Spotlight On…Les Enfants Terribles

We tracked down Les Enfants Terribles whilst they firm up the details for their performance at Latitude and found out about their near-death experience…at a festival! Hopefully Latitude will be less scary for them!

Which latitude are you on right now?
51° 14’ 0” N / 0° 13’ 0” W – otherwise Known as Reigate, Surrey.

Who’s your must-see performance at Latitude this year?
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

If any artist could do a guest appearance with you at Latitude who would that be and why?
Well it would have to be the lead singer from Edward Sharpe, Alex Ebert as he would fit very well with what we are doing this year – a twisted version of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and I could see the bands aesthetic fitting in nicely with the mad mayhem we have planned!

Tell us a surprising fact about yourself
I have a phobia of cotton wool – lame, I know.

What’s been your weirdest festival experience?
There have been many as we have been fortunate enough to have been involved with many festivals around the world but I would have to say the weirdest was returning on a near deserted cargo ship from a festival in Norway as our van had broken down and the only way to return to the UK was to blag a lift.  It was freakishly hot weather and the three of us spent two days at sea on a giant container thinking we were in a horror film about to meet our end, slowly one by one – we even took bets about who would “go” first!

Summarise Latitude in 7 words
Varied, eclectic, friendly, atmospheric, different and fun!

Fill in the gap, “Baa baa Latitude sheep, have you any ______ ?”
Spray paint?

Tell us a bit more about what we can expect from your performance at Latitude?
This year we are doing two events.  ‘Anyone for Tea’ at the ‘Lucifer’s Tree’ – a twisted version of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party with street dancers, ventriloquists, bouncing rabbits and ballet dancers. All set on top of a large table – come join us for tea; at midnight Saturday!  If that’s too late then Sunday at 5pm might be preferable?  We are also doing a Pagan Ritual Wicker Man Procession on Friday night.  This is going to be huge fun with a pageant from the woods down to the lake at around 22.45pm culminating in the ritualistic burning of the titular Wicker Man!

What else are you working on at the moment?
After Latitude we will be heading to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with our new show, ‘The Trench’.  The show is set during the First World War and tells the evocative story of a man trapped deep beneath no man lands in a collapsed tunnel after a heavy explosion.  As the story progresses he discovers a strange world under the mud and death as he embarks on an epic quest for salivation and freedom meeting various weird and strange creatures and monsters.  It will feature puppetry, animation and live music from acclaimed artist Alexander Wolfe.  We are really excited about it – it plays 1.10pm at The Pleasance every day.

What does 2013 hold for you?
Early days yet but we are planning a nationwide tour of ‘The Trench’ and a very very exciting project that may include more rabbits, Mad Hatters and Alice’s in a central London location on a huge scale  - watch this space….

Favourite tracks…