It’s hard to believe it’s been 8 years since your debut album ‘The Poison’ was released, how would you say your sound has developed on your new single ‘Raising Hell’? Well we’re always cautious when we start writing new material that it doesn’t sound exactly like the last album. We like to make sure we change it up a lot. With the new single, we’ve almost gone back to the beginning really because we like to keep surprising people. It’s definitely got heavier.


The new track’s self-produced, so what was it like having more freedom throughout the recording process? We definitely enjoyed working this way, with no producer there’s no one to tell you what to do. Even on the video, we didn’t really work with a director, we’ve made videos in the past that have cost $250,000 but this time we worked with a guy we knew for about a grand!


Your last album, ‘Temper Temper’ was only released in March, so with quite a short space of time in between releases, would you say your writing and recording process has changed over the years? Yeah, now we take recording equipment on the road and can just record as we go. It takes the pressure off and it’s more enjoyable really. We just get to sit around in between shows and just enjoy the whole process.


Have you started work on the new album yet, and if so, what can fans expect from it? Well we’re back in the studio again in January and we’ll be recording along the way while we’re touring. There’s no pressure this time around with writing or anything, we’re just getting back to what we love doing.


You’re about to start an arena tour in December but do you miss playing the smaller venues you started out in? I like both to be honest with you. We’re in a really good position where we can play these massive arena shows then have a word with management and say we’d like to play club shows again, so it’s great going back to all the old places. I’m in Leeds at present and I’ve just gone past a venue we played in years ago and I was just thinking I’d love to play there again.


What’s been the worst gig you’ve ever played? Just after Fever was released we went touring and I wasn’t going through a great time, it was really tough. So for me personally, they were some of the worst shows that I had ever done because my playing wasn’t the best.


‘Young Guns’ and ‘Asking Alexandria’ will be supporting your next tour, but who’s the most memorable band you’ve ever supported? It’s got to be Metallica! We supported them in 2010. We all grew up listening to them and they’ve always been our favourite band, so when we were told that we’d be supporting them I thought someone was joking! Now that we’re doing these arena shows it’s weird, it’s all coming full circle.


You formed your first band ‘Jeff Killed John’ at college, but how do you think the current state of the music industry is affecting the way new bands are getting noticed? It’s definitely harder because I think there’s almost too much choice out there now and too many bands sound exactly the same. There’s just no identity anymore. Plus, I think all this technology stops people learning instruments because there are so many programmes that alter your mistakes, so it takes all the fun and hard work out of it. We used to sit in a room for 6-8 hours a day all together, but there’s nothing like that anymore.


What advice would you give to any young bands forming in college right now? Be prepared! It could easily go one of two ways, you either make it or you don’t, so definitely be prepared to be let down. We were at it for nearly ten years before anything happened for us, so you have to put the work in.


Final question, what new bands are you


listening to at present? Not many really. Like I said, there’s a lack of identity these days. At the moment I can’t stop listening to My Chemical Romance, all the Black Parade stuff, I don’t know why! Maybe it’s because they’ve just broken up and I’m feeling nostalgic and wish they’d come back.


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