This Is Captain

Captain are a bizarre blend of characters made up of two former members of The Junket, an ex-circus traveller and a guitarist who used to be in the Greek army. Add to that tales of lighting rigs collapsing, Wimbledon and 16 different flavours of Ben & Jerry's, and you've got the full picture.

Keyboard player and vocalist Clare Szembek breezes in smiling, clutching a packet of chocolate buttons. Captain are currently on one of several laps of the country this summer, taking in festivals and headlining shows just about everywhere. "It's been really good fun, we've had a mixture of festivals and our own shows. We did Wireless and we've been out to Spain and a few other places, Oxygen and T In The Park. I think we're enjoying the mix at the moment." You've played the Ben & Jerry's Festival as well, is that as exciting as it sounds? "Yeah we did," she says laughing, "oh yeah! 16 different flavours to try. I only tried one though, but we got to meet Jerry as well, the ice cream guru! Actually, that morning we had to do an interview for ITV news with Jerry, and we were saying 'This is so obscure!' because we were sat between the ice cream guru and the most orange man in the world, who was the presenter caked in orange make-up! It's a really nice, small family festival though, they're big on conservation and they give you trees to take home."

This summer has seen some extreme weather conditions, from record breaking temperatures to menacing storms, has this had any ill effects on the band? "We did Lincoln Festival last week. It was a beautiful day and we were all sound checking on stage and this weird, satanic cloud descended upon us and just released its contents. The lighting rig collapsed on Reu, our drummer. He was fine though. Had he been leaning forward or back it would have broken his back, or something horrific, but it just scraped his nose. It completely crushed his drumkit... It was a bit of a close one." Has he refused to play festivals now? "He's still fine but he did say he finds himself looking up going 'what the ****'s gonna fall on me!'"

Captain are still a fairly unknown band, but are gaining popularity with every step, so do you hear your own songs in pubs and clubs yet? "We heard 'Broke' in Asda, and you get texts from mates saying 'it's playing in TopShop!'. 'Glorious' was used on Wimbledon loads, whenever they rounded anything up, we were quite pleased about that cos it's a British institution." It helps to not be slotted into one pigeon hole, is this something you're aware of? "Exactly, I think we're conscious of not fitting into the current music scene. We want to achieve longevity and to make that happen there's no point. It's so easy to copy what's going on, it's only the sources of those musical scenes that last, like The Strokes. We weren't interested in copying, we wanted to write honestly and openly, and be bold with our choices. We'd rather them say they dislike it or really love it rather than 'it's all right'. I think because we are so different we are getting quite a strong reaction, but on the whole it's good. There'll always be people who don't like you, but that's fine."