As part of their yearly 7 Days of Trees tradition, we are thrilled to reveal that the incredible Gloo will be performing at 2000trees Festival this year, alongside IDLES, Thrice, Jimmy Eat World and many more.

West Sussex’s answer to angsty punk rock, Gloo are renowned for their escapist anthems about the monotony of daily life. After releasing their electrifying sophomore album How Not to Be Happy in summer last year, it’s about time the high-energy trio riled up 2000trees’ energetic crowds. Opening up about everything from useless talents to their favourite festival memories, Gloo’s Mark spoke to us in an exclusive interview. 

What’s a motto you live by? 

Fake it till you make it. More in the sense that you have to believe you’re good enough before anybody else will. Plus it’s way more fun this way as it’s like you’re already a success haha

What’s integral to the work of an artist?

I would say that having complete creative freedom to smash out whatever it is that you want is super important. If today you wanna write a guitar based track about baked beans and then tomorrow make funeral music on a lute, you have to be able to go through the motions……as shit as they all might be.

How would you describe the project to someone at a dinner party that’s never heard of you?

Gloo are a 3 piece rock/punk band, primarily rock with a punk dabble as we don’t have the punky mohawks or nose rings whilst singing about overturning the government, but we play fast and loud and Tom has a pair of Doc Martens.

What are 5 essentials for musicians in 2022?

1. Patience
2. Adaptation
3. Outside the Box Thinking
4. Buy an NFT
5. Honestly I would like to see someone else’s essentials as I could do with a point in the right direction.

What is your greatest memory from a music festival?

I went to GUILFEST (Guildford’s premier picnic with louder than normal outdoor gig/festival) and Bring Me the Horizon headlined the “alternative” stage which probably was named the cage or something as equally obvious lol. This was a long time ago so they were still ending with RE: They Have No Reflections, and honestly seeing a whole tent of 18 year olds shouting the outdo “i hate all my friends” felt insane. We had listened to BMTH for a year or so and seeing it in the flesh was a game changer.

What’s been the most formative experience from the band’s development that’s made you into the musicians you are?

It would have to be not one occasion but the plenty where we have fucked shit up bad on stage and realise that it was no one’s fault but our own. Not rehearsing enough or coming prepared with back up sticks / leads and just falling flat on our faces in front of everyone. Feeling like you want to disappear on stage will soon make you buck your ideas up hahah

What’s the most rockstar thing you’ve ever done?

This is the wrong questions for me, honestly. I opt for black coffee on the rider so rockstar for me is sipping a bit of toms 4.5 % IPA when i haven’t eaten enough carbs to soak it up beforehand.

Name one thing you can’t imagine your life without.

This is gonna be so boring but the boiler at my house has a mind of its own and decides randomly when I have to have a cold shower in the morning and having to live with that has made me realise my appreciation for hot water. Also I love coffee and despise iced / cold coffee so hot water for me.

What is the most useless talent you have?

I can solve a Rubik’s cube in just under a minute which, considering a guy just solved one in 3.47 seconds, is kinda pointless.

What would the band’s Tinder bio say?

I’m not sure what the general things a Tinder bio says on it are but it would read something like……Independent, Persistent, Kinda dirty, Not too complicated but can get hairy when needs must.

What are your hopes and dreams for the next 12 months?

Realistically we would just love to be back to a point where the gigging and recording process was back to normal without having to factor in mask wearing, tabled shows and every potential tour you can get on getting cancelled. We are positive that we’re in for a good one!

And finally, what does your music say about you?

I suppose it more paints a picture of the music we grow up listening to as opposed to who we are now. Even alternative music nowadays doesn’t pack the same punch so we’re existing to show that the catchy tracks you wanna nod your head to can also be the heavy tracks you wanna headbutt someone to.

2000trees Festival is set to take place on 6-9 July, 2022 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Don’t miss out – get your tickets now!