It’s the final day of the beloved Midlands Festival Summer Sundae, when Woodpigeon take to the stage, a peaceful and warm vibe envelops the tent as all eyes are on the band. I was fortunate enough to meet up with Mark after their set to discuss new material and festival life.
So, are you planning to stick around for the rest of the festival and if so who are you looking forward to seeing?
Mark;” I’ve never seen Bon Iver before and I have wanted to see them for ages. I got to see Monotonix and Micachu & the Shapes earlier, they are both amazing! I never thought we would play right in front of Monotonix before, but it happened and they were incredible. Yesterday we were in Gothenburg, Sweden. And the day before that we were in Germany. We didn’t really get much sleep last night, so we’re going to watch Bon Iver and then be very Rock ‘n’ Roll and then go home.“
Do you have any favourite songs to play live and where does your inspiration come from? “
The last song we did played today, ‘…And as the Ship Went Down’; I like to play that one, mostly when I’m angry at myself. Also I like to play an Abba song…”lay all your love on me”, it’s my favourite song. I think most people’s (inspiration) come from maybe hopeful future past experiences if that makes sense. I usually write about my friends, I use their names a lot and I just end up writing about myself. I only started doing it because I was tutoring these girls in English and they stole a guitar for me, not having any money and being bored I started to learn the guitar, this was 5 years ago. I guess my favourite bands would be The Kinks; I still listen to them a lot. I usually get a lot of influence from people we know… Should we be expecting any new material soon? “Yeah there is an album in January. And then we started recording the one after that, there’s a lot coming up! I’ve got an EP to finish when I get home also. It’s due in September…And I have three songs left to do for it.”
Even though it is the last day of Summer Sundae, what 3 items would you recommend people should always have handy at a festival?
“I’d bring a change of clothes…When we play festivals for the first time, we normally go to bed and breakfast, So, I’ll go with a car, a nice hat, and a reservation number at the nearest travel lodge! “
If you were to recommend a book, CD and film to anybody, what would they be?
“A book um, I quite like Life: A User’s Manual by Georges Perec, it sounds like a self help book but it’s not. It’s a very specific journey down a block in Paris and he goes into each room and he describes what’s going on in it and what has happened there and what is happening. One of the most beautiful things I’ve read. A CD, our friend Beth Jeans Houghton, she released a new EP on the 17th August (09) called Hot Toast Volume One, and that’s really good. We met Noah and the Whale the other day and they traded us their new record, It’s really different. Oh, and Kris Ellestad, all his albums are free online. He is really good. A film, After Life, which is made by a Korean film maker, this story is that when you die, you go to this film studio and your allowed to pick one memory which they then recreate starring you at whichever age you where when you died. And then you could go on to the next level in this world they have created. It pretty heavy, with people recreating memories, it’s got a very homemade feel. Like ones person memory is somebody flying and they have cotton balls on strings. They get to watch these memories on film.”
