-Was it good getting to do the two farewell shows for him, playing Casually Dressed in full?
Kris: Yeah. It was a really poignant way to send Darran off. It was nice for him to be able to say goodbye to our fans, and in the same way for people to show how much they appreciated him and what he's done with us.

-When Rich came in, was it quite an easy change?
Ryan: Yeah, because this is the third band I've been in with him! So, it's been easy. The old band I was in was with Rich and Gav. When I left that band to join Funeral, we took them on tour with us. We're all from the same place, it was really easy.

-In the last couple of years, you've also broken away from Atlantic. What led to that split?
Kris: I dunno really. It was down to us - we got offered another deal with them, but we felt we'd got to a certain point where we wanted to try something different. We did our own label. It was good in some ways, difficult in some ways.

The same can be said of Pledge. We've got a good home for the EP in the UK now, which is Distiller. It's a pretty new label, there's great people working there. It's good to have that level of control.

-Do you still get to retain that absolute control?
Ryan: They didn't hear any of the album until we finished recording it! It's really different to the way it's worked in the past, to be honest.

-Well you did an EP release with Pledge.com. Is that a good model for bands to try, to have it funded by fans?
Kris: I think so, but I think it's obviously a very new idea. It had some teething problems, and some of the pledges turned out to be a logistical nightmare. It's a good and a bad thing really.

The longer it goes forward, it'll go better and bands will use it as a way to make their records. It's a great way to interact with your fans, and allow them to actually be part of the process, as oppose to only seeing it when it's on the shelf.

It's a different way to do it, but it definitely had it's teething problems - to anybody who still hasn't got stuff off us, the only thing we can say is "sorry". We're doing whatever we can to sort everything out.

-It's always a bit predictable to ask about the music scene in Wales, but I wanted to ask specifically about the Welsh Music Prize. What do you think about the idea of it, given that it does offer a wider range than, say, the Mercury Prize?
Kris: Great, I thought - really varied albums.
Ryan: It also shows how much music comes out of Wales, as well - how much great music. It was cool to be there, it was a cool event. I can hopefully see it going from strength to strength.

-The media has built up this portrayal of a unified scene and comradery in South Wales. Is that how it actually is?
Kris: Well, you look at the line-ups for our tours in the past - we do everything we can to help support Welsh bands who we feel are good. That's the most important part - if we didn't like a band, we wouldn't take them out. I definitely think that, for us anyway, we feel that the Welsh music scene is very strong.

There's definitely an element of, like you said, comradery. I don't think there's any competitiveness really between Welsh bands. I don't that really exists. Do you agree with that?
Ryan: Yeah! When one band gets bigger, they usually do all they can to bring the next band along with them. It's been like that for a long time in Wales. That's why you see so many bands coming through.

-You've just played your first South African show. How was that?
Ryan: Amazing. It was incredible. I guess it's hard to know what to expect really, going somewhere like that. We weren't sure what to expect as far as the welcome, and how much people would be into it, but they did - they definitely did. The show was awesome, we got to play with Alkaline Trio.
Kris: It was surprising, actually, how good the South African bands are, like Sabretooth and Zebra & Giraffe. They were both really good bands.

-Looking past the tour, are there any plans for new material?
Ryan: When this tour finishes, that's what we're planning on doing - making a new record.
Kris: We've started already, a bunch of demos floating around.
Ryan: Not on the internet, so don't look! Just in our own personal network of computers. Things are already on their way, we'll start recording in January or February.

Female First - Alistair McGeorge

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