‘Blood Red Shoes’ is the band’s fourth album, but the first one they’ve self-produced, having previously worked extensively with Arctic Monkeys producer Mike Crossey (even if Ansell describes using him as a “hotline for when I messed stuff up in ProTools” during the making of this). It marks a shift not only in method, but in location, too: the album was recorded in Berlin. “We wanted to get out of England and write somewhere different,” says Ansell. “We settled on Berlin because it’s cheap, convenient and super easy to get a space to record. And loads of cool records have been made there.”

Despite their nod to the city’s musical history, Brighton/London-based Blood Red Shoes did not set out to ape Bowie’s Berlin period. Instead, they focussed on stripping away the pristine surface of 2012’s third album ‘In Time To Voices’ to return to the raw, rock ‘n’ roll grit at the centre. “Everything was so perfect on our third album, but we realised that the imperfections are what makes our band – that’s what people like about us,” says singer/guitarist Laura Mary Carter. It’s a plan that was solidified on a tour of the USA in April 2013, which interrupted the album’s writing and recording.

“That tour did something to us,” says Ansell. “In most towns outside the major cities, we were really stoked if we got 50 people out. You’re playing this close to someone, no lights or big PAs, no tricks, no big production, nothing to hide behind. It’s just the absolute bare essences of whether you can excite someone by just rocking out. Doing that night after night in the States, we realised that you have to connect to someone just by the sheer energy of what you do, not worrying about singing perfect harmonies. We got back to Berlin and thought, let’s just get drunk and rock out.”

Video footage shared by the band from the recording sessions shows them having a whale of a time: spinning round in chairs, recording drums topless and making plenty of noise. But, say the band, the video doesn’t tell the full story of their 5pm to 4am working days. “They flit between us fucking around and us being really workaholic and focused and talking about nothing but the songs. That’s not on the video because it’s not interesting to look at,” says Ansell.

The freedom of recording on their own terms caused major changes in the way they work. A handful of the songs have improvised lyrics, including ‘Speech Coma' and forthcoming single ‘An Animal’. “A lot of the lyrics this time are totally spontaneous,” says Carter. “It’s a good way of getting at what you’re thinking; you look back and realise what it was all about.” Ansell agrees: “It’s amazing what you come out with, these more subconscious things. I don’t even know what half the fucking words mean.”

Another shift in the lyrics has been a new sense of positivity. "One song in particular, ‘Everything All At Once’, comes from “the idea that you might not even wake up tomorrow, so you might as well experience everything right now.”

It’s perhaps a viewpoint they’ve arrived at with the confidence of having achieved something relatively few bands of their generation have achieved – making it to their fourth album. “I think is an element of luck involved, but mostly it’s because we work our arses off,” says Carter, who also came up with the concept for the album’s sleeve. “We never switch off. We never let anything just happen; we steer everything. A bit control freaky, really.”

Ansell has his own theory: “We’re still a gang!” he says. “I’ve watched bands that start to break up because they get bored of it or they get distracted or cos they start wanting a family. Real life stuff – gross! Bands fragment as a gang, but there’s only two of us. I can’t think of a day we haven’t spoken to each other for at least five years. We hang out even when we’re not doing the band. I consider myself to be part of a very small gang. It’s us against the world, and that’s one of the reasons we’ve lasted.”

Blood Red Shoes have also benefited, says Carter, “because we’ve never been in a scene.” But in the years since their 2008 debut, they have found kinship with other bands, from Pulled Apart By Horses to newcomers Drenge, whose singer Eoin Loveless takes the lead on ‘Wretch’, the B-side to Blood Red Shoes’ comeback single ‘An Animal’. “They’re the next generation two-piece,” says Carter. “When we first met them, Eoin told me he remembered learning our guitar parts when he was 15 and I felt really old!”

A fiercely ambitious band, Blood Red Shoes have clear aims for the album: they want it to appeal to fans old and new, and they want it to power them on another massive tour around the world. Their long-running tours have won them huge audiences from Indonesia to Russia, Australia and beyond.

