“We love the chaos, and Reading’s the best fit…”
AMONG the veritable smorgasbord of rough and ready rock acts on offer on Reading Festival’s steely Saturday bill was Mouth Culture.
Hailing from Leicester, the band features frontman Jack Voss, flanked by bassist Todd Groome and guitarist Mason Clifford.
While their attitude is laid-back, even laconic, their focus as a band is like a laser beam, with their sights set on blistering, boisterous rock–making them a perfect fit in a line-up replete with rock legends.
Todd says of playing the festival: “It’s pretty surreal to be here, it’s one of those that we’ve dreamed of since we started the band.”
Jack concurs: “This was on our big bucket list, and it’s actually happened– there were moments throughout the set where we could really feel it.”
Mouth Culture have a classic rock sound which has classically been the focus at Reading, but despite a recent diversification of the event’s offerings, the band’s presence is a testimony to the ongoing provision for fans of the genre.
Todd says: “It’s something we value a lot in our sound–we write what we know will work live, and to have a platform at such an iconic festival with those rock roots; and with the crowd we had, it was crazy.”
Jack explains: “When we were walking through back stage, they have every single line-up poster on the walls from every year.
“I said to my girlfriend: ‘we’re on it now– that’s mad’
“We’re always going to be part of it now, you can’t take us off– well, you could, but it’d be a bit harsh!”
As for the crowds, Todd says: “We couldn’t have asked for better– they were kicking up so much dust, it got a bit worrying at one point.
“As the tent started filling up while we were setting up, I looked out and thought ‘f*ck, people have really shown up.’
“Festivals in general have a completely different feel to other shows, there’s an urgency to it, a different kind of nerve to it– and a different kind of excitement.
“It kinda puts you in a hyperfocus mode, we’re locked in; you really bounce off of each other.”
Reading Festival is considered by some to have a grit to it, as many UK festivals do in comparison with their international counterparts– something the band celebrates.
Jack says: “When we’ve been touring, sometimes you really have to slum it– but that’s rock ‘n’ roll, it’s just part of it– we love the chaos, and Reading’s the best fit for us for that.
Todd adds: “You’re looking to stand out, not for ego, but you want to do something that not everyone’s doing–we strive for that.”
Saturday saw the band share the bill with the likes of Becky Hill, Limp Bizkit, Enter Shikari, and Bring Me The Horizon–seeing the latter of which is the realisation of another goal for frontman Jack.
“I’ve still never seen Bring Me The Horizon live, so we can let our hair down now!
“We’ve played like three or four festivals with Un-people, we’ve always clashed or something else has got in the way.
“We really did wanna see South Arcade, but we were playing at the same time today.”
With Reading ticked off the bucket list, the band has set their sights on a headline tour later this year: “We’re touring the UK in October, we’ve got Burn It Down Festival next week, and we’re going to be putting out a lot of new music.”
Despite the busy schedule, however, Mouth Culture are taking it in their stride: “It’s actually been quite quiet!”
Mason explains: “We go through stages where we’re so involved, have a lot of shows, and periods of downtime where we’re productive with writing.
“But you just always want to be playing, we hate sitting still for too long.”
Mouth Culture are off on a headline tour from October — more details and tickets available via: mouthculture.com
