Alberta Cross @ O2 Wireless 2007

United Kingdom | | 19 June 2007

Following a last-minute surprise swap, duo Alberta Cross wowed fans in the XFM tent with their British infused blues and folk tunes. VF caught up with half-English, half-Swedish singer Petter Ericson Stakee to get the low-down on their forthcoming festival-filled summer, wanting to get away from the East End and doing what they'll burn for...

Virtual Festivals: You were meant to be playing the Main Stage at 3 and Kissaway Trail were meant to be playing the XFM stage at 5, but you swapped. What happened?!
Petter Ericson Stakee: I prefer the slot we played, to be honest. We were on early, but it was a good crowd.

VF: Was it because you were late?
PES: [Secretive smile] We were almost late, let’s just say that.

VF: Tell us the Alberta Cross story...
PES: We formed a year ago, me and Terry [Wolfers] used to play in this band and then we split up because we didn’t like it, then Terry and I started up another band and it took off. It’s all happened very quickly.  I’ve been playing music my whole life, I was just writing songs. We didn’t care about fuck all, we sent out a CD, then did lots of shows and things went from there.  We’re based in Dalston, I love East London, but now I just want to get away. We’ve been touring for the last two or three months, we’re doing about 20 shows this summer and then we’ll be doing other stuff. The label have told us we’ll be going to America and Australia, but we don’t know when.

VF: You’ve obviously released your mini album, what are your plans for a full one?
PES: We’ll be recording our full album soon. We’re going to try and record it in October.

VF: Your current stuff sounds very American blues and folk orientated, what will the album sound like?
PES: I think this mini album came out like that because I was writing with another band at the time, but the album probably won’t sound like that. I think there’s a lot of British music in there as well, but there is a lot of American influence in there. I’ve been listening to a lot of French music, so there may be hints of that in the new stuff.

VF: Speaking of British music, what do you think of it at the moment? Do you feel it’s all been done before at the moment?
PES: [Secretive smile again] All I’m going to say is that there are some great bands, I love Little Barrie. There’s a lot of new bands coming up. Bring it on!

VF: This is Wireless Festival’s third year. Do you like it?
PES: I fucking love it, it’s good. It’s down the road from me. I’m not a big fan of camping, but I’m a big fan of festivals, so it works for me.

VF: Have you met any interesting people here today so far?
PES: I had a chat with Mick Rock earlier, which was good. Josh Homme was two doors down from us backstage, I didn’t speak to him but he’s cool.

VF: What other festivals are you playing this summer, and which are you most looking forward to?
PES: I don’t know, we’re playing a few. We’re doing Lattitude, there’s one in Inverness called Belladrum which should be great. I’m really looking forward to the Indian Summer in Glasgow, I love Glasgow and Daniel Johnston is playing after us which will be amazing, and so are Midlake and Flaming Lips.

VF: Finally, sum up Alberta Cross in five words
PES: Awesome… I can’t sum us up in five words! We’re doing what we burn for – how does that sound?

Find out more about Alberta Cross at their MySpace HERE.