The most important thing, for Carter and Ansell, is that they’ve rediscovered the passion at their core. “You know like what it felt like when you’re a kid in art class and the teacher goes out and you just throw the paint around?” asks Ansell. “That’s the feeling of freedom that I can hear in the record. It’s really sloppy, and I love that about it.”

Skiba debuted with ‘blink-182’ in March 2015 with a live performance at the MusInk Tattoo and Music Festival: "It was the best they've sounded in over a decade," the OC Weekly raved about the band's set.

Early in 2016, Skiba finally entered the studio with Hoppus and Barker. Although the band had written over 30 songs in the months before the sessions, once they started working with producer John Feldmann, they soon discarded all the old material. "We hit the ground running so hard that we just kept writing and writing," Hoppus says, "and suddenly we realized that we had written more than 20 new songs, and they were all really great.” While ‘blink-182’ have already racked up more than their fair share of platinum records and blockbuster singles, they're emphatically looking forward to their seventh studio album. "This is the next step for us—it's not a stopgap and we're not punching a clock," Hoppus emphasizes. "We're not just a greatest-hits band, although we will play the hits. Blink is alive and well and we're excited about doing cool new stuff "It feels just like the old days, spending 14 or 16 hours in the studio until 2 o'clock in the morning, blasting the latest rough mix of a song as you drive home excited and exhausted, waking up and the band is the first thing you think of in the morning and then working all day on it. Every day in the studio has been a lot of fun.” According to The New York Times, "No punk band of the 1990s has been more influential than ‘blink-182’.”

The members of the band still have other projects: Hoppus Produces, scores films and also has Hi My Name is Mark —both a podcast and curated lifestyle clothing line/website. Barker is a member of the Transplants, proprietor of the Famous Stars and Straps clothing company, and the author of the bestselling autobiography Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums Drums Drums. Skiba remains the lead singer of Alkaline Trio, but when the three members of ‘blink-182’ come together, they leave aside their other interests and collaborate fully. "I've never joined a band before—I've started every band I've ever been in," Skiba says. "It's a crazy dream-come-true feeling, but it feels organic. I spend a lot of time pinching myself.” "We had a great chemistry with Matt right away," Travis Barker says. "We've been friends with Matt for the past 17 years, so it was a real natural fit for him to come on board.” Their latest album “California” was released in July 2016 and scored the band a #1 in both the US and (for the first time ever) the UK. ‘blink-182’ are boldly facing the future and Hoppus sums up their partnership: "I love our band--I've loved every single step along the way. I'm glad that we've continued to write music that we love and that connects to people 20 years later, and that we still feel like we did when we were playing garages back in San Diego in 1994".

In 2014, Courteeners stand on the brink of unveiling their fourth and - by some distance - greatest album. In the six years since they released their sharp and underrated debut St Jude – a pinpoint accurate portrayal of youth enjoying life – the band have been steadily rising. All their albums have gone Top 10 – St. Jude (no.4), Falcon (no.6), ANNA (no.6) - and the growth in their live shows has been exponential and astonishing.

Just to take one example, on the 5th and 6th July last year, the band played two nights at the Castlefield Bowl, Manchester. They sold all 16,000 tickets in a day. In fact, they sold 100, 000 tickets in 2013 alone, also selling out Manchester Arena and Brixton Academy in the process. This time round – before the album’s even been heard by anyone outside the band’s inner circle– they find themselves headlining the Radio 1/NME Stage at this year’s Reading and Leeds Festival and handpicked to support The Killers at their 40, 000 capacity Glasgow Summer Sessions show on August 19th. The momentum is with them.

And the reason? Well, that’s when we need to turn our attention to the band’s singer and sole songwriter Liam James Fray. A riot of contradictions – romantic, sensitive, brash yet self-doubting – it’s his songwriting, an acute observation of how life is mostly lived, that has fuelled the band’s longevity, striking a resounding chord with an increasing large bandwidth of people across the country.

