For everything we have from Reading and Leeds, including more interviews, reviews, features and photos, head here.

For everything we have from Reading and Leeds, including more interviews, reviews, features and photos, head here.

For everything we have from Reading and Leeds, including more interviews, reviews, features and photos, head here.

For everything we have from Reading and Leeds, including more interviews, reviews, features and photos, head here.

For everything we have from Reading and Leeds, including more interviews, reviews, features and photos, head here.

For everything we have from Reading and Leeds, including more interviews, reviews, features and photos, head here.

For everything we have from Reading and Leeds, including more interviews, reviews, features and photos, head here.

For everything we have from Reading and Leeds, including more interviews, reviews, features and photos, head here.

Dean [MG]: So I’ve got a few questions for you Rich, I’m going to start off relatively tame – do you exercise?

Rich: I used to do jogging, and I used to try and do running, but I’ve stopped now, so no I don’t exercise. Do you?

Dean: To be honest, now I very rarely exercise

Rich: You look like you exercise

Dean: Do I? In what way?

Rich: You just look really great haha

Dean: Thanks man, thanks. I don’t really exercise, I cycle every so often but that’s more to save money rather than actually get fit

Rich: I really want a bike. I’m spending £5 a day getting to work and it’s killing me

Dean: You need to get a bike! Especially in London, you need a bike

Rich: Something about cycling in London terrifies me

Dean: I don’t find it too bad. It’s kinda mental, but I find if you drive then you find it okay because I know exactly what the cars are going to be doing, and what not to do. I can see how it can be scary, certainly in some areas and some people are so unbelievably aggressive.

Rich: For sure! People hate cyclists as well

Dean: Actually, yeah that’s true. The amount of crap I’ve had from drivers. Things that you just totally wouldn’t get if you were in a car, like, this guy just started pulling out in front of me when he should be giving way to the traffic, and then was like “what the fuck are you doing?” when I went round him.

Rich: This is what the people want to hear!

Dean: Hahaha, to conclude, neither of us exercise. Do you have a question for me?

Rich [HA]: Do you get bored of touring? Because you’ve been doing a lot more recently

Dean: Personally, no I don’t. I’m glad when I get home, but I’m also totally happy on tour at the moment. I also find a lot of time for myself when I’m at home, I keep away from people and chill out, or just spend time with my girlfriend.

Rich: It’s almost a full-time job now isn’t it? It’s very cool

Dean: It’s been nuts recently, but I’m still as stoked to be on tour when I’m on tour, as I was when we played our first show

Dean [MG]: Rich, where did you grow up and why?

Rich: Haha! Right, okay so I grew up in North East London, bordering Essex. My grandparents grew up in that place as well and they’ve never moved, and my parents have never moved. I come from a line of very unadventurous people.

Dean: That’s very, very similar to me

Rich: The first thing I’ve done though is move to South East London

Dean: You got the hell out of there! You moved from London… to London

Rich: Yeah exactly haha. It’s a completely different type of London though, it might as well not be the same city. It’s so nice now when people are like, “Do you wanna come to the pub?” because before it’d be like “Can I be bothered with the hour and a half journey?” now it’s like “Yeah of course!” because it’s only up the road.

Dean: A lot of people live in South East London. My girlfriend lived there for a bit and now everyone I know in London lives there, it’s crazy.

Rich: It’s really cool! We started doing a Muncie Girls and Great Cynics Sunday club, where we all go to the pub on Sunday with all the UK DIY bands haha.

Dean: We go to the weirdest pubs in the whole world

Rich: There’s lots of taxidermy all around, every Sunday, it’s really good, you’re welcome to come!

Thank you!

Dean: Last time there was ice cream, so come on down!

I am so there.

Rich: We have a message thread called Sunday club

Dean: We’ll add you in

Thanks, I’ll definitely be there! Haha!

Dean: Have you got another question for me, Rich?

Rich [HA]: How does this Festival compare to other Festivals that you’ve done? And I want your honest response, I don’t want like, “Oh this one is great but the others are also great”.

Dean: Um, this Festival is great, the others are also great haha, but this Festival definitely has a charm to it, as does Groezrock. It’s not massive, loads of our friends are about and you just bump into people all the time, which is really nice. We were at Glastonbury the other day and like, that’s really cool, but it’s just so overwhelmingly big you can’t see everything that’s going on. For us, we just stayed exactly where we were camping, which was behind the Leftfield stage, we went to the Leftfield and the main stage a bit but that was it, because we were like “We wanna see this band but they’re a 45 minute walk away so why bother?” Especially with the mud and stuff, it was just too much. This Festival is awesome though, I haven’t been before.

Not much walking either!

Dean: Exactly

Rich: So little walking, which is why I like it

Dean: After all we don’t exercise so we need short walks

Rich: How much do you wish this would end?

I’m having a great time!

Dean [MG]: Okay, I’ve got two more questions for you. Are you punk?

Rich: I am SO not punk. I am the least punk. Why am I not punk? Do you think I’m punk?

Dean: Yeah I think so! I think you’ve got some punk in you. I think you’re somewhat punk to be playing today, to have made the decision to be like, “I’m going to start a band and do what I do and see what happens”.

Rich: Do you think you’re punk?

Dean: To some extent yeah. I could be more punk if I tried. I could be vegan. Or straight edge.

