Luca Pasqualino, star of Skins and Rivals, has revealed that he still remembers falling over at the 2009 NME Awards while presenting a trophy to MGMT.
Taking place at Brixton Academy, the 2009 NME Awards featured live performances from Friendly Fires, White Lies and Elbow. Glasvegas teamed up with Florence Welch for a cover of Elvis Presley’s ‘Suspicious Minds’, Damon Albarn reunited with Graham Coxon for an acoustic version of ‘This Is A Low’ and Godlike Geniuses The Cure delivered a 10-track greatest hits set.
However Skins’ Luca Pasqualino remembers the night for other reasons. “I was presenting an award to MGMT [for Best New Band] and I tripped up the steps,” he told NME. “I think I just about managed to get onto my feet before the audience saw me.”
“I had one drink but I was 19 and very nervous about presenting that award, so I made a conscious effort to not drink too much. It was pretty riotous [night]. We were on a table with Girls Aloud. Pete Doherty was there, doing Pete Doherty things.”
Pasqualino’s Rivals co-star Alex Hassell wasn’t at the 2009 NME Awards but remembers that era being “an amazing time for music”. He also revealed that growing up, he was in a band with his older brother called Short Back And Sides. They had one song ‘Do The SBS’ which had its own dance routine but they never made it out of the bedroom. “It didn’t take off so I had to go into the much more stable world of acting,” he told NME.
Elsewhere during the interview, Hassell revealed that he made a playlist of “sexy ‘80s music” while filming the first season of Rivals. “Every morning, I would start with ‘Kiss’ by Prince, and then INXS’ ‘Need You Tonight’. They’re two of the sexiest songs ever. Then it was ‘Physical’ by Olivia Newton-John and a lot of Blondie. It was really important to me to do that.”
As for the one album that he always comes back to, Hassell picked Radiohead’s classic ‘OK Computer’. “It’s one of the greatest albums of all time,” he explained before choosing a less obvious pick from alt-rock group Longpigs. “‘The Sun Is Often Out’ is an unbelievably brilliant album.Every single song on it is completely amazing. I remember seeing them live at V Festival 1997 alongside The Bluetones, Iggy Pop, Beck and The Prodigy. Lead singer Crispin Hunt had a cigarette between his fingers the entire time he was playing, and was wearing a see-through [coat]. He just looked like the coolest guy I’d ever seen.”
Bella Maclean chose Cleo Sol’s 2021 album ‘Mother’ (“It’s so spiritual and beautiful. She’s got a voice like an angel”) while Pasqualino picked Stevie Wonder’s ‘Songs In The Key Of Life’. Leonardo DiCaprio picked the same album when he spoke to NME last year.
Rivals season two part two launches on Disney+ on November 11
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