With just one week to go before Reading Festival gets underway, Victoria Birch asks Mallory Knox’s bassist Sam Douglas what they have in store for their Friday show.

The band are set to release their new single Ghost in the Mirror on Sunday, and their new album Asymmetry on October 13.

 

You’re set to play the NME stage at Reading Festival on Friday – what other bands will you be watching on that particular stage on that day?

There's a whole host of great bands playing that day but I'm going to do my absolute best to catch Jimmy Eat World, Queens of the Stone Age & Twin Atlantic on our day. However, I will be making the trip back down to Reading on the Sunday just so I can see Blink-182. I literally cannot miss that one!

What do you have planned for your fans when you play Reading?

Reading is always going to be the special one for us so I think naturally it's going to push us into putting on the best show that we can. We've not long released 2 new songs being "QODII" & "Ghost In The Mirror" from our upcoming 2nd album so those two songs will be getting played for the first time at a festival and I think we are planning on throwing in a brand new song that no one has heard yet so that's something to look out for.

How many times have you played Reading Festival before?

Just the once but it truly was my most memorable show to date. It's been a festival we've all dreamed about playing for years so when we got the call last year telling us that not only did we have the chance to play R&L but that it would also be opening up the Main Stage which all blew our tiny little minds. It was the most surreal experience and one that will stay with me throughout the rest of my life. It's also a huge honour to be asked to come back and play it two years in a row.

What has been your musical highlight so far this year?

It's been kind of a weird year for us considering at the very start of the year we started recording our new album and didn't leave the studio until around April and since then it's all been shooting music videos and photo shoots. We haven't really been able to play any shows so far so I kind of see R&L as the start of our year. Whilst we were recording the new album we did have a 10 day break where we went on tour supporting A Day To Remember which was amazing for us because they were some of the biggest shows we have played especially Alexandra Palace. That show sold out at 9000 capacity and that was something I thought we'd never get to do. Although we played to more people at R&L last year it almost becomes a whole different ball game when there's 9000 people under one roof so I'd say that's probably our highlight of the year so far.

Who is your favourite member of the band, and why?

Haha well we all have our pros and cons. I honestly couldn't pick. When you're out on tour with the same small group of people it's imperative that you all get along. Daves definitely the funniest member of the group, you can always count on him for a laugh. James is the guy that always on hand for a chat about gear or saving money on tour! Mikey is always there for a chat about UFO's or big conspiracy theories and me and Joe just talk about football all day long so for that, I like them all the same!

What is Mallory Knox up to at the moment?

Right now we just finished shooting a new music video for our 2nd single from our new album. We've also been doing all those boring bits behind the scenes to make sure everything is going to be ready for later on in the year. It's the calm before the storm for us right now but it all feels like we are really heading in the right direction.

Sum up the band in three words?

Lucky Driven Idiots