Latitude 2013: Five minutes with... Moon Duo

moon duo

Cosmic travellers Moon Duo aren't just wizards of trippy space rock - they're also the headliners of Latitude's iArena stage, sponsored by i. We caught up with them to ask a few key questions

1. Which latitude are you on right now?

37.8 ° S,  145 °E: Also known as Melbourne, Australia. We're on tour down here. 

2. Sum up what you do for us in one sentence for anyone who might not know...

We play rock and roll music.

3. What’s the best thing about performing live?

I love the immediacy, the way it welds one's consciousness to the moment at hand.

4. Do you have any pre-show rituals?

Usually just chilling backstage.

5. What’s your best festival story for us? The stranger the better!

We played Milhoes Em Festa in Portugal last year. It was the height of summer, late July, and we went on at about four o'clock in the afternoon. The heat was thick and dense. The stage was set to the side of a swimming pool the size of a small lake. There were scads of people there, all in swimsuits. Most of them were in the pool, dancing and writhing throughout our set. We were sweating buckets, the sun hammering down on us, and the whole seen took on the kind of wavy shimmering that only intense heat can manifest. It was surreal and bacchanalian and awesome. We had never played for almost-nude audience before.

6. Tell us a something you’ve never told an interviewer before...

I'm deathly afraid of snakes.

7. What’s your signature cooking dish?

Salt and pepper tofu with rice and spicy kale. Also chocolate chip cookies.

8. What book/film/record etc. changed your life and why?

Suicide's first album completely redefined my understanding of what a keyboard is for.

9. Knock Knock... who’s there...

Monica, dear, that was a precious little story. Now be sweetheart and fetch Mommy another martini.

10. And lastly, summarise Latitude in three words

Horizontal; climate-determining.