NME Tour: Florence & The Machine

FLORENCE WELCH, FLORENCE & THE MACHINE

t Are you excited to be chosen for the tour?

'Yeah, I'm really excited! It feels like sort of a weird honour. It feels a bit bizarre; I can't really believe it's happening to be honest. I never really expected myself to be in a band when I started singing. Then I got a guitarist but it was quite a small scale affair, so to now have a band and be playing is like, 'how did that happen and why do I have a harp player?!' It's all getting out of control, I keep getting bigger, I need to downsize! No, f*** that, I'm gonna get even bigger! I'm going to be like The Polyphonic Spree - five backing singers, three guys playing synths, four drummers. That's what I'm aiming for.'

t How are you dealing with it all?

'I kind of went insane over there summer. I had the most fun summer ever, went to all the festivals and had the biggest comedown of my life afterwards. It was like, what's this, real life? But everything's great - the most exciting thing is getting the album finished. I'm supposed to be in the studio now actually and I'm not. I'll have to ride my bike there and smile sweetly. I'm on Mariah time!'

t It's quite a boyish line-up, how will you deal with that?

'The only other girl is the drummer from Glasvegas. It gets rid of any sort of girl on girl female rivalry, but I always think its really nice to have other girls with you on tour, so I'm just gonna bring my friends. We've got a bus now and we've got spare beds so I'm gonna see if anyone wants to go on a road trip. And my keyboardist is insane and a woman, so she'll be with us.'

t Do you know other bands?

'Friendly Fires are great…I kind of know of all of them, but it's gonna be exciting to see them all play. It's amazing, one person plays then three other people play. It's gonna be cool, but I think the first time I see any of them play will be actually on the Shockwaves NME Awards Tour which will be great because one night you can see one band and then the next you can see the other one, and then pick your favourite and watch them all the time. I just hope the audience don't do that.'

t The opening slot is legendary…Coldplay and Kaiser Chiefs have done it in the past

'They're all really s*** though! Well I'm really hoping I don't turn out like the Kaiser Chiefs or Coldplay, but thank you for the honour! Its just fun to be first on I think. Its really exciting, I always like being the support band because the pressure is off you and then you've still got three more bands to watch!'