Festival chat: Super Furry Animals - "Reading 1989 was the last time I drank Thunderbird wine"

Guto Pryce, bassist of the psychedelic Super Furry Animals, reminisces on his festival experiences
Festival ready: Guto and co are excited for Caught By The River Thames festival
Cerys Kenneally29 April 2016

Our series of quick fire questions with some of this year's top festival artists reveals their best and worst experiences at festivals around the world.

What was your first ever festival?

Reading in 1989, just after I got my GCSE results. It used to be terrible, with bands like Starship and Meatloaf, but that year was incredible – New Order headlined, and it was only £33 to get in. I also met Gruff and Daf from the Furries for the first time there, we watched Spaceman 3 together. It was the last time I drank Thunderbird wine.

How has the festival scene changed since you started out?

Massively. There are two or three every weekend now, but few that stand out, with a real identity, like End of the Road and Green Man. I’m looking forward to Caught By The River Thames – it’s done by Heavenly Records and they’re really on a roll.

The Super Furries famously used to arrive at festivals in a tank...

That was 1996, and it was a lot of fun. I’m sure our label, Creation, loved it, as a piece of publicity. The tank cost £10,000, about the same as a page advert in the NME, and people still talk about it now. It was a statement for us. We’d decommissioned a tank and were using it a part of a peaceful protest against the Criminal Justice Bill, which was an erosion of human rights. It became a party hub for like-minded people.

What is the best festival set you’ve seen?

Daft Punk did the most spectacular show I’ve ever seen in Spain. There was just this vast pyramid of video screens, with the two robots at the top. It was ridiculous.

Festivals in London this summer

1/21

And as a festival vet, what’s your top tip for surviving the summer?

I always like to do a festival close to home so I can drive home to my own bed. I never slept on the tank. It’s not very comfy inside the machine.

SFA play Caught By The River Thames, Electric Picnic and Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia

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