Pale Waves are just seeing what happens, really

A lot can change in a year. When Pale Waves released their third album, ‘Smitten’, it felt like the moment everything finally clicked – a band stepping fully into themselves, bold hooks and sharpened edges landing with conviction.

Since then, the record has carried them through sold-out shows, a headline tour that proved just how much their audience has swelled, and now, onto the Reading & Leeds main stage. There’s a confidence to their climb that feels earned, but also still a little surprising to them; even now, they’re the kind of group who speak openly about never quite taking for granted that a crowd will be waiting.

With another run of dates on the horizon and whispers of what comes next starting to surface, this summer has been a chance to take stock, reconnect with songs that have already begun to feel like staples, and show just how far they’ve come since those electric first singles.

Sitting backstage ahead of a set that would confirm them as one of the weekend’s highlights, we sat down with them to ask: how’s life?

Are you looking forward to the set later?
Heather: Very excited, always love playing Reading & Leeds. We’re playing a cover of ‘Zombie’ by The Cranberries, which will be pretty special.

A year on from ‘Smitten’, does it still feel fresh to play?
Heather: I feel like we’ve not actually played enough shows for ‘Smitten’, so we want to do a load more.

Speaking of which, you’re doing the ‘Still Smitten’ tour this October – what do those songs mean to you now?
Heather: We’re still connecting with all of the music, 100%. When you release something, you’ve already lived with it for over a year, and right now we’re starting the new project, so it’s interesting going back to that. But like I say, we’ve not played enough shows in my mind, so it still feels fresh to play.

Is this a new era? What’s coming up next?
Heather: It’s still so early, early days. So god knows! We can change our minds in a heartbeat. We’re just writing music to get back into the swing of it at the moment, to be honest with you.

‘Smitten’ was such an amalgamation of all those influences that came through on your earlier material. Are there new influences now, or do you feel you know yourselves as a band?
Heather: I feel like we know who we are, for sure. I listen to the same stuff; I’m just that kind of person. I struggle to find new things that I like.

“We’re playing a cover of ‘Zombie’ by The Cranberries, which will be pretty special”

It must be great playing festivals and seeing the crowd getting bigger as time goes by.
Heather: Totally, 100%. Because there’s no guarantee. Every time we’re about to play a festival, there’s no guarantee in your mind that there’s gonna be anyone there. So it’s a nice surprise every single time – you never expect it.

Reading or Leeds Festival – which is better?
Charlie: That’s tough, because going to Leeds when I was younger, I’d have to say Leeds, but when we’re playing, it has to be Reading.
Hugo: Going as a punter, though, Leeds is great. It’s in the middle of a field, whereas I can see buildings from Reading, which is weird.
Heather: Oh, Leeds is way better as a punter. You don’t wanna see buildings, you wanna be immersed.
Charlie: You’ve got to get a coach to Leeds, you’ve got to get stuck in – you can’t just go to Tesco like you can at Reading! Leeds becomes some weird fever dream, cut off from civilisation.
Hugo: It’s like a lawless world.

You’re playing ‘The Away From Home’ festival with Louis Tomlinson in New York, it must be great to play on lineups where you know you’ll be reaching a lot of new fans?
Heather: It’s very exciting, especially in America, because we’ve not been there as much as we would have liked to. So it’s great to go over there and have the exposure, and I feel like his fans will be great and will probably like us. We’ll see!