I’m really careful with what the music gets put with, and we say no to so much stuff, loads of it, for things that might quadruple the sales of my album. But if it doesn’t fit then it doesn’t fit, you know? – Florence Welch
I’m just a black hole for stuff. No one should ever hand me anything, because I get so easily distracted. I’ll be like, ‘Oh, look, something shiny!’ I’m glad I never learned how to drive. I would be really dangerous. – Florence Welch
The Teenage Cancer Trust does incredible work supporting and caring for teenagers and young adults with cancer, and it’s a cause that is really close to me and my family. – Florence Welch
Music is my way out. I keep things locked up and never say anything. I guess in order to say something to one person, I have to sing it to a couple of thousand. It doesn’t make for healthy relationships. – Florence Welch
I think an encore is perfectly acceptable, but I find it so weird when people do two or three. – Florence Welch
I get in fights with my sister all the time. She comes on the road with me and we fight – like sisters do. – Florence Welch
If you asked me to go back to being 14 or 15, I couldn’t – it was a terrifying time. I was so awkward in my own skin. I used to hide behind my hair because I was so ridiculously self-conscious. – Florence Welch
My siblings and I were friends with the boys who would become our stepbrothers – we grew up on the same street. I feel very special to have these amazing people in my life and if we hadn’t all moved into this big house together I think I would have missed out on that, because we would have drifted apart. – Florence Welch
I made music with my friend, who we called Isabella Machine to which I was Florence Robot. When I was about an hour away from my first gig, I still didn’t have a name, so I thought ‘Okay, I’ll be Florence Robot/Isa Machine’, before realising that name was so long it’d drive me mad. – Florence Welch
The first album, for better or for worse, was done over from the ages of 17-22, with a couple of different producers. Some of it was recorded in an old swimming pool, some of it was recorded in a synagogue – it kind of was all over the place. – Florence Welch
Growing up, I always wanted to be in punk bands, so I’m really enjoying the harder, heavier element. It’s always been my dream to have people moshing at my gig, kind of that really feral element of the music coming out more. I love crowd-surfing. – Florence Welch
The stage is a place where I can be wholly myself. Even though you’re in front of people almost to be judged, it is a place without judgement. – Florence Welch
What I really like seeing from the stage is people having their own moments, when people are doing some performance of their own. – Florence Welch
I’d experimented with so many different types of music. I had these folky songs I’d written and recorded, but something wasn’t quite right. – Florence Welch
I’ve learned not to hide behind a veil of irony – to talk about my work in a more honest way. – Florence Welch
Bono told me how to dance in high heels and he also told me about U2’s Glastonbury performance and how everything that could have possibly gone wrong went wrong, including him ripping his trousers on stage. I think he was lunging and his trousers ripped! He was telling me how he had to find a new way of performing that didn’t involve moving. – Florence Welch
I love performing outside because it’s as if the heavens are open and the elements become part of the stage show as well – you know, the wind and the rain and the thunder. It’s almost as if there’s a sense of invocation in performance. – Florence Welch
