The Staves have been handpicked by Elbow’s Guy Garvey to play this year’s Southbank Meltdown festival which he’s curating. Emily Staveley-Taylor answers five questions ahead of playing Royal Festival Hall on 14 June.
WHO would play you in the film of your life?
Well that’s a tricky one with three of us. Maybe Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy, like in Hocus Pocus. We’ll leave it to you to decide who gets to play who.
WHAT are you currently working on?
We’ve just finished making an EP, which should be out soon and we’re rehearsing a set for our North American tour in June. In the middle of that tour we’ll be flying home to do Guy Garvey’s Meltdown at the Southbank, so we’re planning something special for that. Oh, and we’re rehearsing with Bon Iver ahead of a four night stint at Sydney Opera House at the end of May. Going to be a mad couple of months ahead!
WHY do you do that thing you do?
We’d be doing it whether people were listening or not, so it must be a deeply essential thing. Singing together is joy in its purest form. Making music together is a very necessary way of making sense of the world. It’s like therapy. And touring is a riot! I think we’d go mad if we didn’t do this.
WHERE do you see yourself in ten years?
On Crimewatch.
WHEN will there be a harvest for the world?
When Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders are in charge!
For more on Meltdown – including details of shows from Robert Plant, Femi Kuti, Guy Garvey, Richard Hawley, I Am Kloot, Nadine Shah, Laura Marling and more – head to Southbankcentre.co.uk/meltdown.
