Clean Bandit exclusive: Cellist Grace Chatto takes some beating… with tree branches

CLEAN BANDIT’s Grace Chatto took things literally when she decided to whip herself back into shape after being shaken by the stress of being a pop star.
In an exclusive chat with Guilty Pleasures, the chart-topping cellist said she coped with the band’s hectic schedule by being beaten with tree branches.
‘That’s an ancient Russian tradition,’ Grace assures us. ‘They have these hot saunas and then they beat you with birch twigs.
‘It brings the blood to the surface. It’s a unique sensation and one that I love.’
After a jam-packed summer, Grace, 31, took her foot off the gas when it came to making the music video for new single I Miss You (ft Julia Michaels).
‘I didn’t direct or produce this one because I’ve been taking it easy recently,’ she adds. ‘I just feel a bit tired after the festivals and stuff.’
No wonder Grace needs a break – especially if she and bandmates Jack, 32, and Luke Patterson, 25, keep risking life and limb for their chart hits.
‘We once did a video and there were polar bears where we were shooting,’ recalls Grace. ‘We had to carry a gun the whole time.’
Concerns grew when bassist Jack ‘wandered off at one point’ but he thankfully returned in one piece.
Grace recently delivered a rousing speech at a Young Labour event at the party’s conference.
Would she be up for collaborating with Jeremy Corbyn? After all, the Labour leader took to the Glastonbury stage this summer and also went viral when he performed with a busker in Manchester.
‘It would be very cool,’ Grace giggles.
Author: Tom Stichbury