Rich: I’m vegan! But I do drink. The way I see it right, the people that call us out for not being punk, I don’t care about their opinions anyway.

THAT IS PUNK! Not giving a shit what people think of you is so punk.

Dean: Yeah, I think that is my sorry excuse for calling myself punk. I don’t care what other people are thinking, or I try not to. Maybe I do sometimes. Oh I’m so not punk. Forget it.

Rich: Forget it. Neither of us are punk.

Cool. Glad we got that one covered.

Rich: Are you punk?

Probably not.

Dean: No, come on, this is Punktastic!

Rich: That’s punk AND fantastic

I’m the most unpunktastic person at Punktastic haha!

Dean [MG]: Oh really? Ha! Right okay, final question then. I hope this isn’t going too far and isn’t offensive to the special person in your life. The first person you kissed, was it a pleasure or a chore? And I mean that in the sense like, my first kiss, I was absolutely bricking it, so it was a chore in that way because I was so scared I just sort of put my lips out there and I didn’t know what the hell was going on.

Rich: Oh it was definitely a chore! I don’t think either of us knew what we were doing and it was just unpleasant. It was like a technical movement. It was horrible. It’s a good thing that wouldn’t have offended the special person in my life because they’re different people.

Dean: The first person I kissed is still a special person in my life, in a certain way. I’ll never forget her y’know?

Rich: What was her name? Give her a shout out on Punktastic.

Dean: She was called Charlotte. Chaz for short. If you’re reading this. I wasn’t actually with her for that long so I can’t remember if her name was Jewel or Jew-el, but if you’re out there Chaz, it was great.

Rich: “Chaz have you heard of Muncie Girls? That’s me!”

Dean: I’m in this lame, savage band and that’s why I’m here talking about you and it’s well weird.

Rich: And that’s that! Thanks for talking to us hahaha

TAMSYN WILCE

How did you enjoy your show?

It was tremendous. What a delight. I’m so happy to be here. I just feel blessed that we’ve been given the opportunity to come and play. There were a lot of smiling faces and kind eyes in the audience. So many kind eyes. I had a great time.

And you had some pretty loud shirts on. I loved it.

Yeah, to make up for our otherwise dull personalities.

Stop that! I’m not having it.

No, but it is quite garish. I don’t know why. It’s a dashiki, a male dress from West Africa. Blue is a ceremonial colour, more of a celebration. Red’s more wedding. So I sometimes wear red if I feel like I’m at a wedding, which I often do. The whole world is my wedding.

So what’s this festival then? Not a wedding?

No, this is more of a gift to the ancient gods. A sacrificial ritual. Some of us will perish along the way. We put it all out there and the universe gives us positive vibes back.

So you’ve got a new EP, ‘Uprise’.

It came out on the 10th of June. We put our hearts and souls into it and purged our innards and cleansed our spirits and in the process we made a record which we’re really happy with. I mean, I just wanna make more and more music. I mean, it’s five songs, which is great, but I feel like – we’re constantly writing stuff, but those five songs were the ones we liked most right now. But I dunno, there’s not much to say. I think it’s good. I think it’s a bit different to our last one. Our last one was a springboard to our position right now.

I suppose that should be the same with everything. Everything should be a springboard to the next thing.

Always have something to look forward to, that’s the key to happiness. People are happier on Fridays than they are on Sundays. That’s true, because anticipation is a mighty thing. Because anything could happen.

So your EP came out through Venn Records. How are you finding the Venn Records experience?

The experience! It’s like an emotional logflume. At first it was like, ‘These guys are really cool, we have to prove ourselves’, and then we went into the water, and now we feel like part of the family. It’s really weird. And what a very positive group of people to surround yourself with. They’re really talented musicians, but more than that, they’re friends. I think that’s more important than anything. That is why we’re in a band in a way, to make friends. Friends helping out friends is pretty damn cool, and then the roster of bands – I mean, these guys are great. Heck, Youth Man, Muskets, Jesus Fucking Christ. We’re eternally appreciative. They’re helping us live dreams really. It might sound small, and I’m speaking for myself and on behalf of the band, and I’ve heard so many other people’s ideas of success, but I think of us as a successful band – people know our songs, they come and see us and they buy our records. We play in front of more than one person. There’s human beings out there. Cosmic brothers and sisters. They’re great and they’re helping us live dreams. It might sound a little rose tinted, but I’m living entirely in the moment. Entirely. I don’t want to remember it as the best days of my life, I know it now.

So what’s next after 2000 Trees?

We just want to continue. We’re best mates, and we’re playing onstage with each other, having a laugh. Like, a real laugh. It’s so silly and so funny and if it continues like this, then great. We’ve written some songs and we’re pushing into new trans-dimensional areas and intergalactic movements. We’re going skyward basically. We’re going to space to see if some friendly martians can help us out. And after that I don’t know. Another tour by the end of the year hopefully, and then an album, and maybe another EP. I don’t know. Double disc maybe. 40 songs. Loads is coming and we’ve got loads planned, but you know. Keep on keeping on. We’re blessed. Big up everyone everywhere forever. Cosmic blessings to every brother and sister out there coming on hard times. We made this record to help people feel good because there’s a lot of darkness in this here world, and you’re not alone.

LAIS MW