When Florence Welch first walked onstage she had the sweetest rag-doll style, keeping time with a wiggle of her hips. The 20-year-old immediately whipped London’s Working Men’s Clubs crowds into frenzies, even coaxing reluctant A&R types out of their dark corners and onto dance floors. “I had always hung out with bands,” she begins. “I could never do anything, play guitar or drums or even really sing, but I was very accustomed to that old rock and roll formula.” Her first venture into the spotlight was in 2005 at the final show by Camberwell’s ragamuffin blues boys, Ludes. Girlfriend of the keyboard player, “Flo” was encouraged onstage to sing backups. “I was sure I couldn’t sing, so when I got up there, because I was so nervous I kept yelling and drowning out anything else…I promised never to sing in public again.” However, the initial whirring of The Machine was in motion.