“Right from St Jude, everything was about how I was feeling,” explains Fray. “I did feel frustrated, stuck in a rut. But, I was full of ideas, watching the world go by outside, wondering if music could take me further than work, eat, club, sleep (a bit) die etc, I did seek escape from that life and I wrote about that. It wasn’t a formula. I wasn’t hell bent on capturing the abstract at 21. I wanted to focus on what was real. My world. Other people’s worlds. It’s what I knew. It’s what I grew up on. Pulp, Stephen Fretwell - they wrote about real life with frustration, heart and with humour.”

Concrete Love continues down that path. It radiates a confidence that’s perhaps best summed-up by the album’s two greatest moments, both of which are totally different to anything the band has attempted before.

Summer comes totally from leftfield, a joyous Beach Boys-eseque slice of perfect pop driven forward by a hypnotic, leaping riff. It’s a pure pop moment and all the more thrilling for it. It’s matched for freshness and ambition by Dreamers – a five minute epic that’s the perfect encapsulation of Fray’s outlook. It’s an atmospheric call to arms shot through with acute observation on the charts and underscored with a vibrant romantic sensibility. “The charts are full of cartoons and lawyers having a gap year before choosing their employers/But what about my life/Who is singing about that?” laments Fray, before a euphoric chorus bursts through. “Dreamers and writers/Risk takers and fighters….Come on and unite us”.

This new sense of musical sure-footedness is partly attributable to Fray’s relationship with producer Joe Cross. “Musically it was very liberating because we were creating in so many different ways. He gave me new confidence with my voice, I’ve never really had that before. I wasn’t forcing it, I was singing” laughs Fray.

“It was the most free I’ve ever felt in the studio, we were experimenting all the time, different people popping in and out at all hours of the day and night. Working with members of the BBC Manchester Philharmonic Orchestra and Manchester Ladies Choir really lifted the place and pushed us on….”

“The challenge, and the fun, is myself and Joe getting some of the songs - which often start from a folky perspective, on the acoustic or the piano to a point where I can channel my inner -Nick Zinner. I want them to sound big. It’s exhilarating feeling them grow. There are elements of Motown, UNKLE, Simon and Garfunkel!”

“St. Jude was punk and brash and exciting,” clarifies Fray, “but Falcon and Anna were totally different from that. I wanted us to push ourselves. When I listen to our music, I don’t hear any of the groups that we’re often associated with.”

To that end, the writing process for Concrete Love found Fray decamped to Paris. Starting in October last year, he spent three months writing and recording in the Montmartre (for a historical precedent Echo And The Bunnymen did the same thing when they were searching for the spark and inspiration for the extreme otherness of Ocean Rain).

It was a time spent walking the city seeking out new experience and something of that city’s nocturnal allure permeates the grooves of the new record. Having said that, it should be noted that the Gallic sojourn was followed up by sessions in a wholly different romantic setting - Whitby, then finally, homeward bound, in Ancoats.

The thing easily missed about Courteeners is that they might be earthed in the experiences of growing up in and around Manchester but there’s a tension in their music that comes from a desire and a fascination with breaking out of that.

It’s at the heart of what makes them such an interesting, contradictory group. With Concrete Love, it feels like they’ve finally got the balance right. It’s their most rounded and satisfying album to date and it coincides with a moment when they’re nearing the peak of their live powers.

That’s as good as summation as any. For Courteeners, it finally feels like their time has come.

Dancing Years are a Leeds based band made up of David Henshaw (vocals), Joseph Lawrenson (piano), Dan Fielding (electric guitar), Dominic Butler (violin), Joe Semple (accordion) & Sam Murray (drums). What began as a piano-guitar duo in 2009 gradually evolved into a diverse six-piece.

Their live performances have seen the band gather an increasing amount of plaudits as a result of multiple UK headline tours, a UK tour in support of Benjamin Francis Leftwich and shows supporting the likes of James Vincent McMorrow, Dry the River, Stornoway, Foy Vance and Lone Wolf. The band has set off to a good start this year after being named as one of The Independent’s IoS Sound of 2013.

