Nardwuar Vs. Florence And The Machine

Nardwuar: Who are you?
Florence Welch: I'm Florence?

From?
Uh, London.

From Florence And The Machine!
Yes! [laughing] I'm scared you're going to hit me in the face with that [the microphone]!


Welcome to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Florence.
Thank you for having me.

I have a gift for you, right off the bat.
Really?

Yes, it is a 12-inch single from your friend, Pharoahe… [hands over a Pharoahe Monch "Body Baby" single]
Monch! Oh, my God! I love Pharoahe Monch!



What can you tell the people about Pharoahe Monch?
Well, I can't tell you that much about him. Just that he's, like, one of my favourite artists, I think. And "Simon Says" is one of my favourite songs of all time, pretty much. When I was like, 15, that was pretty much what we were singing along to. We used to go to this like, hip-hop club in London. It was pretty fun.

So I thought that would be something to welcome you to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
How kind of you! I love Vancouver. Everyone's so nice. [laughs]

Florence, I was curious, is it true that you drink stuff that gets thrown up on stage?
Wha? I wouldn't drink things that someone had thrown up on stage! [laughs] But I mean, sometimes people send me like, shots and drinks up on on stage, but you gotta be careful. I mean, I check what it is first. [laughs]

It was at T In The Park that you did that, didn't you?
Yes, and in New York. Actually, the other day someone gave me a tequila shot on stage. Tequila equals bruises. [laughing, shows a big bruise on her arm] At the afterparty, cuz tequila induces much flailing dancing and I bruise very easily so...

How do you check if it's okay, Florence? I'm curious.
You just gotta have faith. [laughs] Gotta have faith in the fans that they're not trying to poison you.

I know a band called The Phobics from Camberwell.
Really?

Yes, and the lead singer Tom said he may have given you a ticket to All Tomorrow's Parties. Do you remember anything about that?
I remember going to All Tomorrows Parties. I don't quite remember Tom from The Phobics there. I don't know if he did give me a ticket. But I definitely went one time.

He said that you owe  him some money.
[laughs] I don't think so.

How about the band, The Violets? Have you heard of them?
No. Are they from Camberwell, too?

Yes, I think they're from Camberwell.
I think I just read something about them. The Violets, are they three girls?

I think it's a girl singer.
I don't know them.

And The Cherry Reds, a punk band?
Wow! This is all Camberwell gliteratti! No, I don't know them, either. I have to get back to Camberwell. The scene's back, it seems. [laughs]

Now, Camberwell. Boris Karloff is from Camberwell.
Oh, really?

Boris Karloff, famous movie actor, Frankenstein, lived in Vancouver for a bit. A connection!
[laughs] Amazing.

A Camberwell-Vancouver connection, but there's more. You like Fairuza…
Balk. Yes.

Who lived in…
No way!

Yes!
No way! No! No way! Are you serious?

Yes, she lived in Vancouver.
You're making that up.

No, she lived in Vancouver, Fairuza Balk.
I thought you were gonna say she lived in Camberwell. [laughs] I was like... whoa. I can imagine she lived in... I was about to like lose it, cuz I thought Fairuza Balk came from Camberwell, but Vancouver is still pretty cool.

But you like Fairuza, though. The Craft, that was important for Florence. That was important.
Um, yeah. Huge film for me.

But more Camberwell-Vancouver connections, well kind of, cuz you like Hot Hot…
Hot Hot Heat?

Yes, who live in Vancouver.
Yeah, oh well, they did a really good song with Lightspeed Champion, who's a friend of mine.

Florence, you seem to be fascinated by cutting.
Cutting... What do you mean?

The circumcision of Christ.
No, not particularly...

Saint Agatha?
Oh, Saint Agatha. What with her, she cut off her own breasts and put them on a plate. That was, I think that was just a real, like... My mum took me to a lot of Italian churches when I was a kid, and I think that was one frieze that sort of stuck with me because it's a pretty violent image.

There's a connection, though, to Florence, between cutting nipples and breasts, isn't there?
Why? [laughs]

Your harpist! Didn't he almost have his tits ripped off?
Yeah! [laughs] He, uh, was doing a gig, and he thought it would be cool to put like, bicycle clamps on his nipples, you know, so they would flash underneath his vest the whole time.

