We were invited along to catch the mighty PLACEBO when they performed at the Canons Marsh Amphitheatre in the heart of Bristol a while back. Being the adventurous person I am, I reached out to Anna from a band called FRIEDBERG who opened for them on the night and asked if we could have a chat to her after their set. Naturally, she jumped at the chance and met us behind the main bar to chat, here’s how we got on….

Fresh off the stage at the Canons Ampitheatre here in the heart of Bristol is London/Berlin based Friedberg, I read that you are an alt rock band and an alt pop band, which would you say you were? 

Ah, that’s a good question, we were talking about this recently and we have agreed on a new description as everyone keeps asking, so we are now alternative pop, with a bit of dance/punk in there. 

There you have it folks, don’t ask Anna anymore, she said it here first! 

 

You have literally come off the stage about 20 minutes ago, how was your set tonight? 

It was really fun, the sun was starting to set and lots of people had come early to watch us play which is really nice to see, we really enjoyed it. 

Were people really up for it? 

It’s Friday, so yeah, I think they were! 

 

You’re supporting Placebo tonight, are you all big fans of their work? 

Personally, I’m not that familiar with their music but our bass player is a HUGE fan, I have started to listen to their music a lot more lately and I really like what I have heard so far! 

 

You toured the USA and Canada in April, from East to West, setting off in New York and ending up in Los Angeles, is there an amusing story that you can tell us from your time on the road? 

Oh my god, there are too many stories from the time on the road in America! I think what surprised me the most is that there were many of our fans following us on the tour and even got tattoos of our cowbells, we had to draw them for them and then they went and got them tattooed, crazy! 

 

How was the tour? Did you have a great time? 

We did, it was a blast travelling around, we spent around 8 hours per day in the van which sounds awful, but it was great fun, we saw a lot of the country and LOADS of petrol stations! 

 

Were you in a luxury tour bus or hopping from place to place in a U-Haul van and crashing in hotels and motels along the way? 

We had a luxury Sprinter style van which was great, we hopped from Airbnb to Airbnb which worked well for us. On a tour bus, you don’t see anything, you are sleeping, and you miss the scenery so whilst I missed the comfort, I think that we enjoyed being in the smaller van a lot more. 

 

Did you notice a change in the audience as you travelled from East to West? What about between UK and US audiences? 

It’s funny you say that because yes, we noticed it. On the East coast and in Canada, people were a lot more outgoing and up for a good time (Washington DC was CRAZY!) whereas the audience on the West coast were way more laidback and chilled.  

 

Were there places on the tour that you hadn’t played before? 

Oh yes, we had never played Canada before so that was a first for us and there were many cities that we had not played in before, Washington DC being one of them. 

 

Which was your favourite place or venue on the tour? 

I really enjoyed the shows we did on the East coast and the Canadian dates because we had never played there before. Chicago was amazing! 

They call Chicago ‘The Windy City’, was it windy there? 

I don’t remember, I only remember the pizza, it was immense! 

The Windy Pizza City! 

 

Life on the road can be punishing, tell me your top three survival tips? 

1. Don’t rely on gas station food, it’s not the best! 

2. Get a coolbox and buy healthy food to survive! 

3. Get some sleep when you can on the road 

 

Your new track ‘The Greatest’ is out now, how does it feel to know it’s out there for everyone to hear? 

Oh, it’s a great feeling, as soon as it was released, it feels like you are no longer pregnant! 

It is your baby! 

It is my baby, yeah! It’s so nice to be able to share it with the world properly! 

  

Has it been a track that you have been playing live on your recent tour? 

We started playing it on the US/Canadian tour, it’s nice to be able to play new songs as you do start to tire of your older material and it’s so nice to play something that the audience may have never heard before. 

 

The video looked like it was fun to make, I saw on Instagram that it was recorded in Peckham, how long did it take to get it all done? 

Ha, that’s a good question, we actually took just one day to record the whole thing! This was an amazing feat as we had so many costume changes and also the technical elements which were quite tricky. We started at 7am and finished at 9:30pm so it was a long day 

Any interesting things happen whilst you were recording it? 

We shot the video on the BUSIEST street in Peckham and all day long, people were coming up and speaking to us, asking what we were doing, it must have looked very funny to them! 

I read a couple of features on the band, and they all appear to mention a cowbell, has this always played a major part in your set? 

It was the Saturday night Live sketch that got me into the cowbell (laughs) - “what we need, is more cowbell” 

I see that it also features on the tour poster as well! 

Yes, a post-punk band from New York called ESG got me into the cowbell after I saw them live 

We’ll blame them then! 

Yes, and LCD Soundsystem as well! 

 

With ‘The Greatest’ out now, I want to know what’s next for Friedberg, more new music in the pipeline? 

Oh yes, there’s more new music in the pipeline and there may even be an album in the pipeline! 

Dare I ask WHEN we might see the album? 

It might be this year (hint hint) 

 

What is the best social site to keep in touch up to date with your musical happenings? 

Instagram is the best place to keep up to date with all things Friedberg 

TikTok scares me.... 

Same, I guess I just don’t really understand how it works, I need to spend more time on TikTok and work out how we can use it for the best, watch this space! 

We’d like to thank Anna for sparing the time to chat to us and we wish her and the band every success in the future. Keep your eyes on their Instagram page for news of forthcoming new music and the album that Anna teased us about above.

Interview by Steve Muscutt