James Arden checks out the garage rockers latest album.
The Christian rock band from Brighton bring religion to the masses.
Recipe for modern R'n'B album: liberal helpings of guest rappers and an overdose of sexual euphemisms.
You've just started on your first tour now - what was it like?
We've been touring for six weeks now all over Europe, with a week and a half also in the UK. Apart from one show in Tunbridge Wells. Actually we prefer touring in Europe. There they treat bands a lot better, the promoters look after you and the crowd really get into the songs. In England they are more standoffish. There's this mentality that everyone's a reviewer, this whole oversaturated tweeting atmosphere which is so judgmental. In Scotland it's a bit different but there's a big difference depending where you tour?
It's very hard for a band to break through in the current climate. How did you manage it?
It developed through time. It started when I was 16 with another band member and it grew and grew. When we were 19 we had to make the decision between music and university - we couldn't do both - so we decided to try and tour and released a Demo EP. We were picked up, but we wanted to be a band that wasn't just UK-centric but had a big European following as well. We were told that it wasn't possible so we found another place that made it possible. We just had to follow through and keep trying.
What were the major influences for you when you were developing this album? Some of the biggest influences for me were bands such as Smashing Pumpkings, Radiohead, Wild Beasts. Our main aim was to not write some boring transient stadium rock. We'd prefer to be much harder to place. The press are very happy to put people into boxes and labels and say this band is that genre, but we'd prefer to much harder to classify.
You come originally from Manchester, a city with a huge music history. Was that a great influence for you? Not really. We were too young growing up for the whole music scene to have a massive influence on us. We love the place but it's not a key reason. Lots of American bands have had just as much influence on us as Manchester.
Are you planning to get back in the studio again for your second album?
The second album has been a long process. After our first tour we're just itching to get back into studio release another album and tour again. This album is going to be pretty different. It's a live record in that we've played lots of these songs live before, which was a completely different process to the first one. This album might be full on pop, whereas before we played it straight down th emiddle in terms of our sound.
Tell us anything memorable that happened to us in a gig When playing a gig in Southampton, I snapped a string on my guitar and we didn't have any spare guitars or strings so someone had to run down to a shop and get one. Meanwhile I was talking for 15 minutes trying to keep the crowd going - I'd had a bit to drink so this helped.
Finally what's it like, having members of the band support Man Utd And Man City football clubs? It used to be that it was a bigger thing but now it's OK apart from the big derby games. We don't have to go in to separate rooms or anything like that!
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