After a while, he was like, "Oh, my God, this is really hurting." He had to stop playing. He's like the punk harpist, he had like, bright pink hair and these bicycle clips flashing and he's like, "This is really painful, this is really painful."

But he kept going, all through the whole show, and when the show ended he looked down and his whole shirt was soaked in blood, and when he took the clamps off, yeah, it was kinda flat. [laughs] But, yeah, he is the rock 'n' roll harpist.

I have another Canadian connection for you, Florence.
Uh...

You love Little House On The… [gives Florence a Little House On The Prairie lunchbox]
Prairie! Oh, my God! That's so cool! Thank you so much!



I'm not sure if this is a gift, but Little House On The Prairie, how does this connect to Florence And The Machine?
When I was a kid, I was really obsessed with Little House On The Prairie, and me and my sister used to like, make our bunk beds into the house and then the rest of the room would be the prairie. We would have like, a towel for a lake and stuff. I was like, really boring. [laughs, then looks closer at the lunchbox]

It's actually signed by Nellie Oleson, that's signed by Nellie Oleson, but she is not on the lunch box. There's Nellie right here [Nardwuar pulls out a Nellie Oleson pic], Nellie Oleson, there she is.  Believe it or not, there's a Canadian connection because her mom was born in Vancouver.
Oh, my God.

Nellie Oleson's mom was born in Vancouver and was the voice of Casper The Friendly Ghost!
No way! [laughs]

Nellie Oleson's mom was the voice of Casper The Friendly Ghost!
Casper The Friendly Ghost.

I have some lyrics for you here, Florence, from Nick Cave.
Okay...

"Bukowski was a jerk…but Berryman was the best." [Nardwuar then hands Florence a John Berryman book.]
Oh, I love John Berryman so much.



What can you tell the people about John Berryman?
John Berryman is one of my favourite poets. My favourite collection is probably Dream Songs, I think, and he was a very famous, um, sort of quiet, tragically... He died of drinking, John Berryman. But he is really just my favourite poet ever. This is wonderful.

I have another book I want to ask you about Florence, from Florence And The Machine. This particular book right here is called Recollections Of Three Reigns. [Nardwuar pulls out a book]
Yes.

And it's by this guy Sir Frederick Ponsonby, and he was a personal assistant to basically the Lady Gaga, Kanye West and Jay-Z of his time. Some important people.
[laughs]

Now, if you open this book right here to the mark that I have there, who did the intro to this book right here? Who did the intro?
Oh, my God. My grandfather.



I thought that's amazing. Your grandfather did the intro to this book about Lady Gaga, Jay-Z and Kanye West. What can you tell the people about your grandfather and his writing?
My grandfather (Colin Welch) um... my grandfather was the editor of The Telegraph, which is a newspaper in England, and he also was a journalist. He was actually at the Nuremberg Trials, he did a piece on the Nuremberg Trials there, so, yeah he's got, like, a few books. This is amazing. Wow. How crazy.



Florence, winding up here, I have some quotes. "Get your pins out!"
[laughs] That's what all the women, female, video directors I've worked with have been saying to me. [laughs]

And why is that? That's your legs, right, your pins?
I think, like, women, especially female video directors, are all about showing the legs. Girls love legs.

And Florence have you about playing with any of the other "and" bands? For instance, you are Florence and The…
Machine.

But there's also Atom And His…
Ants?

Package!
[laughs]

And you're nickname is Flo…
Flossie.

Flossie. And there's a band called Flossie And The Unicorns. [Nardwuar pulls out a Flossie And The Unicorns album]
Oh, that's cute.



It is amazing. It's music for puppet shows.
Oh, that's so cute.

And Quintron is in the band, the amazing spellcaster, Quintron!
Music for puppet shows, I like that.

Why should people care about Florence And The Machine? Why should people care, Florence?
You don't have to. I mean, if you come to the show and you like it, you know... Uh, it's just about, I think it's about seeing the live show really, and then you can make up your mind whether you care.

Well, thanks so much Florence. Keep on rockin' in the free world and doot doola doot doo…
Doot doo!

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