‘Don’t worry about AI. People want bodies in a room’: Faithless on the eternal power of rave – and the death of Maxi Jazzwere granted a sunset slot on Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage, and attracted close to 100,000 people. “England had actually just lost the football, so lifting the crowd took real energy to get people going,” says the band’s Sister Bliss. “It’s a funny coincidence – we’ve played Glastonbury twice before and both times England had lost in a big game.
Maxi was a founding member of the group who formed in 1995, released six studio albums then went on hiatus in 2010, before touring again in 2015. Maxi left the following year and didn’t appear on a subsequent new Faithless album, All Blessed. “Obviously we wanted him featured” on that album, says Bliss, but his illness didn’t allow it. “It was really difficult because Maxi was the moral and philosophical spine of Faithless.
Maxi can never be replaced, but the band have been working with vocalists they feel share similarities with his vision: “Very conscious, thoughtful and talented young people.” One is Amelia Fox, who went to school with Rollo’s son and was approached by him after a school concert. “The rest is history,” Fox says. She featured on Rollo’s solo project WeDisappear and is now enjoying Faithless rehearsals, “bonding with the band and then being able to utilise those relationships on stage”.