Rosalita @ V Festival 2007

United Kingdom | 27 August 2007

Hordes of their fans line the front row while further back hundreds will walk away newly won over, all of them about to witness one of V Festival's many incredible performances.

Stages don't come much bigger and nor do the band they're warming up for; Foo Fighters, who today are masquerading as the made up band '606' for a secret gig. Rosalita seem phased by neither and already come across a polished package, taking their performance in their stride as they belt out their pop punk anthems in the making with style and gusto.

After their performance we caught up with Jay and Chris from the band to find out whether their onstage shades were worn to hide the nerves - or if they really are built of steel.

Virtual Festivals: You've just come off the Channel 4 stage at Chelmsford, how was it?
Rosalita: "It was awesome, really amazing. We just got out there and on the way to the stage saw an incentive not to make a mistake - a big bottle of champagne which we figured it might be for us! It helped to get through the gig actually, thinking about that big bottle of champagne. Although, we probably would have drunk it anyway. No seriously, it was great, lots of people, thousands of faces."

VF: Have you been to V Festival before?
Rosalita: "Yeah, we've been here twice, in 2001 and 2002. I always really enjoyed it. I remember seeing a band called The Donnas and being in the mosh pit, never thinking I would be playing it now."

VF: How did it feel when you were on the stage looking out at the biggest gig of your life?
Rosalita: "It's certainly the biggest and definitely one of the best. It was great to go out there. I didn't want to expect much because we were the first band on and thought the crowd would be pretty scattered around the site at that point in the day. But it was great, there was a crowd up the front all bunched up together and everyone seemed to be having a great time and enjoying the music."

VF: Is there a difference, satisfaction wise, playing for a crowd who don't necessarily know your songs and might never have heard of you?
Rosalita: "Yeah, it is really daunting when you are a warm up act for the bigger bands, but hopefully we managed to surprise a few people and are going to go on to bigger things."

VF: We spoke to Ben (keyboard player) earlier this week and he was saying that when you found out you'd won there was a lot of jumping up and down. Was that the same for you guys?
Rosalita: "Ben was the one who found out first, he got the call, and we could tell by the look on his face that we were going to be playing here. We were upstairs at the time and the others ran upstairs and we were just all jumping up and down not knowing what else to do. But after all the jumping you kind of get to the stage where you're just a little in shock. Then you're just left hanging really, waiting for the gig to happen. But by the time we got here, we had some jelly babies, some Haribos and some beers, got the sugar levels up and got all excited again."

VF: It's a good rider you've had then?
Rosalita: "Yeah the sweets were a good touch. We wrote a song about Haribo a couple years ago, but we don't think it will ever make it to the stage. It's called Haribos And Beer. You can't have one without the other we've decided."

VF: So tell me a bit about how the band have progressed so far?
Rosalita: "Well, the band started initially as Chris, John and Ben who had been playing together for a while, so the band is actually quite old, minus the guitarist. We wanted to move more towards an indie/pop vibe, rather than the melodic kind of music we had been producing earlier, which wasn't really our thing. We aren't old, all in our twenties, and it was at the beginning of the year that we started to get our butts in gear and really go for it. Maybe I should actually say 'arses', it's a bit cooler I think."

VF: So what's next for Rosalita?
Rosalita: "We've been asked this question a lot. We're just going to work our 'arses' off and keep doing it. If there is someone out there who wants to sign us then great, if not we'll keep doing it anyway. We love playing and this gig today was fantastic, but we also love playing in pubs to about 100 people. If we get to do this as full time jobs then we'll be very happy."

VF: How does it feel sharing a dressing area with Dave Grohl?
Rosalita: "Pretty great, but to be honest we saw him wandering around earlier and I was a little disappointed by the man himself. I thought he would be bigger than he is. I suppose he does have a huge tour bus though."

VF: Is there anyone else you want to meet who's here today?
Rosalita: "You know a few years ago, when it was cool to like Pete Doherty I would have said him, but now I might be a bit embarrassed to say that, which is wrong. I think he gets a hard time and is still a massive talent. I don't know if I'd approach him if I saw him. Just being in his company would be good enough for me."

VF: Who else have you seen around so far?
Rosalita: "I don't know, but I did take a piss next to one of the Thrills a while ago. There was also a stray Kook bobbing around. But they take up too much space, we share dressing areas with other bands and they have one and half to themselves. Maybe we'll have our own one next year!"

Find out more on Rosalita's MySpace