Reading 2016 Blaenavon talk festival tips and guitar solos at Reading 2016

“We’ve heard Leeds is already fucked from the rain, so we’re bracing ourselves for that,” remarks Blaenavon bassist Frank Wright, ahead of their Festival Republic stage performance at Reading 2016.

The band are racing towards their upcoming debut album with force, and warmed up for this weekend’s pair of performances with a secret set last night at Reading’s Oakford Social Club. “We asked the crowd for their ‘festival pointers’, and they had nothing, so we’re on our own.”

In terms of the band’s own tips for Reading, they’re somewhat short of advice too. “I’ll just hold up a can of beer after every song and shout “GCSEs!!” says frontman Ben Gregory. “We play like five songs in a row that all have guitar solos in them, so I think that’ll do the work for us.”

The band haven’t had a show for a month, and Reading and Leeds marks the start of a huge run of 35 UK dates to close out the year, including a huge London show at Scala. “We’ve had a great run of festivals, and Latitude was especially good. It’s such a quiet, reserved festival but the crowd for us and for The Big Moon, who played just after us, were right up for it.”

The band are dismayed to learn that The Big Moon aren’t playing this weekend - “they follow us everywhere! They’re our rivals.” Blaenavon find themselves amongst a flurry of new UK bands with big ambitions, who have flourished on 2016’s festival circuit. “We love them really,” whispers Ben, if it weren’t clear enough already.

As for so many at this festival, Ben first came to Reading with GCSEs in hand, before the band played their label Transgressive’s night at the Leeds leg back in 2013. After a month off, Reading and Leeds see Blaenavon kick start the rest of their 2016, a four months that look to be extremely bright indeed.