Untranslated Interview | Florence + the Machine (17.10.09)



First I have to ask you a basic question. Why do you call yourself “Florence + the Machine”?
Uhm, it’s kind of … it’s not like the band is ‘the machine’. I had the name before I even had the band. It’s kind of a joke between me and my friend Isabella. ‘Cause it’s about the computers and about when we were recording in our bedroom studio. She’s the one who just … like when we demoed in this tiny shoebox studio. And she would always been on the computer ‘cause I can’t. And she did all the … like recording and fiddling about on the computers and I would just sing or bang walls or something. She was always on the machine, that’s where I kinda got the name from, when I do a gig. Ah and it was like it had to be ‘Florence and the Machine’.

It seems that the album,‘Lungs’, is like a collection of fairy tales. Where does the affinity for that kind of storytelling come from?
You know I just read a lot when I was a kid and I’ve had some… I’ve had a lot of imaginary games and I was really interested in kind of telling stories and have being read to. I mean, I think I’ve got quite… a sort of dark imagination that can terrify me. I still sleep with the light on sometimes, ‘cause I can’t like… I’m just like (starts to whisper anxiously) OH GOD, THERE’S SOMETHING IN THE CORNER! (laughs). I think of evil things, but I mean, I think this is my way of using my imagination… maybe for some good use, not just to terrify me at night.

I’ve read somewhere that you prefer writing songs when you’re drunk. Tell me more about that.
I think I was drunk when I said that. Uhm… I think that sometimes if you’re in the studio, that really keeps away to loosen you up and like to get rid of your inhibitions. And sometimes it’s good to get pissed. But I wouldn’t say it’s like you have to. I’d say it in some ways it eases up your drain of thought a bit. Uhm… I mean sometimes you do your best work when you’re hung over, just because you’re like (sighs and takes a deep breath) OKAY, I’VE GOT TO CONQUER THIS, you know? And you’re just a bit… you just don’t really care about so much ‘cause you’re feeling so weird. It’s like this strange focus that comes without a memory… but I mean I’ve written some songs I really like on the tube just really sober, so I think I hardly remember really. So I wouldn’t say you have to be either.

When I listen to songs like “Girl With One Eye” or “Kiss With A Fist”, I can see that there’s an aggressive side in Florence as well. Were there any situations when you got really angry and wanted to smash things? When do you get really upset and explosive?
I really get angry with myself… I think I’m kind of… I would just turn it inwards. I always manage to… when something bad happens, I’m always like FUCK!, you know? I always think like OH MY GOD and get really really angry with myself. I’m not actually a very angry person. I’m more of a kind of… (stops speaking and thinks hard) … oh nah, I did punch an ex-boyfriend in the face.

Why that?
Oh God, because he was outside my house in the middle of the night… screaming and I was like (yells) AAAAAAAH!! … and we screamed at each other in the middle of the road and I was addressing the eye and he was screaming, so I punched him. But I’m actually not… that’s the only violent thing I’ve ever done. I’m actually more of a peacekeeper. I don’t really like fighting, that’s why I do it in my songs. It’s like my outlet.

I wonder what song from the album is your personal favourite… is there a song which is closest to an experience you’ve had?
Uhm… it seems like ‘Cosmic Love’ is probably my favourite on the album, like the recording of it. That was like that the hangover song. That was the song that came from the worst hangover I’ve ever had. And I didn’t even want to go to the studio, but Isabella made me come. And I layed on her floor and the song just came out of nowhere. It’s still not written down anywhere because it happened very quickly that the lyrics were already there. They just kind of wrote themselves. All the chords are so simple but the whole thing just came and it was like YEAH, LET’S GET DRUNK AGAIN (laughs)! I love it so much! It was like… we finished it! It took us like an hour till we finished it. And we were standing on top of chairs… just like yeeeeaah! (loud laughter) Amaaaazing! I think to perform live, I think ‘Between Two Lungs’ is probably my favourite. Because I think that’s when I really realize… the song, for me, I think it got quite what I was going for. Not the recording, but live… it’s like, I really want that sound to be overwhelming. And I think live, you can really do that.

You’ve also recorded a lot of cover songs, for example ‘Hospital Beds’ from The Cold War Kids. And I wonder, if you had to cover a song from ABBA, what would it be and why?
Interesting question… (thinks hard) … uhm I try to remember them. All I can think of now is (starts to sing) GIMME, GIMME, GIMME A MAN AFTER MIDNIGHT, WON’T SOMEBODY HELP ME … but they’ve got like some darker ones. What other songs they have? Remind me.

Mamma Mia…
No…

Dancing Queen…
(gets excited) Oh yeah, Dancing Queen, yeah definitely!! I LOVE that song!! But I was like 8 or 9, remember having this Polly Pocket Disco. Remember Polly Pocket, so… like little toys. But I had Polly Pocket Disco that have been in the tape player and on the disco compilation was ‘Dancing Queen’.

So you’re playing your first concert here in Zurich at Mascotte. Have you visited Zurich that day?
No, I just walked around here. It’s very beautiful.

And what have you planned to get recognition from the Swiss audience? Because you’re still quite an underground artist here…
Oh well I’ll just get dressed up and kind of trying to channel some spirits or something on stage.

So it’ll be…
Virtualistic. I kind of want people to feel like they’re a part of some sort of exorcism (laughs).

(mip)

That's amazing
Props to you!
she seems lovely.

Cause im nice, and your a friend
i'll let you interview me
iv sold millions of records
and have had THE MOST vogue covers
beat that Florence!! haha

Great stuff
Nice pic in the other thread aswell ;)

Thank you so much :D It was HARD work typing that up from the recording machine. British English can be hella difficult to understand.

depends on the accent i guess!

Cornwall... don't know the grade of difficulty though. :P It just seemed that she swallowed a lot of words and expressions during the interview. I had to add some things to it to get a logical context.

But I love Cornwall accent!! Certainly much more delightful than that hard London slang.

Cornwall is my accent pretty much
its pretty much nothing
though you get full on cornish

I think Cornwall accent sounds very polished and clean im comparison to other, pretty rough English accents. I like it very much.

Yeah, cornish accent is pretty much a southern accent
somtimes considered posh
i like having the accent tbh, if you can call it that
alot of people from london speak like that
though of course you get the cockny accents.
then as you go up north everything starts changing.

IT'S PUBLISHED NOW... WITH THE VIDEO!! :D UUUUUUUH, AMAZING!

http://gay.ch/people/people/florence.html

Congrats on the interview Mark! Its a nice little thing to get you started in the jouralism profession. :)

Thx :D Having my second interview today... with a German girl group called Queensberry!

Exciting!!

Thats great. I remember them covering Bike by Little Miss Jackson!

Well I think it's pretty amazing how they kinda sound like the Sugababes now. :blink: Listening to their new album ON MY OWN makes me reminiscent of the THREE era very much!