Romy: “This was the first day of our tour, before our first gig.”
Oliver: “I was taking pictures with a Polaroid camera in this ugly graveyard. Jamie was skating in a skateboard park across the road and I was just killing time. After the Baton Rouge gig that night, things got a little dark. We went to a really depressing casino on a boat. When we walked in, there was a woman sort of slightly crying on a slot machine. I had a go and won $10...” Photograph: Jamie-James Medina
Oliver: “We did a lot of travelling, mostly from interview to interview. They were really playful, the interviews – I was sort of expecting to be gunged all the time. And the interviewers gave us presents.”
Romy: “The amount of thought that went into it. Somebody had made a little pop-up card with all of us drawn on it. ”
Oliver: “I got given a really nice ring that an interviewer had made... Where’s our present, man?” Photograph: Jamie-James Medina
Romy: “We all bought strings for our sunglasses. We thought, because we all had them, that it was cool... But I don’t know if it was cool...” [Laughs]
Oliver: “We’re big fans of Lady Gaga. We moved forward one of our own gigs by half an hour so we could go and see hers. And when we got to Chicago for the Lollapalooza festival, we dropped our stuff out and went straight out to the festival, jet- lagged, to see her play. It was a lot of fun.” Photograph: Jamie-James Medina
Romy: “This was in Tokyo. As part of a TV interview we were given some money and told to buy things in the toy section of a giant department shop. I bought a manga animal hat.”
Oliver: “We lost you straight after this was taken. We had to do an announcement...”
Jamie: “I bought a giant musical note that you could play like an instrument. Still got it. It’s fun.”
Oliver: “I got one of those germ masks with an X on it.” Photograph: Jamie-James Medina
Romy: “Moody!”
Oliver: “We had to really force the window open to get out on to the staircase. I’m not great with heights and this was just ridiculously high. Probably my moody expression is me thinking: ‘Oh God, get me down.’” “We ate a lot of pizza slices in New York. That thing when you go to a city, you try the local delicacy. So in Washington a chilli burger. In Philadelphia a cheese steak. Alligator in Louisiana and barbecue in North Carolina. I’ve got to say... it doesn’t do too much for your gut.” Photograph: Jamie-James Medina
Oliver: “None of us had ever been to Japan before. Unfortunately, by the time I’d completely recovered from jet lag it was time to go home. And it was hot.”
Jamie: “We’ve been twice, right?”
Romy: “We went again for a summer festival when it was much hotter. On this trip it wasn’t boiling.”
Jamie: “It was average.”
Oliver: “But I can’t stress how unlike anywhere else in the world we’ve visited it was. And that was so exciting.” Photograph: Jamie-James Medina