“Songs which always soared now careen about in the air, with whirling emotional peaks and troughs pulling the audience along for the ride. Fair comparisons to Damien Rice’s lyrical clout and Sigur Ros’ symphonic sound can be made, and even with the meagre headroom offered by Off Broadway, the Leeds six-piece makes the room feel like a cathedral” - The Bomber Jacket

Produced by Charlie Hugall (Florence and The Machine, Ed Sheeran), Paul Savage (Mogwai, Franz Ferdinand) and Peter Miles (We Are The Ocean, Futures, The King Blues) and with arrangements and strings from Valgeir Sigurðsson (Sigur Rós, Björk), the resulting 10-track album is bold, expansive, confident and cohesive - an undeniable step up in both diversity and volume from their critically acclaimed debut, Shallow Bed (March 2012).

Dry the River have announced a UK headline tour in October. The dates follow a number of festival shows over the summer, including appearances at Glastonbury and the Main Stage at Reading and Leeds.

They ended their last run of UK dates with a euphoric sold-out show at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire in November 2012, a year which began with them appearing in the BBC ‘Sound of 2012’ poll. This tour will see them play their biggest headline show yet, at The Forum in Kentish Town, London.

EMPRESS have been writing since the start of 2011, honing their style together; quietly and carefully. The result is a sound that belies their young age – all are in their 20s. Soothing and vicious in turn, they juxtapose gentle harmonies with frantic ferocity; relaxed strumming followed by thrashy beats, time signature changes and other interesting meanderings that you’ll just have to find out about for yourself. There’s a comforting feeling of control about all of it though – as if EMPRESS know exactly what they’re doing.

They know what they’re doing because they’re finally making music that speaks to them; music that they love. There are as many elements of metallers Mastodon, Metallica and Opeth in the music as there are of the more melodic Pink Floyd, King Crimson and Elbow – all huge bands and all huge influences on EMPRESS. The band also cites more recent but no less prominent influences such as the now-defunct Surrey rockers Reuben and American post-hardcore pioneers Underoath and Thrice. If that seems like quite the motley crew, you’ll understand why EMPRESS’s sound is so hard to pin down. With an imposing arsenal of songs at the ready, EMPRESS are preparing to become your new favourite band. A bright future awaits.

After the departure of co-founder and vocalist David Jakes earlier this year due to health reasons, Lonely The Brave stood together, supporting their friend but adamant that as one door was closing, they would very soon be opening a new one. They never stopped writing, never stopped creating, and instead started the search for a vocal talent that they could stand side by side with in their march toward album number three.

A short search led them to the door of Jack Bennett, and an instant connection was made as they traded stories, ideas and inspirations. He is noted for his strong and emotionally wrought vocal performances - qualities that have come to define the band’s live show - so it is with some excitement that their first live outing together is announced to take place at Omeara, London, on October 13th. Tickets will be available here - http://smarturl.it/LTB_Omeara - and go on general sale from 9am this Friday, August 17th. This will be a special headline show with no support act and an early 10pm curfew, so be sure to get down early to avoid disappointment.

The band had this to say about Jack’s arrival;

We don’t know where to start with everything that has happened over the last 12 Months or so, so first of all we all want to say thank you to every single one of you that has messaged us with your support during this period. Nothing worth doing is ever easy and your continued words of encouragement really have helped galvanise our belief that this band has so much more to give. It fills us with pride to say that this new chapter of our history will begin in earnest on the 13th October. The show is our way of thanking every single one of you for standing by us and understanding that this is a continuation; that the songs really are the most important part.

But the level of their modesty is no match for the scale of the achievement. Purveyors of infectiously crunchy, melodic and spring-loaded hardcore, their rise to the status of UK rock’s most-likely-to has been steady and, with hindsight, inevitable. It might look like that now, but they couldn’t have planned any of this that way. The four members fell together in the late-2000s, uniting as they realised that each other were all the most impressive members of their scene. With a DIY ethic that was honourable, but also borne from necessity, everything they have done until now has been written in Mike’s kitchen. Their story has been proof that the good will usually out.

