Before arriving at Truck, I knew virtually nothing about The Priscillas, but I
was so blown away by their set of good-time rock & roll, punctuated with
high kicks, big riffs and bigger hair, within minutes of the confetti-splattered
finale, I was backstage with Jenny (vocals), Guri (guitar), Kate (bass) and
Hege (drums) and a dictaphone.

Maps: Have you ever been to Truck before?

Kate: No, never. My brother played here before with his band Chinese Burn.
He threw a dead crow at the organisers... I probably shouldn’t have said
that, should I?

Maps: Have you seen any good bands this weekend?

Kate: We saw The Priscillas. They were brilliant, they put on such a good
show! We were here yesterday and we saw iForward Russia!, they were
boring. I really was quite excited about seeing them, but I wasn’t so into them once they started playing all of their songs that sounded the same.

Hege: I saw a really good band last night, and that was a death metal band and it was called SCFT, the singer was mad. They were amazing.

Kate: We saw the Black Madonnas and they were brilliant for
four songs and then the power cut out. That was the biggest
disappointment, because we had to go and see The
Futureheads and they were boring.

Hege: Black Madonnas were really good because, the
electricity was gone for three quarters of an hour and they were
just still standing there on the stage, that’s really brave of them
I thought.

Kate: An hour later they were still standing there on the stage

waiting for the power to come back on, and the drummer was still playing.

Hege: In the darkness.

Guri: So did they start playing again when it came back on?

Hege: Yeah and then it cut out again after ten minutes, so they decided to
leave.

Kate: And we saw, Skullthrash, and I think probably they’re my favourite
band in the world now. They’re my new favourite band this week. They’re
like Spinal Tap, but better. The best bit was when the guitarist was right in
the middle of doing this stupid complicated solo and he fell over.

Hege: They were so enthusiastic, they were playing as if they were being
paid for it, which they probably aren’t.

Maps: How does Truck compare with other festivals that you've played?

Kate: It was really early in the day, so it’s a bit strange that it’s bright out.

Guri: But I actually liked that, I really appreciate that, to actually see the crowd. And compared to Glastonbury this is better. I like the size of it, it’s really easy to go to every stage. And the staff is good, the staff’s really nice.

Kate: And you don’t have to plan sort of twenty minutes ahead if you want to go to the other stage where you want to see another band.

The Priscillas made an early start, with their set on at 12:30 in
the afternoon, but managed to make a racket so enticing that it
drew people away from the Rotary Club's bacon sarnies and
rose the heavy sleepers from their beds.

Guri: We were hoping that it would start raining just as we
started playing so that everyone would come in.

Hege: But everybody was there anyway. ‘Cause we’re so cool.

Jenny: And modest.

Guri: Hege loves that.

Hege: I do love that, I love us.

Kate: Hege was a fan of the band before she joined. So that’s a little bit
less embarrassing.

They might not have got the rain when they wanted it, but there was plenty to
be had on Saturday, turning much of the festival into a muddy quagmire until
the stewards were able to dump half a barn's worth of hay onto it. What are
their top tips for staying glamorous in the mud?

Jenny: Guri and I took the champagne train up this morning, so we missed
it all. We missed out on the camping bit. Still, I'd recommend Ellenet
hairspray and PVC boots, screw wellies. These are just as waterproof.

Hege: Wet wipes and lots of extra make-up to freshen up half way through
the day.

Guri: And moisturise, moisturise, moisturise.

Kate: And make sure that you have a change of clothes with you as well for the evening.

Hege: That’s so practical!

Jenny: Layers and sparkly bag and you’re set.

It was at this point that I suddenly realised that I knew virtually
nothing about the band, beyond what I'd seen onstage fifteen
minutes ago.

Guri: We’ve got the mini-album out on Damaged Goods, with
five songs and two videos on it. And it’s really good.

Kate: It's called ‘Aloha from Holloway’

Guri: Yeah, that’s right and we’re just about to record some new
stuff, so hopefully in a few months we’ll be gracing the English

public with some more cracking tunes.

Kate: We’re constantly gigging.

Guri: And we’re going to Big Chill on the Friday night the Lost Vagueness
stage.

Jenny: And Bestival on the Isle of Wight… Oh, and we’re playing with The
Cramps on the 15th of August.

Guir: How could we forget!

Jenny: At the Astoria on August 15th

Guri: I’m going to faint at the feet of Poison Ivy. Then try and steal her guitar.

www.thepriscillas.com

Interview & Photography by Paul Madden