Eagulls talk Reading & Leeds: “It’s a rite of passage, innit”

Eagulls have a long history with Reading & Leeds - or the latter, anyway. The band formed not long after frontman George Mitchell and guitarist Liam Matthews met at the festival.

“I went with Liam’s older brother,” drummer Henry Ruddel explains ahead of their Lock Up stage set, “and I introduced you [George] to him, we camped together. I think we went to Leeds twice, aged 17 or 18, same as everyone else.

“It’s a rite of passage, innit. Those kids who are watching us, we did that when we were their age, mostly the stage we played on, so it’s weird, six years on, to be on the stage.”

“I nearly got kicked out of Leeds,” George laughs, “I was there with my girlfriend at the time and you know when you get your tent spot, these people kept walking through our campsite, and my girlfriend said ‘Don’t walk through it’ and I just heard this ruckus.

“It was my girlfriend at the time having a fight, she actually hit him in the face, and he was a model! A security guard choke-slammed me onto the grass verge, and put us in a Land Rover to get booted out. The police said ‘Explain this’ and I said ‘They’ve got drugs’, not knowing they did.

“Anyway, they actually did, so they got booted out. It felt like an accomplishment.”