What are the themes and influences that run through your latest self titled mini album? That's a good question. When we started writing songs we didn’t really have any plans to string re-occurring themes through the record but there are a few stylistic elements that form a definite part of our sound. The use of choral harmonies and dynamic shifts are good examples. Lyrically all of the songs use a lot of imagery to convey certain atmospheres and scenes. Joe and I would often sit and write the lyrics together and I think it was born out of that collaboration. For instance - ‘Judge’ was inspired by the book 'Watchmen'. Joe and I had both been watching ‘The Wire’ too which definitely had an influence. Stuff like that just seems to find its way into whatever we’re working on at the time.
What was it like recording in the legendary Outhouse Studios? We had an amazing time and met some really nice people. There was a bit of an adjustment period because they have a very set way of working and it was different from other studios that we'd been to in the past. It was good to feel like the project was completely in control but we underestimated how long we'd need timewise. It meant that there were a few stressful moments towards the end where we were up against it! It was great to meet James (Billinge) who recorded and mixed the EP, he was a really great influence and completely understood what we wanted to achieve.
How come you guys wanted this album to be a self titled entitled release? Purely because we couldn't think of a more appropriate name that wasn't really cheesy! As it was our first release we wanted something that would be indicative of us. The idea of the EP was to show people what we're about – we didn't want to release a record with 6 songs that all sound the same. There are various different sides to the band and we wanted to include all of them. When we started to think about names it became difficult to find something that reflected that. In the end we thought that a self titled approach would be the best solution.
How happy are you with the response the album is getting so far from fans and critics? Yeah it's been awesome. We were all really proud of the EP when we finished recording it but I don't think any of us thought it would do this well. The reaction from critics has been really nice but the fans reaction has been unbelievable. It's amazing to hear from people who we've never met saying that they're huge fans of the record, and it's a really humbling feeling to know that people are behind us and enjoy hearing what we've written.
How did your recent tour go with The Perfect Crime? Are there any particular highlights you would like to share with us? This is a really boring answer but every date on the tour was so much fun and a highlight in itself. It's brilliant being able to go to new towns every night and meet new people. TPC are great guys and it's nice when you get to watch a band you genuinely love every night. Their crew were all awesome too. There were a few funny stories but mainly it was just cool to hang out with ace people and play shows.
What can we expect to see from you in 2012? Well we just put out Carol Of The Bells as a Christmas download. The plan now is to spend the next couple of months demoing and finishing off songs for our début album. We're also looking at heading out on tour again soon. There are some other things that we're really excited about but we can't talk about them yet!