Latitude 2015 Wolf Alice: “The new headline band has so much more to prove”

After being tipped by Latitude organiser Melvin Benn to headline the festival in the future, Wolf Alice gave credit to the festival’s ability to take risks on new bill-toppers.

Speaking backstage ahead of their 6 Music set, the current DIY cover stars spoke about “young headliners” being given a leg up. “Alt-J did it last night. Was it Foals’ first UK headline a couple of years ago? And Ellie [Rowsell] just pointed out that Portishead aren’t your average headline act. It’s an interesting mix,” said bassist Theo Ellis. “Obviously Noel [Gallagher] - well he’s completely irrelevant. Younger bands though - they can get given a platform at Latitude. And I think that reaches out to other festivals. Or it should.”

Guitarist Joff Oddie added: “The ‘young’ headline band has so much more to prove by headlining something like this. Instead of it being a band that’ll headline things all summer.”

Asked if they’d be happy to step up and headline in the future, Ellis joked: “We need to talk about the fee first. Nah, we’ll do it for free.”

The four-piece also reflected on their mad Glastonbury weekend, where they were in the midst of a chart battle with Florence + The Machine, losing out by just over 500 copies. “It was obviously an experience that I’d love to have again,” said Ellis. “It definitely felt like there was something distinctly happening to us. It was just constant - the information we were taking in. Seeing the charts, bumping into band members and people tweeting about us. It was mental - honestly crazy.”

Photo: Emma Swann.