Deaf Havana will be playing Reading Festival’s main stage today.

Here Max Britton, who lives in Wooburn Common and plays keyboards in the band, explains how performing at the show is a dream come true after visiting the festival as a youngster.

Victoria Birch reports.

 

You’re playing the main stage at Reading Festival. How does that feel?

It feels amazing.

We have a great slot half way up the main stage billing amongst bands that I’ve grown up listening to, so it’s an absolute honour.

 

What do you have planned for the Reading Festival show?

Nothing that crazy, no fireworks or trapeze acts.

We’ve always been a band who tries to get the raw emotion across in songs and like to let the music do the talking.

There are a lot of bands and artists these days who hide behind backing tracks and we’ve always wanted to show that we’re great musicians and we can write great songs.

 

Are there any bands that you want to see that are playing there this year?

I’d like to see the Arctic Monkeys as I have never had the chance to see them before and have heard great things.

Jimmy Eat World are a band I’ve grown up listening to for many years so I will definitely watch them as they are on straight after us.

There’s also an up and coming soul artist called Kwabs who I’m interested in seeing and there are a few hip-hop acts dotted around that I would like to check out.

 

Do you camp over at the festival and make an event of it?

We play Reading on the Friday and then have to travel up to Leeds to play on Saturday so we can’t camp but we always stay for the Sunday to watch more bands and make the most of the festival.

 

Did you used to attend the festival as a fan, before making it big with Deaf Havana?

Yeah, I went to Reading festival 2008, 2009 and 2010 before the band first played it in 2012.

It feels incredible playing the festival I use to come to when I was younger and it makes you appreciate it even more.

 

How do you start off when faced with the massive task of writing an album? Where do you find your inspiration?

As a band we spend a lot of time touring overseas as well as the UK and our singer James writes lyrics all year round about travelling, his home and the people in his life.

So when it comes to the time when we need to write an album theres usually a lot of material there already.

 

Where does the name Deaf Havana come from?

Haha, we always get this question and it’s never a very exciting answer.

An old member made it up years ago randomly, it doesn’t have any reason or meaning behind it.

 

Who is the most famous person listed in your phone?

Probably my friend Josh, he’s the singer in a band called You Me At Six.

 

What’s planned for 2015?

In 2015 we will be releasing a new album and doing some great tours and big shows that I’m not allowed to go into detail about.

We’re all very excited as 2015 is looking like a very big year for Deaf Havana!