Glass Animals talk fleeting UK visits and Stateside success at Reading 2015

It’s over a year old, but Oxford four-piece Glass Animals’ debut album ‘Zaba’ continues to turn heads around the world. None more so than in North America, where they’ve been playing to crowds in the thousands night-after-night.

“We just added another bloody tour, as well,” says frontman Dave Bayley backstage at Reading Festival, on a rare visit back to the UK. “America is totally mad, in a good way,” agrees drummer Joe Seaward. “There doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. We keep going back to the same cities and there are still people who care.”

Every time they return to the country, there seems to be more demand and fever for Glass Animals. On stage, too, they look a more polished force. “We’ve started having more fun,” claims Bayley. “ It’s just experience. It becomes less terrifying and more exciting. Early on, it’s a scary thing to do. When it becomes more normal, you can think about how to express yourself, rather than just getting it over and done with. Getting thrown onto a festival stage after a twenty-minute changeover is a crazy idea, but once you get your head around that, you can begin to embrace it,” says Joe.

“It’s weird. It’s like every hour of work we do results in things getting a bit more exciting. That’s a gratifying way of doing things, instead of having it on a plate. You have to work for it, in a way. It makes it very worthwhile when things get better.”

Glass Animals play the Radio 1 / NME Stage at Reading Festival today, 16.50.