A Flaming stage invasion

Some of you may know last year I was standing by the side of the stage for N.E.R.D at Glastonbury when they called for moshers. Within seconds I was up on the Pyramid Stage rocking out during lapdance next to Pharell in front of thousands of people in yellow wellies doing embarrassing mum dancing! This year I felt I couldn't go without some sort of onstage antics so when asked by Flaming Lips manager if I fancied joining a load of croatian teens to dance in a silly outfit onstage for the WHOLE of their set at the INmusic festival in Croatia's capital Zagreb, I couldn't really pass him up on the offer.

Admittedly I was eager to back away as soon as I saw the costume but upon that first sighting of the orange monstrosity, I was immediately enrolled into the group by one of the roadies and there was no going back! The show really was something else from that vantage point though. The ultimate showman, Wayne Coyne entered the stage and walked on top of the crowd in his "space bubble' and throughout the set there were confetti canons, smoke machines and hundreds of giant balloons thrown into the crowd. Seeing 20,000 passionate Europeans singing every word to Do You Realize is something I'll never forget.

I caught up with Wayne Coyne at the hotel before the show and we looked ahead to Glastonbury. They are headlining the Other Stage on Friday night. No doubt it's going to be spectacular. Listen to a bit of that interview below:




The reason I went to the INmusic festival was to write a piece for BBC Entertainment Online about Croatia's blossoming festival market. It's here if you've got some time to kill have a read....

Watch This (My)Space - 2:54

They are friends with The XX, who have royally smashed it here and in the US and probably everywhere else. A friend 'in the know' recommended them to me. They are a very new addition to MySpace.

They are 2:54. Listen to Creeping. Love it.

Fake Blood funk

Stupidly catchy and danceable summer choon I can't get out of my head courtesy of Fake Blood from his last EP Fix Your Accent.

New Strokes album 'amazing'

THE band of the last decade The Strokes made their live return on UK soil last weekend with performances at the Isle of Wight festival and Rockness. It was admittedly the reason I went to the festival and they smashed it, despite playing no new material from that fourth album which every Strokes fan is yearning for. Julian Casablancas was as 'rock 'n' roll' as ever with some cringeworthy inter-song ramblings which verged on embarrassing dad drunk at a wedding, but all the same the band were still tight. They weren't doing press but I chatted to two friends of the New York dons; singer Devendra Banhart and Noah Georgeson, who produced Little Joy (the side-project of Strokes drummer Fab Moretti). They gave me a wee album update.

Listen here:

Florence's Fine Fashion

Florence Welch aka Florence and the Machine just after I chatted to her at Isle of Wight festival for 6 Music. Stardom is clearly treating her very nicely as she came complete with gorgeous leather Mulberry jacket and John Lennon-esque shades! The singer supported Jay Z on the Main Stage to a full field, two years after her last appearance at the festival where she was DJing for an hour. G'wan girl!

IOW: The wonder of Juliette

Was truly lucky to meet the legend that is Juliette Lewis at the weekend at Isle of Wight. I watched the early Johnny Depp classic What's Eating Gilbert Grape last week and LOVED it so it was even more crazy to chat to her. PLUS she worked with Omar from Mars Volta on her latest album Terra Incognita. Bam, that's a touch. And who could forget Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers!? She was rocking some serious double denim too - in a good way - with some amazing flares with American flags on them and a denim jacket. As if she wasn't cool enough with her matching blue hair, when she came down the media run to me she started raving about my feather earring and Tatty Devine genie lamp necklace. Wish I'd given my earring to her right then and there! I have four. That would have been alright! "Here you go Jules, my treat!" Oh hindsight isn't a wonderful thing really, it's like the time I walked past Diplo the day after the best DJ set ever at Mad Decent Soundystem. Still wish I'd hi-fived him. He played a dubstep version of Pixies Where Is My Mind?. TOO MUCH.

Warpaint’s warpath to success

Los Angeles all female four-piece Warpaint brought their own brand of experimental art rock to London's Lexington last night (24 May), and what an attack it was.

At Brighton's Great Escape festival earlier this month and at South By South West before that, they were the talk of the town, quite rightly so.

These girls know how to rock, and so accomplished they are in their roles, their playful and dynamic live show takes on a life of it's own compared with their dreamy Mazzy Star-esque MySpace tracks.

With only eleven songs in the set, they played for over an hour, owing to the space they give the tunes to develop legs and meander into some experimental jam.

The drum and bass unit were both busting matching brilliant red, all-in-one romper suits and maybe it was their eye-catching attire, or the fact that they were centre stage no further than a meter away from each other at all times, but I couldn't take my eyes off them.

Australian lean mean drumming machine Stella Mozgawa barely broke a sweat, driving the band with post-punk rhythms, while bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg's body undulated as she emitted strong, repetitive bassline grooves.

Their on-stage chemistry was expressed further when percussionist Stella swapped with Theresa to play some guitar on Set Your Arms Down, and she and Jenny knelt together on the floor, occasionally touching heads as if they were conjoined twins sharing the same musical frequency (pictured above).

Their sounds underpinned the stirring guitar parts and hypnotic vocals of Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman, which would peak and trough in and out of epic crescendos.

Warpaint count Billy Zane, the late Heath Ledger and former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante - who gladly mixed their debut EP Exquisite Corpse - among their fans.

40 Days and 40 Nights actress Shannyn Sossamon, who was the original drummer and is the sister of Jenny Lee Lindberg, was in the audience as was Babyshambles' Drew McConnell and BBC 6 Music presenter Steve Lamacq, who has been championing them on his show.

The crowd was also smattered with an intriguing group of shaven-headed, somewhat lairy lads, who looked as if they'd accidentally missed the pub playing the England match and ended up there.

However, they turned out to be super fans, singing every word to the band's commercial calling-card, Billie Holiday, which features the melody from Mary Wells' Motown classic My Guy.

It seems the secret's out and the fast-rising band could be quite a success in the UK, deservedly so.

Their lush shoegaze melodies can obviously melt the hardest of hearts and what's more, we have their first album to look forward to as they've been in the studio with Grammy Award-winning producer Tom Biller.

He recorded the acclaimed Punch Drunk Love soundtrack, among others, helped launch the Silversun Pickups' career and recently co-produced the Where The Wild Things Are Soundtrack written by Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Warpaint's debut LP is scheduled to be released this year, August I believe. Watch out, because this talented bunch seem to be on the right warpath to greatness.

SET LIST

Warpaint
Stars
Jubilee
Beetles
Polly
Composure
Bees
Billie
Set Your Arms Down
Elephants
Amazing