, I love Brighton.
00:56It's such a small town in a way. I wish I was staying.
01:00Every time I'm in Brighton, it sort of feels like a festival atmosphere here.
01:06I've just arrived today at the Great Escape and it's a really charming city, Brighton. I love it so far.
01:13I haven't been able to see any bands but there's a really good energy.
01:16It reminds me a little bit of South by Southwest and Austin. Like all the bands and the people. It
01:22will be really fun.
01:23O-Lands, we're really excited about. There's this amazing kind of hip-hop collective from Manchester coming through called Merkage.
01:31And we're really excited about them. And Dry the River, we think are really cool.
01:36They're doing about, I think they're doing five shows this weekend. So they're working hard.
01:40The two shows we've had so far have been really good fun. We did one above audio on a seafront
01:45which was really cool.
01:47And then Prince Albert last night which was cool.
01:51Yeah, they both turned out really busy which was cool. I didn't realise people would know who we were.
01:55We're playing on the end of the boardwalk. It's so weird. We're playing like right next to like a Ferris
02:01wheel.
02:01Yeah, the horror hotel. I thought we were playing on the boardwalk.
02:05I thought we were playing in the haunted house. I got really excited.
02:08I mean, you know, ultimately what makes the shows is the people there and the actual experience.
02:12But it has been kind of nice because I don't think we've really been a band that have relied on
02:18too much hype or anything like that.
02:19It feels quite an honest path. And so to come back, you know, a few years running and to feel
02:28the love more and more is, you know, you can't argue with that. It's a good feeling.
02:32Friendly Fires played in 2007 really early for them. Nobody really knew them. We totally loved them and booked them
02:38on for a couple of times.
02:40And they've come back this year and they're one of our headliners, one of our biggest sacks.
02:43Well, I wanted to see Foster the People while I was here. Obviously Friendly Fires boys are in town. To
02:49be fair, I don't really know many of them.
02:51I know quite a lot of the other acts that are playing, but because I'm just in town for the
02:55day, I hadn't really thought about trying to see anybody else.
02:58But apart from the people I've worked with already. I'm going to try and catch Beardy Man, who is amazing
03:02and is a friend of mine.
03:04And yeah, I definitely want to see if I can get his set if I can.
03:08Yeah, John Cooper Clarks. Boy John Cooper Clarks. Beasley Street.
03:13One of my favorite songs, I don't want to be nice. So my mom's, she's one of my mom's, my
03:19mom's a big Tom Cooper Clark fan as well.
03:20So yeah, she's quite, it's always good when your mom's impressed.
03:25I don't know why anyone would come to our show instead of DJ Shadows. I mean, they're all, I'm going
03:30to tell everyone in the fans.
03:31Yeah, there's a lot of great fans that we're unfortunately missing out on, but.
03:35Yeah, but it's going to be awesome. London by the Sea, right? That's what they call it.
03:39By the roadside. With my thumb out. A car from home.
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