The Ting Tings Offer Summer Festival Survival Tips

While some of the summer's biggest festivals might be behind us, the season has yet to reach its halfway point with the Pitchfork Music Festival, Lollapalooza, Street Scene, Osheaga, All Points West, Reading, Leeds, and more all fast approaching. And for every good reason to hit up these mega shows (i.e. all your favorite bands in one place, making out in a tent, a nice tan, discovering new music) there's a downside (i.e. watching all your favorite bands in the rain, waking up hot and sweaty in a tent, the dreaded farmer's tan).

Fortunately, Ting Tings drummer Jules De Martino, currently riding the European summer festival circuit with bandmate Katie White, sheds some tips on festival survival. "It depends what country you are in," Martino tells Spinner. "The necessities list is to carry a little baby's toilet around with you and a toilet roll because you can never find that when you are out."

But not all festivals will leave you doing the pee-pee dance till Monday. Martino says that although the port-a-potties at Glastonbury take the urinal cake for the worst he's seen and can be described as smelling like a "pig farm" and "just over-spilling and all this s--- is running down the roads," that some festivals -- namely Chicago's Lollapalooza and the UK's V Festival -- manage to provide "a loo that's pretty clean and doesn't smell."

As for other festival essentials, De Martino adds, "Have a good happy spirit in your heart. Everything else is there. Your drinks are there. Your friendships are there. Some of these festivals with bad weather people get really pissed off and riot, especially in bands with egos, so you always need to put a smile in your heart and realize this is just a day out." The Tings Tings' next festival stop is Angoulême, France's Garden Nef Party Festival. The Brit-pop duo then fly back to the U.S. for New York's All Points West August 1st through 3rd and a late summer tour with Pink, which kicks off September 15th in Seattle, Washington.