Since releasing their debut EP ‘Bretton’ in 2008, through two more self-funded albums (2010’s ‘Far Q’ and 2011’s ‘World Record’) and a Biffyesque commitment to touring, they earned a fearsome reputation on the underground circuit, fast rising to prominence, media acclaim and with an often-terrifyingly devoted fanbase. Now, having attracted the attention of Island Records, they’re all set to release their ‘Changing Tune’, the album that looks set to turn them into British rock’s next great crossover act.

As is always the case with self-motivated rock bands who do it the old-fashioned way, they let ‘the industry’ find them rather than seeking anyone out, and after a whispering campaign led them gaining a buzz, they were sought out and seduced. One night in early 2012, in London on the final day of their sold out UK tour, they signed a record deal with a major label and then went off and played the biggest headline show of their careers. Life was going well. The journey then took them and producer John Mitchell to Rockfield Studios in Wales, a place steeped in rock history. Each day they would walk out past the weathervane that inspired the “any way the wind blows” line in Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. They would sit underneath the same stars that were shining on Chris Martin when he wrote ‘Yellow’. “And there we are,” says Mike, “getting pissed and lighting our farts on the sofa. It was mental!” Clearly, you can take the boy out of Watford…

‘Changing Tune’, the album that transpired, from the frenetic buzz of lead single ‘Love Someone Else’, retains the snarl that made their name, but moves them onto a place that, while not exactly more adult (who would want that?) then certainly more sure of itself. “We released a really hardcore metal album,” says Ben, “the second was a fast aggressive punk album, the third one was kind of your skeleton of a basic rock album, a skeleton of what this is. This’s a big, muscly dude complete with skin and organs.”

And while they’ve hardly ‘gone pop’, they do acknowledge a determination to use the bigger platform now that they’ve earned it. “I think our band has a message,” says Mike, “and if you want your message to get across, why wouldn't you make your music that little bit more palatable so that it reaches a wider audience? We feel we can pull that off without losing integrity”

And that message? “We’re four normal working class guys, who had shit jobs and no decent qualifications or anything like that. We’re just normal people. Our message now is that if you want something bad enough and really work hard - it will happen. We’re proof of that” The experience is affecting them more than they might have expected. Of the significance of the title, Mike only half-jokes, “originally there were a couple of positive songs on the album lyrically, which we’d never had before. We used to be so broke, we’d had the worst luck, and everything was kind of downtrodden, bummed out and whinging. But our band became our career, how can you moan when you’re having the time of your life? We've definitely changed our tune.” Although, keen not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, he smirks, “I'll always find something to moan about”

In fact, that attitude, and the wealth of new experiences (from getting a Fender Rhodes and a theremin to “using the studio as an instrument,”) inspires the album in unexpected and colourful ways. This is the message that burns through the whole of ‘Changing Tune’. And the band are primed to expect to expect the unexpected. For a band who named themselves after a place so deep, Lower Than Atlantis are getting themselves ready for the heights.

Remaining in the same house where she grew up with her parents and older brother has not just kept her grounded, it’s hugely contributed to the development of her voice and style. Her earliest memories of music include having her mind blown by her brother playing her Coldplay’s ‘Parachutes’ through his Minidisc player, or watching Kate Bush’s video to ‘Cloudbusting’ with her dad. She takes the name ‘Rae’ from her grandfather, Raymond – a carpenter and local musician. Although she never met Raymond (he died when her father was a young man), he’s come to exert a large influence upon her and the family. Music is important to all of them – she and her brother have always taken piano lessons together from the age of four, her dad’s been trying to learn saxophone for 30 years, while her uncle plays in local covers bands, and at family get-togethers the Morris’s enjoy bringing the guitars out and having a sing-along to Steely Dan or ‘Hey Jude’.

