Usually when you play a new song live, they won't be as crazy as they are for the rest of the songs, because they have to listen and get to know the song.

We're getting good feedback since it's been released from TV and radio, who are playing it a lot, which is more than we ever expected.

I never thought I'd hear that on daytime radio next to the likes of f****** Kooks, or whatever bulls*** is up next to it. It's really cool.

-Over the past few years, you've had a few stand-alone singles that weren't part of an album. Was that down to how easy it is to get tracks out there now?
Yeah, pretty much. There's nothing stopping anyone, it's easy. As well, we were aware that the album was going to be a fair time coming. We wanted to keep giving fans something to listen to.

-In that sense, has the internet helped the industry? There's been a lot of criticism recently because of the ease of illegal downloading.
The only people that criticise that we the ones that were around before illegal downloading. Whereas, bands who've come up from our generation, who've grown up for it, it's done nothing but help us.

Obviously, people are going to download our music freely, but at the end of the day - if it means they're going to buy into us as a band, and come to shows, maybe buy some merch and help us continue touring...in that respect, then f*** it, download it.

-On tracks like 'Fanfare For the Conscious Man', you explore a political side to your music. Do you think it's important to get those views out there?
Yeah, I'd say so. There's a lot going on in the world. There's a lot of music that completely ignores where we are at the moment, as a society and as a human race. There's a lot of f****** awful lyrics out there.

We have strong opinions, and we feel we should voice them. We're in a position where we've been put on this pedestal of people listening to us, so we might as well say something worthwhile.

-Related to the politics, obviously recently there were the London riots. During these there was the PIAS fire. How did that affect you as a band?
We had a lot of stock in there. Us being on our own label, I think it hurt the independent distributors and labels more. They're the ones who'll be out of pocket and have to re-make all their stock.  It's going to put a massive dent in a lot of artists and labels, for sure.

-Looking to the future, how's work on the new album going?
We just got the final mastered copy of it sent to us. It was getting mixed by a guy in Canada whilst we were on tour. It kept getting sent between us with mix notes constantly. Finally, it's done and sounding fantastic. It's gonna be out in January. We just can't wait for everyone to hear it.

-How was it worked with Mark Fraser on it, given his legacy?
Well actually, he only mixed it. He came into it with fresh ears. A lot of producers at his level mix it and go, but he knew we were very picky and hands-on, and he was patient with us.

-Is having that control important to you, given that you still self-release your material?
Yeah, definitely. We tried to sort of tap into the major labels resources with our last album, yet we kept our rights. We didn't completely sell ourselves to the devil.

I'm glad we saw that side of things, but now I'm very happy that we're not with them anymore. We're constantly releasing stuff, or wanting to get stuff out there, wanting to try new ideas.

Trying to force it through their machine, there was so much bureaucracy before we could just put a poster up or something ridiculous like that.

In that respect, we're happy that we're back releasing it ourselves. We're control freaks, so we're happy to have it back in our hands so we can do whatever we want.

-Well, before your debut there was a lot of interest from major labels. Did that make it a tough decision, between doing it yourself or taking the label offer?
Well, we spoke to them about it. We had a lot of free meals. By that time, we'd done the hard work. We'd set up the label, we were ready to go.

Then, they all came in right at the last minute. At the time, we were like...let's carry on with our plan. It did us good as well, because when the press got hold of that, they gave people a reason to get behind it and buy the music.

-What do you have planned after these shows?
After this UK stretch, we get an entire 5 days off, then we go over to America to support The Devil Wears Prada on a big US tour. Then, we come back 4 days before Christmas Day.

We get four days to do all our Christmas shopping, and then January our album will hit. Then, we're just straight back into the touring again. Non-stop really.

Check out our review of the Manchester show.

Female First - Alistair McGeorge

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