Lower Than Atlantis: “We were scared as we played just after Royal Blood”

It’s no secret that Lower Than Atlantis are fast becoming one of the most talked about UK rock bands of the moment, so it’s no surprise that their set at Reading 2014 went down a right treat. There were, however, a few obstacles to overcome first…

“We were really scared,” admits frontman Mike Duce, after playing the NME / Radio 1 stage, “because we played just after Royal Blood and I guess when it was booked, I dunno, they hadn’t released anything? Now, obviously, Royal Blood are the,” he emphasises, “band and we could hear people screaming from our dressing room. I could hear everyone while I was warming up; I was singing and I could still hear them. I was crapping myself! It was cool though, it was great.”

Even after getting over their collective nerves, things didn’t go entirely to plan. “We played ‘Here We Go’ last, but it nearly got cut,” he divulges. “We went on three minutes late and as we went on, our tour manager was like, ‘You have to cut ‘Marilyn’s Mansion’ which is our shortest song, otherwise we’d run over by two minutes. When it came to that point in the set, there’s that and then a guitar change, so I went to change my guitar but Ben was like, ‘No, just play it anyway.’ I was like, ‘Really?!’ and he said, ‘Just fucking play it!” Apparently our tour manager had to plead with the stage manager not to cut us off before we played ‘Here We Go’ which is our biggest song.”

Needless to say, it was all alright on the night, with the crowd really going off for their final offering. “Yeah, it was great. We absolutely loved it.”