"We are gutted, devastated - we woke up to what we see as shit news this morning," a visibly despondent Dan Smith tells Gigwise, as Bastille shelter from the cold Glastonbury rain backstage.
There's a very strange atmosphere on site at Worthy Farm this morning - somewhat deflated, and ultimately in disbelief at the scary new world we find ourselves in. Bastille themselves seem to represent a very international spirit: a very British work ethic, mixed with European pop sensibilities and a love of US hip-hop.
Their new material is no different - it's another voyage into their genre-defying adventure of sound. Ahead of their set at Glastonbury, we watch up with frontman Dan Smith and bassist Will Farquarson, to discuss Brexit, evolution, their fans, Wild World, and generally 'not giving a fuck' about what people think.
How does the Brexit result effect you as a touring band?
Dan: "I guess we won't see the changes for a while, but I guess it will mean more visas and a lot less freedom of travel. It's something we've taken for granted all our lives, it's just been the norm. We're really privileged to play shows and work abroad a lot, but I think this question of Brexit will definitely be something that comes up throughout the summer in every conversation. People will understandably look at this decision as one made by all of us, regardless of which way you voted."
Will: "Obviously I don't support the decision, but as I travel I'm going to be viewed as part of a nation that does."
I was proud to be European.
Will: "Me too, I've always felt really European. Any decision that is towards isolation and away from unity is just not what what Europe is about, or the world I live in to be about."
Dan: "You said 'proud to be European', and it's really interesting when you're in the States or other continents. They very much see England as Europe. It's always been quite nice stepping out of our country and into other ones and be part of a whole. We're in a very sad situation."
How do you feel about it being largely an older generation who voted for a future they don't inherit?
Dan: "That's exactly how it looks, and there's something very sad about that. But, essentially, we're just a band. We shouldn't talk about it too much - and we're at Glastonbury."
We are! Are you going to drop much new material?
Dan: "We are! I'm absolutely terrified. We're going to play a whole chunk of the new album. We've got some friends coming up to help us out. This is my favourite weekend of the whole year. I'm super stoked to be here."
There's been an incredible amount of good will behind the new single 'Good Grief'.
Dan: "Yeah, it's wonderful, and that's not something we've really had before. Putting out new material after a couple of years, we had no idea how it was going to go. People seem to reacted quite well to it."
Will: "It was more terrifying than putting out our first stuff. The level of positivity is such a huge weight off our shoulders."
And this is the first time you've released new music to a guaranteed audience...
Will: "Nothing is for certain, we haven't been thinking about it in those terms. We don't take anything for granted and we never have. With the first record, we just made an album that we loved and put it out."
Dan: "We were never sure if we'd make a second record, so this has been wonderful and it's been our lives for the last few years. To be in this positiion is fucking amazing. We're on the eve of putting it out, and have no idea how it's going to do, but we hope people like it and are challenged by it."
Where would you say it takes your sound from Bad Blood?
Dan: "We don't really have a sound, we don't give a fuck about genre. I once nearly got into a fight with a journalist who was trying to bully me into saying what genre we were. I was like 'we don't give a fuck'. I just think the whole labelling of music culture is so tired and kind of irrelevant now. Everyone's music tastes are so broad, and everyone likes a bit of everything now. This isn't a hip-hop record that we've made, but one of the things we've taken from a lot of hip-hop music is the ability to jump around from song to song. The album is quite disorientating, new instruments and quotes jump in, it's like a mixtape - from string sections to horns. There's intimacy, then some mad sci-fi, we just wanted to have fun on this record and see what we could get away with."
You have a very dedicated breed of fan. What do you think it is about what you do that inspires that reaction?
Dan: "At no point do we patronise our fanbase. Be it our videos, our artwork - we put so much effort into all these things. I've spent so much time on the phone trying to get every page of the new album artwork done because to have the opportunity to do those things is so rare and special. So it needs to be as interesting and thought out as possible. For fans of ours, you can either take the album at face value or you can dig deeper - there's so much to get your teeth into. I like the idea of creating this little world in which the album can exist to make it as intricate as possible."
Will: "From quite early on, we wanted to make sure there was as much material out there as possible. For most of our existence, we've always tried to be as generous as we can with the material."
Dan: "If someone new was to come to our music now, they'd have the first record, the second disc off that which is basically another record, our new album which is 19 tracks is you get the full one - then there are the three mixtapes. Obviously, you can't expect many people to give a fuck about that, but if you want to engage there's so much there."
What do you think your fans expect of you?
Dan: "I'm not sure. I think they expect for us to continue caring about what we make. The second that we start putting out music that we're not proud of with a video of us in the studio miming along, that's when they'll be really disappointed. This is music, people are going to have opinions and it would be ideal for people to have the full picture and scratch under the surface of everything we've done, but you can't expect that.
"One of the things that we're really proud of is that I write all the songs, then we play them all together and co-produce them with our friend Mark in a tiny little basement studio in South London. That's where we've made both albums. We've never worked with other producers or writers, and in an industry where even the most authentic singer-songwriter has a co-writer or a team, we just do it all ourselves. People ask why we didn't work with a big producer on our second album, and it's simple - we just didn't want to. We want to grow and develop but we want to do it ourselves. Young people should be encouraged to be the next big producers. Nothing against amazing massive producers, but we want to do it ourselves. 'Pompeii' did quite well in America, and it would be sitting on the radio alongside this tunes with 15 writers. I was just like 'fuck, I wrote this song in my bedroom on my laptop in my bed - now it's grown legs and become a monster'. We never pat ourselves on the back about anything, but we were just like 'fuck, this is crazy'."
What are you guys listening to at the moment?
Dan: "Good question. The new James Blake album, Mura Masa, Christine & The Queens, Lapsley, Rationale - I think he's amazing. We listen to everything. When we were first on tour, what we were listening to was 2001 by Dr Dre and Metronomy's album. Anything and everything."
Will: "I'm a bit in awe of Laura Mvula and her new album."
Bastille play the Other Stage at Glastonbury at 8.40pm on Friday 24 June
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