The National’s Matt Berninger and Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry Chat About Fame, Confidence, and More

Back in October, during the National‘s performance at Treasure Island Music Festival in San Francisco, the band brought out Chvrches‘ Lauren Mayberry to perform the Trouble Will Find Me track “I Need My Girl”. Now, Mayberry and frontman Matt Berninger have crossed paths for a new interview for Live Nation TV. Over the course of their chat, the two discuss a variety of topics, including their perspectives on fame, how they stay confident while performing, and the media. Check out their conversation below.

Mayberry says she took a hip-hop dance class in order to to perfect her movements onstage and “break this glass ceiling of extreme embarrassment and shame.” She also said she listened to the National’s High Violet extensively while mopping floors when she worked at a café. (“We are the mop bucket of indie rock,” Berninger responds). 

Another highlight: Berninger’s story of a disastrous South By Southwest performance early in the band’s career:

The National’s first opportunity was South By Southwest, and we got on a showcase. And I was so nervous that when one song came up – which was supposed to be our big loud one, or the first big loud rock song – the music was so off, and I turned around and went, “What the fuck are you guys doing?” And they looked at me, and I had jumped ahead a song. They were playing a different song. They played an entirely different song – and I was going into the choruses, I was screaming my head off to “Available”, and they were playing an entirely different song. Nothing lined up, and they thought I was going insane. They couldn’t even figure out how i’d done it. But I was so inside my head, I was just singing the lyrics along to the drum beat. Yeah…we didn’t get signed.

Read our interview with Chvrches.

Watch the National on an episode of Pitchfork.tv’s “Over/Under”:

Watch Chvrches perform “Clearest Blue” at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015:

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