For Rae, playing was always a communal, good-time experience. She didn’t actually get into music herself until she was around 15- years-old. Her palette was remarkably unaffected by anything besides her home life. While she was good at both sport and music at school she was lacking a clear direction for her future, and decided in the interim to take an art and music course at a college in Preston. Her solo musical endeavours came to her by chance when Rae was 17 and watching a particular episode of Jools Holland, featuring Blackpool musician Karima Francis. “I was like,

Woah that girl’s from Blackpool. That’s insane. I didn’t even know that was possible,” she recalls.

Embarking on a new, exciting career in music led Rae to like-minded individuals, like Charlie Fink from Noah & The Whale, Ben Garrett (aka Fryars) who produced her first two EPs, Lucy Rose who has become a close friend. Rae also co-wrote and features on the forthcoming Clean Bandit track ‘Up Again’. Another close friend and sounding board is Jack Steadman of Bombay Bicycle Club, who invited her to record some backing vocals on his band’s material after they’d had a few beers in his studio space on Edgware Road. Rae supports Bombay Bicycle Club on their forthcoming spring 2014 UK tour and features on 3 tracks from their No1 album ‘So Long See You Tomorrow’. It’s a nurturing environment for her and has helped to build her stage persona. Of course, nothing revealed to Rae more that there was life outside Blackpool than her introduction to multi-talented, LA-based producer Ariel Rechtshaid (Vampire Weekend, Haim, Diplo). With Ariel, she recorded a collection of sophisticated, piano-driven soundscapes and ballads that comprise her much-anticipated debut. Three months of LA sunshine and crashing at Ariel’s place in Silverlake generated the sort of environment where she could finally locate her truth without any external influence, taking her a million miles from everything she thought she knew. And she’s immensely proud of the results, positive that she’s made the album she really wanted to make.

Not that this newfound confidence has made her anywhere near aware of how good she is. That humbleness is Rae’s ace card. “I should be way better than I am,” she says. “I should be far more accomplished by this stage!” From where we’re standing, Rae Morris is streets ahead of the competition.

Bristling with energy and oozing optimism, Great Divide is a rock record with widescreen ambition, inspired by the band watching their own fans and from sharing stages with the likes of Springsteen and Foo Fighters.

“Our aim was always to make songs this size,” says Twin Atlantic singer Sam McTrusty. “Coming from a punk rock background, it took a while - we like to say we went the scenic route. But it was the right route for us, full of interesting stops on which we learnt a lot – about ourselves, about each other, about how to make music that connects with fans which is always honest, never forced.”

Almost three years and over 300 gigs since the release of their silver-selling, debut album, Free, catapulted them from clubs to sold-out shows at Shepherds Bush Empire to the main stage at Reading and Leeds and this summer, Glastonbury, Twin Atlantic have made a mainstream record that marries their incredible energy live with a more mature approach to songwriting that acknowledges their long-held love of pop. Great Divide may be driven by guitars and drums, but it is also steeped in piano and strings, built on soaring melodies and littered with lyrics, sung in McTrusty’s strong Scottish accent, that express grown-up emotions as chantalong slogans.

“We’ve been through our punk rock rebellion phase and come out the other side,” laughs McTrusty. “We’ve all grown up being in this band. Dare I say it, we’re finally fully-formed adults. Since Free, some of us have got married and bought our own places and I’ve spent time in Canada because my girlfriend lives there. When the four of us got back together to work on this album, there was no bullshit. With our own lives sorted, it was easier to see the point of the songs and how we wanted them to sound. And, definitely, part of that was embracing pop.”

Pop hooks and harmonies abound on songs such as Hold On, an ode to self-belief driven by drums it’s difficult not to dance to. ‘It’s a risk worth taking/To

have a life worth living’ sings McTrusty on a huge, hooky chorus that’s a surefire summer singalong. The stunning Brothers And Sisters, set to shimmering guitars, bulked up by multi layered vocals and boasting a soft-loud dynamic is a collective call-to-arms dedicated to those who refuse to give up on their dreams.

Flamboyant first single Heart and Soul is a dirty rock stomper that sums up the shared feelings of a bouncing festival crowd, nods to both classic Bon Jovi and Queen and has already moved George Ergatoudis, Radio 1’s head of music, to tweet ‘Hyperbole alert. No joke - STUNNING does not do them justice.’ The single went in at number 17, a phenomenal achievement for a rock band in this day and age.

