Army of You

Event date: Thursday 29th May

Location: Scala, Kings Cross

Our Press and Media officer gives her unique backstage view on this year's gig...

It’s been a while since I’d been to the Scala. 15 is when I think I was last there. Drink in 1 hand, cigarette in the other. It all seemed a lot different now. Smaller and Smellier.

Working behind the scenes for anything always seems like the coolest job on the planet. You supposedly get to meet the bands, check out their dressing rooms and wear cool AAA passes.

For this one night only, working behind the scenes at this year’s War Child Army of You WAS the coolest job on the planet.

I’m charged with co-ordinating interviews between Last.Fm (our media partners for the event) and the guys from Earwax (online radio) and all the bands.

Does it Offend You, Yeah? are meant to have all sound checked first followed by interviews but in true rock n'roll style, only two of the band mates turn up. “Any idea on when they might get here mate?” I ask their tour manager. “Your guess is good as mine, love.”

Hmmm…

By the time we wrap up all the interviews, the first haggle of punters have started to arrive so I nip out for a quick Big Mac fix and make my way back to the Scala just in time to catch Edward J Hicks do his thing on stage to a meagre crowd who seemed to properly love his eccentricity and love of the mic and mini keyboard.

I never did find out what he hid in that suitcase…

In-between sets we have Show Your Bones, The Filthy Dukes and Joe from Hot Chip dreaming me back to those hedonistic summers in Ibiza. Joe was mighty pleased to be djing for us before heading off to his stag do in the country-side with zee lads.

Hand on heart I’d never heard of any of these bands but the music and the atmosphere and dedicated crowd head bopping was wicked. I feel like a cool teen-raver all over again.

The Rumble Strips are brilliant! I had me swaying the hips like I knew the tunes. Wicked!

Kid Harpoon rallies his troupe to perform “Riverside” and “Colours” which all go down superbly. You definitely get the feeling this isn’t going to be the last time you see Tom up on stage. Glastonbury and others later this month with sell-out venues and a gong not before long. Go TOM!

Our Autokratz boys pretty much transform the room into an - Underworld meets Pet Shop Boys meets Chemical Brothers set with a mish mash of their own stuff. At some point I forget I am half working and imagine myself at a warehouse party in Dalston drinking rum and ginger out of a bottle with my Way-Farers and psychedelic dancing ripping the floor apart. Their music is Zee schnitzels.

To literally wrap the evening up Does it Offend You Yeah – the entire band this time - pretty much turn the room into a massive RAVE. Drinks flying; bodies popping; attempted crowd surfing and a peed off tour manager bent on making sure the equipment and his boys are kept from harm – made for a super show – I can’t stop listening to “Let’s Make Out” and “We are Rockstars”.

Turns out Morgan went to secondary school with my best mate. Something tells me this won’t be the last time I see these boys. That’s of course if their manager has anything to do with it……

For exclusive video from this year's Army of You visit the event page on last.fm