Alex Trimble on playing Olympic Opening Ceremony

In a wide-spanning cover feature that sees himself and his bandmates recount a year of increasingly wild success with Stuart Clark, Alex Trimble talks about that Opening Ceremony appearance.

“I don’t know when or if it will ever sink in," the Northern Irish singer admits. "The week was very, very full-on which was good because it didn’t give me a chance to think about it too much. I came in on the Saturday before and watched the run-through; then on Sunday I had a rehearsal; Monday another rehearsal; Tuesday we went to Amsterdam to do some promo; flew back Wednesday morning and went straight into rehearsals; Thursday I had a day off; and Friday I was in rehearsals straight through the day. It was mental!”

Triimble was invited to perform the new Underworld song, ‘Caliban’s Dream’, with Only Men Aloud, the Dockhead Choir, the London Symphony Orchestra, soprano Elizabeth Roberts and percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie.

"Rick Smith, who wrote the song, gave Danny [Boyle] Tourist History; he really liked it and made the call.”

The newly quiffed star had to keep schtum before the show, meaning there were plenty of shocked texts flooding in the immediate aftermath. "“Just a few! They couldn’t understand what had happened. I wasn’t really allowed to tell anyone, but I let my mum know two days before and she told my dad – I didn’t want to give them a heart attack! I told the lads as well and warned them there’d be slaps if they breathed a word of it!”

Elsewhere in the interview, the lads discuss recording on a Californian mountain top with Jacknife Lee, hanging with Azealia Banks ("she's mental!") and life on the road, destroyed dressing rooms and all.

Read all about it in the new issue of Hot Press (TDCC cover), onsale Thursday October 4.