Twin Atlantic formed in 2007 when McTrusty and bassist Ross McNae, a friend from school, joined forces with drummer Craig Kneale and lead guitarist and occasional cello player Barry McKenna. All four had been in previous bands on the Glasgow scene. They bonded over a shared love of alternative rock, punk-pop and the city’s skate and street art scene, as well as a determination to make music their day jobs. Their ferocious shows soon saw them booked to support Smashing Pumpkins, Biffy Clyro and their teen idols Blink 182. Within two years, they had played most major UK festivals and been signed, following a tip-off from Alan McGee, to American label Red Bull Records.

“Our A&R person saw us at this strange snowboarding Channel 4 gig at Battersea Power Station,” recalls Kneale. “We pure went for it at that show, not because we knew anyone was watching, but because we were fucking freezing. We were surrounded by fake snow, our hands so cold we couldn’t hold our guitars. Either we went for it or we froze. Our A&R said it was the craziest gig he’d ever witnessed.”

A mini album, Vivarium, released in 2009, found Twin Atlantic fans in Kerrang!, saw them tour Europe and the States, play festivals including Download and Sonisphere and support My Chemical Romance. Free, their debut proper, followed two years later, boasting three singles playlisted by Radio 1, including the title track, which soundtracked Felix Baumgartner’s historic space jump in 2012.

“We were told Felix himself chose it,” says Kneale, “because he liked the lyric ‘Set my body on fire so I can be free’.” I guess he knew something could go horribly wrong. Thank God it didn’t! It wouldn’t have been a good epitaph for us.”

Most of Great Divide was written last year, while Twin Atlantic were still touring Free. “90% of it was written in the back of the tour bus, or a sweltering van in America,” says McTrusty. “Our adrenaline was through the roof because, for the first time, thousands of people had come to see us. I’d be in the lounge, unable to sleep, recording ideas on my phone, trying to make sense of the reaction we’d had to our songs. You can’t hear 10,000 people singing a chorus back at you and not be changed by it.

“I’d sit there thinking ‘I wish I’d had this type of song’ or been able to make people feel a certain way. I tried to write for people who don’t dance, and

didn’t intend to, but couldn’t help it cos the energy of the song meant they couldn’t stand still.

“I was definitely inspired by playing with Bruce Springsteen, who we supported at Hard Rock Calling last year. Every song of his is an anthem, even if it’s weird and complicated. You can’t see Springsteen and not remember it the next time you write.”

The bulk of Great Divide was recorded in Rockfield in Wales with producer Gil Norton (Foo Fighters, Pixies), who also helmed Free. Additional songs were recorded in the States with Jacknife Lee (Snow Patrol, U2, R.E.M.). The Rockfield sessions lasted much longer than had been planned and almost broke the band.

“We were there, between festivals, for most of last summer,” recalls McTrusty. “Remember how good the weather was? We were ridiculously decadent, lying in the sun, bringing back loads of alcohol. We bought a big projector screen, played FIFA and watched nearly every James Bond film.

“At the start it was amazing. We were inspired by stories of the bands who had been there before us. We used the piano that’s on Bohemian Rhapsody. But by the end, when the album still wasn’t finished, the place started to feel too isolated. Silence to me is terrifying – I’m from inner city Glasgow, I’ve always lived on a main road.”

One of the results of the extended Rockfield sessions was the song Oceans, Twin Atlantic’s favourite on the album. “Oceans could only have been written somewhere like that,” says McTrusty. “It sounds like a cry from an unhinged, isolated person, which is what I became there.”

Hold On also took on new meaning, becoming a metaphor for a band at breaking point. “There were a lot of frayed ends and decisions to make,” says McTrusty. “Hold On was us telling ourselves to not give up, that we’d get there in the end. Did we ever think the end was nigh? I’m not sure, but we did hold on and we made it and that’s what matters.”