1. For the people who don’t know you already, who are you, what do you do (musically) and why should everyone check you out?
Hey! We are Fluffy Machine and play punk rock. Based in Wallis, we’ve been playing as a band, seriously, since 2014.
We try to remain spontaneous and fun during our live shows which involve lots of hair, colorful shirts and what we think is funny quips and hilarious jokes (though honestly, sometimes it’s probably cringe: we don’t care though, we’re having fun).
If you like dancing and having a good time, you’ll probably want to come see one of our live shows.
2. This is your first time playing Open Air Gränichen. Still, do you have memories of the festival from other years, maybe as visitors or otherwise? If not, what is your favorite memory of any festival ever?
We’ve unfortunately never been to Open Air Gränichen, which is a shame because a lot of our friends have played there. We are really looking forward to playing there for the first time. The vibe of the festival seems great, and it’s really refreshing to see a big festival invest so much time and resources and also give opportunities to local bands to play on larger stages!
Favorite memory of a festival ever is difficult, but we can outline top 3 moments as follows, in no specific order:
- Caddy fight at the Hellfest 2016 campground (if you know, you know)
- Floating in the Soca River during Punk Rock Holiday 2018
- Giant circle pit mid-afternoon around the engineer tower during Greenfield 2017 (thanks Frank Carter <3)
3. What can we expect from you at Open Air Gränichen 2022
Since most bands are pretty heavy and brutal, we’ll have to figure out a way to overcompensate our long blond hair and baby faces by inserting heavy inappropriate breakdowns wherever we can.
You can expect surprises, random moments, surprisingly intense and atmospheric melodic parts, cringe and a great friend-hugging-beer-drinking atmosphere.
There’s also a 90% chance that people will compare our singer to Kurt Cobain and our bassist to Jack Black, but hey, we’re used to it.
4. Punk, Metal or Hardcore? What (or who) get’s you hyped up the most in anticipation of Open Air Gränichen 2022?
Having seeing Brutus, then Millencolin and then Leech will probably be the most epic night ever. We’ve booked Leech in Sierre and that was a very memorable concert. Millencolin is always a blast!
Brutus we’ve never seen before, but are big fans. Amazing lineup guys, can’t wait! We would’ve loved to see Electric Callboy as well, but we play in the UK on Thursday (Rebellion Fest!) and making it back to Switzerland for Friday is very difficult.
5. What is (after Open Air Gränichen of course) your second favorite Festival in Switzerland and why?
There are too many to count!
Gampel is always very fun, because it’s close to home so we meet a lot of friends there. Smaller festivals, organized by friends, are great as well!
Piratä-Punk festival is always amazing. Organized outdoors in front of the Reitschule, it always has a lineup of local bands and a great ambiance. Also, the music finishes very late. We played there once and started our set at 3:15 AM. Good times, good times!
6. Tent, Camper or staying up all night partying in the Hawaii bar?
Sleep is very important. But partying is more important.
Usual program of a festival :
7:00 : wakeup because someone, somewhere is screaming or singing or has already started blasting crust punk on their JBL Bluetooth speaker.
7:03 : wonder how it’s possible that your “breathable” tent is so damn hot.
7:15 : exit the tent with a thundering headache.
7:16 : crack open a not-so-cold-one covered in dirt in an effort to protect your Anker beer from the summer heat.
7:17 : sit down on a cheap, 99% dead camping chair.
8:00 : go grab a shower.
8:03 : try not to look at the impressive penis of the metalhead on your left.
8:30 : buy an overpriced croissant and drink an orange juice with too much pulp (or with a weird chemical taste).
8:30-14:00 : drink beers until first concerts.
14:00 – 01:00 : watch the most concerts possible, fight with people (but like friendly fights, you know?), see people peeing in weird spots, question how society functions in general, drink water, apply sunscreen, maybe disregard the two last steps.
01:00 – 03:00 : after party with Jäger shots.
03:01 : try to find the tent.
03:10 : try to find the tent.
03:11 : wrong tent.
03:18 : try to find the tent.
03:45 : tent found. Yay!
03:46 : sleep fully clothed, head spinning like Gandalf on top of Saruman’s tower.
07:00 : repeat.
7. Rabenbräu or Mörder, Anker or Berliner Luft, Feldschlösschen or Ingwerer?
Suze with Milk or nothing. But Berliner Luft is 10/10
8. A beer the next morning to counter the hangover, kebab for breakfast or SxE – how do you survive a festival without having to deal with a headache the whole weekend? Alternatively: What is the perfect food at a festival?
Drinking absinthe prevents headaches the next day. It also prevents from making out with your girlfriend, cause it gives bad breath. Also, absinthe side-effects on Google include “facial contractions, numbness and seizures” so you might want to stear clear from that.
Honestly, survival for a festival is:
– Have clean clothes and a toothbrush.
– Commit to taking a shower every day.
– Sleep at least 3 hours.
– If festival longer than 3 days, sleep at least 6 one of the nights – Find a spot in the shade for your tent.
– Drink water when possible.
– Try to eat some healthy food (fruit and veggies).
Perfect festival food is definitely anything creative with cheese on it. The world needs more cheese.
9. You’re playing a cover set – which seven songs are we gonna hear?
- On entend des trompettes – Roland Cristal
- On entend des trompettes – Roland Cristal
- On entend des trompettes – Roland Cristal
- On entend des trompettes – Roland Cristal
- On entend des trompettes – Roland Cristal
- On entend des trompettes – Roland Cristal
- On entend des trompettes – Roland Cristal
10. The last words are yours:
Thanks for everything guys, we know it’s a lot of work to put on a large festival. It’s really thanks to you guys that music is worthwhile (for musicians and fans). Keep it up, and we’re looking forward to playing this year!