It’s Reading & Leeds time – the second to best long weekend of the year, only beaten by the chocolate-filled one earlier in the year where you also get Friday off too. You know the one, right? Goodo. Anyway, a bunch of Upset’s fave bands are going, and a few of them have filled out our getting-ready-for-Reading Q&A, including Petrol Girls, who are also working towards a new album…
Hello Ren! How’s it going?
Just in back of the van on tour in Germany, we’re all good!
Have you enjoyed 2018 so far? What’ve been your highlights?
Last night we played at Kafe Marat, an awesome DIY venue in Munich where we’ve been a few times. Still riding high on that right now!
Which of your songs typically goes down best with a festival crowd?
Definitely our anti-sexual violence anthem ‘Touch Me Again (and I’ll fucking kill you)’. In a way, it really sucks that that’s the case, because I think a big reason is that so many people, especially women, have shitty experiences of sexual violence at festivals. But it’s awesome to be able to shout “it’s my body and my choice” and “touch me again, and I’ll fucking kill you” together.
Do you have anything special planned for your set, like new material or a flashy stage set up?
I like trying to share the mic and platform that we get with other voices. We just started figuring out projections at the start of our new song Sister: people sent us videos of them describing what sisterhood means to them, which we’re using just like samples. I really hope we can make that work during our set!
Last year we also started playing vocal samples that people sent us describing their experience of sexual violence at festivals, before we play ‘Touch Me Again’. We’ll do another online call out for that soon, as I think it’s really powerful when we can play them at the specific festivals where shit happened to people. People can send us voice recordings to petrolgirlsvideo@gmail.com!
If money and time were no object, what would be your dream stage prop?
Oh man. I dunno like maybe I’d wanna slide out of the mouth of a giant animatronic t-rex or something. And we want a hovering remote control platform so we could fly our drummer around.
Which would be the worst possible band you could clash with from this year’s Reading and Leeds bill?
Papa Roach!! ‘Last Resort’ is my karaoke song of choice. We can’t clash with them because I need to go do guest vox on that.
Which of the headliners is your fave?
Uhhh I’m sorry I can’t even pretend I’m bothered by any of them! I do think it’s cool there’s a hip-hop act headlining, but I’m not that familiar with Kendrick Lamar.
Who would you like to see headline in 2019?
War Paint, Grimes, Bjork, Against Me!, FLEETWOOD MAC!! Missy Elliot, Paramore, Tegan and Sarah, P J Harvey, Arcade Fire, get fucking Beyoncé down there!
Do you camp at festivals, or avoid tents at all costs?
I’m dead happy in a tent! Even better though is staying in my partner’s van. (Long-term ambition to get my own when this lucrative feminist punk band earns me a disposable income…) I have been known to drunkenly shout “tent wankers” out of the van at our mates camped next to us when it started raining.
What’s your number one tip for surviving in a field? You’re not allowed to saying stay hydrated.
At the risk of sounding like a massive hippy, just enjoy being in a field and not surrounded by concrete! And more practically, carry your own loo roll.
What are you up to for the remainder of the year?
We’ve had a quiet start to the year because I’m back at uni, but we’re off on a massive tour as soon as I finish in September. We’re going to loads of places we’ve never played before like Poland, Spain and Denmark – can’t wait! We also have a sweet show with Propagandhi, Dead To Me and RVIVR in November; then we’re hitting the studio to record a new album!
Taken from the September issue of Upset. Petrol Girls play Reading on Friday 24th August, and Leeds on Saturday 25th August.
