Confidence Man at Glastonbury 2024: “We’re between musical theatre, art and just being completely wasted”

1 July, 2024

Confidence Man have spoken to NME about their acclaimed Glastonbury 2024 performance and given an update about their upcoming third album, ‘3AM (LA LA LA)’. Watch our video interview with the band above.

The duo performed on the Other Stage on Friday (June 28). NME wrote: “There were costume changes, perfectly in-sync dance moves, and the crowd cheered every time vocalist Sugar Bones flipped his bandmate Janet Planet up in the air. Instrumentalists and producers Clarence McGuffie and Reggie Goodchild wore their signature black veils; at one point, the camera panned to three fans on the barrier wearing the same.”

Reflecting on the performance backstage, Planet told NME that they wanted to better their extremely well-received 2022 performance at the festival, which introduced the dance-pop group to many new fans.

“It was high-pressure,” she said, “and we were just like, ‘How can we top something like that?’ And the way you top something like that is that after that set you get a bunch more money and you spend all the money, and then you just learn how to learn how to do a whole bunch of flips. And that’s we did.”

Defining the show, she added: “It’s midway between musical theatre, art and just being completely wasted.”

Two members of Confidence Man, who go by the pseudonyms Clarence McGuffie and Reggie Goodchild, are only seen wearing black veils. Asked if they minded the fact that singers Janet and Sugar Bones take the limelight, Planet replied: “I think Reggie in particular is relieved because he’s a shy motherfucker. He’s the producer so I think he’s like, ‘I produce this shit – you guys go and be the pop stars.’

She added: “Most of our nights out have been harassing our friends about our demos most of the time, enticing people over to our house.”

Planet explained that the Australian group, who are now based in London, live in “this weird Con Man” house together. Bones added: “We lure them in and start playing demos, and then we don’t let them leave for three or four hours.”

Of the upcoming record, which is due for release on October 18, Bones said: “The album will be a few country tracks, it’ll be whatever we’ve got floating – anything we’ve got.”

Planet elaborated: “We set out to write this record where we were like, ‘We’ve figured out the best way for us to write music together is to be completely cooked. So what we did with this record was: ‘No writing at all sober.’ Only wasted. So we’d go to Café Cecilia, near our studio, get absolutely wasted, then we’d go to our studio in London fields from 4pm ‘til 10am. And that was the only way we wrote the record.”

Bones added: “It works really well for the initial spark, and the you go back in and be like: ‘What the fuck happened last night?’ And see if there’s anything good. But there always was something good!”

Planet explained: “That’s why the album’s called ‘3AM (LA LA LA)’, because the hotspot was 3am, and after the 3am it slowly deteriorated.”

The duo also alluded their new bootleg edit of a Charli XCX song ‘Guess’, which has not been released.

Check back at NME for the latest Glastonbury 2024 news, reviews, interviews, photos, rumours and more. Check out the NME liveblog here for all the latest Glastonbury action as it happens.

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